Day 2, 2018: Letterbox Resistance

 For the second day of our campaign, we brought back one of our favourite campaign events, The Letterbox Resistance. This year we took it to the human rights department of Ethiraj College for Women.

I have loved the idea of Letterbox Resistance since the day I heard of it and I was delighted to have it in the 2018 campaign calendar. While I was looking forward to it I wasn't certain about the response. But Swarna Ma'am who loves Letterbox Resistance showed up at the college with her excitement and enthusiasm to give the girls an introduction to the activity and the objective behind it. She had to rush to her other appointment and couldn't stay longer with us but she did write her letter!

We left the group size to the department to decide and found that 30 girls were waiting to see what we were going to do and it was a nice surprise to have the six girls from WCC who had come to volunteer with Prajnya join the activity. While we were setting up in a sunlight-filled classroom, spreading out all the colourful stationery we had brought along for this activity, most of the girls looked at us with blank faces. This expression didn't last long once Swarna ma'am introduced the activity and the idea behind it.

Once the introduction was done, everyone moved to the table at once to pick the letter writing materials of their choice and soon a hush fell over the classroom as everyone got to their writing. In a few minutes, a few letters were done, as words poured out effortlessly for some, while others took time to craft their letters.

Amidst the rush of clicking photos of the letters and uploading them on Facebook, I noticed that though the girls seemed hesitant and unsure at the beginning about the whole letter writing business, they were soon writing multiple letters addressed to different people. The letters they wrote were addressed to their parents, the society, friends, their assaulter; some wrote poetry while some doodled.

At the end of the event, I couldn't resist asking the girls what they thought of the activity, and how it made them feel. Most girls commented on how this activity made them feel a range of emotions and made them find the words to articulate it.

I felt the same. By the time I finished my letter I had gone through an array of emotions. But at the end, I felt liberated.

Do check out more of these letters, here