Raising a toast to femininity!

They say, a woman enriches your life, that she is one of the most precious gifts of God. She comes in your life as a mother, a sister or a daughter and many such relations you have with a woman, who helps you to mould into a perfect individual and your existence is due to her hard work and sacrifice.

   But any of us, any day, dared to thank her and apologize, for any ill-treatment and careless attitude towards her? Rather, we have been very ignorant when it comes to kneel down and shower a vote of thanks to every woman in our life. Or one should say, did we realize the vital role ‘She’ plays in our life?

Project Maa Behen asks you, did you ever bother to honour the women in your life and credit her for making your life wonderful? Your survival in the society and the demeanour you possess is structured by her.  Has anyone of us ever realized this?

But this time, you should render your love to her; be grateful to her for elevating your life, making you able to face the world; express regret for every inconvenience you inflicted on her. Moreover, accolade her for presence, for her unselfish duty towards you.

Raise a toast to her!

Cheers to womanhood!

Reality Check

What has the Project given us? 

Only a sense of responsibility that we finally feel our spines working for?
No, there's a lot more than that. It's something that it gives us more than anything else can, Experience.

The good, bad and the ugly ones. You realize the potency, spirit, capacity, vigor of one person, Yourself.

In honest terms, I never thought that I'd ever possess that Gutsy attitude to take a Board and walk in front of hundred unknown faces trying to raise the pitch of our voice against Violence. 

More than that, there's a lot that you learn to which you might even refer as Fatkaas!

Better said than done. Indeed, those who talk, keep on talking, there's no end to it, no matter what.

Those who support you, grow you and those who criticize,Well, they Inspire you. 

It's never the same once you go for something big in your life, things change, it's inevitable, you can't run out of it. 

But there's one thing I've surely realized about this project. 

When it comes to Womanhood, the Indian public does have a sense of Compassion towards it. 

There were many people who came, who saw, who changed and some who are and will always stand for the change. We're trying to Customize that, We've seen, We'll Do, We'll leave.

The world says, people bring revolution, I say, it's Awakening that brings Revolution.

Awaken Yourself. Awaken the World.

We're with you.

That's all folks.

65 years on, is she 'free' yet?

Two days back, India woke to a new life, a sense of new freedom invoked as the whole country celebrated 65 years of Independence. The question of the hour every individual should raise this day, is ‘Is the fairer sex free?’

The idea of freedom itself beckons a sense of responsibility. Responsibility of loving your nation, being a good individual in the society, protecting your family and creating an environment where both the sexes have equal rights and opportunities. Though post-independence revolutionary changes have been evident, but still women don’t feel safe in this ‘free world’. When a daughter steps out of her home, her mother is only concerned about her daughter’s safe arrival at home. A family rift occurs and results into brutal beating of a woman. Another woman becomes victim of someone’s lust. With the presence of such disturbance and inequality, is India really ‘free’?

Project Maa Behen is right here to change this scenario. We urge all our male friends and all the men out there to give away a token of love to all the females in your life; to show them that you belong to them and that they are an important part of your life; to love them; to protect them and to ‘respect’ them. With us, pledge today, that you shall apologize to every woman you have hurt and promise her that you shall never repeat your mistake again!

Say a "Sorry"

Much love and peace!

Doing the Unusual

Whilst we were campaigning for 'Make a Move', there was a lot that came in the way and there was a lot that enlightened and encouraged us to take a step ahead.
Like in the second day, 6th of August, the location under target was the crowded as well as congested  Mulund west market. As the sun sets, you can see that the market gets a healthy amount of crowd mostly of which are Housewives who come out to pick up some vegetables in their shopping bags.
This was going to be a challenge and it did turn to be one.
It wasn't raining since the past few days but it did on that evening and it did rain heavily.
We were at a halt besides a local Chaiwaala's Tapri. That aroma of Ginger tea is still somewhere behind my nostrils! His stall had a shed to cover us, that was enough.
Soon, the weather was clear and had left behind a very clustered environment and it looked like some junction.
We were uncertain of what's going to happen because unlike the other day, this day we had to bring the attention by hook or by crook.
No matter what, we didn't fall apart in front of that. We took the boards, we had the cameras rolling, We had everything set, We left the crowd astonished!
Here's how it looked.

The Power Of One!

Starting from 5th Of August, there came something new for the project that made us known to the People who took healthy interest in the Project as The Promising Ones.
There came thousands of Rallies which were followed by many Candle light marches. These came for a Cause, for awareness, For a Plea and Sometimes even for Justice.
Our destination was always the same but we kept a different route.
We tried to explore and express the Power of 'One' to the Society in the Society for the Society.
This was something that we took as a challenge as a team, that very few would have thought of. We did realize it's never too easy when you find expectations leveled up. You feel the need to make it large.
But nevertheless, We Did It and We did it under the most unexpected situations.
No doubt, we've made memories with this one, some might not escape our minds for eternity.
The first time that we did this at Girgaun Chowpatty, we could feel the nervousness running down our into our spines. There was a huge amount of crowd, majorly families who came to enjoy a serene Sunday evening and with the Sunday being the Friendship day, We found a youth corner around the entire beach.
Our friendship day this year never had any friendship bands, or get together, We celebrated our day by making the first move for the Project.
That was Special.

   

She needs Respect...Join our hands!

“She wears short skirts, so she is a slut.”

“She hangs out with guys, so she is characterless.”

“She is a widow, so she has to live a confined life.”

Ever wondered how these remarks have been possible to ruin a woman’s life! If this wasn’t enough, imagine the restrictions and violence inflicted on women in the Indian society. Or we should rather say, by the Indian men! It’s ironical in a country where Goddesses are praised in every home, still the fairer sex undergoes humiliation and are victims of injustice.

In a population, running  up to billions, no one lends an ear to the silent cry of the women. May be, that’s probably one of the reason we frame them as Vulnerable Sex! If she respects the men in her life and follows the societal norms, that doesn’t make her weak.

Often regarded as an epitome of innocence and forgiveness, the society has always been taking undue advantage of a woman’s good and pardoning nature. Everyday, a naive girl is teased, some other is molested or raped, some woman falls prey to domestic violence. To name the prejudice imposed on women-Innumerable!

We wonder what thought process is carried in our milieu that we portray women as inferior objects. India has witnessed women who fought for freedom, headed the country, made us proud on the international circuit, but still behind our brains we have a notion that women are nothing but ‘sex symbols’ and ‘reproduction machines’. These words might sound awful, but it’s a reality in most parts of the country, including the metro cities.

We say, imparting modern education and westernization has made the conditions better than the previous generations. Women can walk freely, enjoy their lives, do whatever they want. Even then, crime rates are sky high these days, most of them which are forced on women. The orthodox sections of the society curse the modern lifestyle of women for the same.

Rather than putting restrictions on women, why don’t we kill that thought in mind which provokes us to frame women as inferior objects! Why her freedom and way of enjoying her life let her become a victim of someone’s lust? Why her silence lets you disrespect her? Why should she bear your violence, when she renders all her life to you!

There can’t be a possible answer to the above hard-hitting questions. But we, at Project Maa Behen are trying to seek answers. We are determined to decode the prevailing attitude and pave way for a woman to let her find respect in society and bring back her dignity. We, a bunch of amateur men, along with our friends from the opposite sex, are trying to do something, which has been a struggle ever-Let women breath in open air! Let them gain respect! Let not her fall prey to violence and injustice! And this time, we will not back down. We are gritty to bring about a change, rather a REVOLUTION!

The next step......

Initiated as an online campaign, we had a burgeoning success by garnering a lot of support from the netizens. The first outdoor campaign, named “Be a Brother’,  was done at a city college,, by urging the male folks to extend their hand towards a female friend for her to tie him a Rakhi, so that her ‘brother’ come to her rescue when she is in dire need. The college crowd welcomed this programme with a warm hug and cheerful smiles and enthusiastically supported and promoted it.

The second outdoor campaign, “Make a Move’, has been taken to the streets of the major city suburbs, happening between 5^th and 9^th August. The further details about this campaign shall be disclosed in the future posts. So stay tuned to know more!

Love,

Project Maa Behen.

P.S. We welcome your suggestions, feedbacks and criticisms about our initiative. Feed us with your comments below.

Like our Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/ProjectMaaBehen

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Let your thoughts about us pour!

Welcome Us In Your Life.

•Why the name?

The name that would sounds pretty bold and flashy to everyone doesn’t actually depict the infamous slang ‘Maa-behen’ but two different words with distinctive definitions, Maa and Behen!

It indeed holds some kind of candour in it.

Vision is what goes beyond the name.

Once upon a time, these words were only used to address our mothers and sisters, but today there has been a miserable makeover to the meaning of it.
The dignity of which has been tossed into the air and has been played by hundreds who have eventually made the respect of a woman go down in ruins. 

•Who are we?

Well, we’re just a bunch of beginners trying to make a move.

All we know about ourselves is, we believe in our beliefs and that we’d never let go anything that we take up.
We feel the extremity of the need to make the society believe that the fairer sex shouldn't be treated as the vulnerable sex!

If there’s a change that we think should be culminated in the society, we need to make the society believe in the change first.

There’s nothing more challenging in someone’s life other than accepting a change, let it be for their Personality, Outlook or Morality.

•Why the Project?

Because, this will be our way to say, enough said, enough tolerated, It’s our turn to raise the voice and make a move.

The project will have a two way motive.

First being the one to make the men quite aware regarding the current situation of society for women and make them feel responsible and courteous enough to make a stand for what’s right.

Second, to set off on a never ending journey that will prove to be quest towards raising the Standard of an Indian Woman!

•What Will We Do?

Yes, somewhere you can call us stereotypical for raising the issue that has been on the minds and tongues of the society since the time we were just in the wombs!

But what we do is try to give an extraordinary touch to those stereotypical ways!

Social advertisements portraying the positivity that shades in through the project.

Creating a dynamic network over the internet to let Views, opinions, advice, criticism and even experiences come to light!

Taking from this 2^nd August, we’ll set off on the streets to note and observe what actually spoils the filth over her character and what should be done to put an end to it.

Online campaigns to make every person aware of an initiative named, ‘Project Maa Behen’

We’ll try our best to make the project hit hard on everybody’s mind.

We do not promise to bring a revolution because there can never be a Revolution without an Awakening.

We're here to Awaken..

Project Maa Behen.