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

Letterbox Resistance: A Campaign after my heart!

True confession: Through the first three decades of my life, I was what one might call an inveterate, unstoppable letter-writer, where letter was a composition written by hand on paper. You might say, therefore, that the Letterbox Resistance activity was bound to be something I enjoyed.

First, the preparations! The design of the little cards with the campaign logo. The campaign logo stamp. The colour paper and envelopes. The bonafide 50 paise postcards. This may count as the most fun campaign prep ever!

This was the first activity of the 2016 Campaign. Ragamalika and I were the core group of letter-writers that went through all three sessions on the 25th.

We met the first group at Chamiers Cafe, where we ended up occupying two long tables. Enthusiastic and full of ideas, we churned out a variety of letters here--postcards addressed to specific offices, letters addressed very generally to categories of people, posters and flyers. Some of these needed to be sent to the addressee, but a few were tucked away here and there, to be found by other diners. One participant handed over a letter to another group explaining what we were doing. And we also shared cards and stamps with some of the staff. We hope everyone wrote the letters they were planning to write! Most of the group then disbanded.

Our second stop was Coffee Central, a cosy cafe in T.Nagar. A much smaller group met here, but the words continued to flow... mostly! We wrote reflective notes, we wrote apologies and we wrote to our kids. We also got others in the cafe to write a note, addressed to parents around the world!

The third stop was at the Food Court in Phoenix Mal and by now, there was just the core left. We were joined by Prajnya's Administrator, Santha. As we settled down with our papers spread out, a security attendant very politely requested us to please leave. People were not allowed linger in the Food Court doing anything other than eating and taking selfies. Out of consideration for her, we packed up sooner than scheduled, quietly placing some of our letters around the mall.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this activity and on how many levels. First of all, picking out stationery is always delightful. Then, the physical pleasure of writing deliberately on a sheet of paper--taking trouble over both the words and their transcription-constitutes an almost-meditative experience. Third, the process of identifying what you want to say, who you need to say it to, how you want to phrase it and the tone you want to adopt, and finally putting it down on paper is an empowering one. It cuts to the heart of the helplessness we feel faced with something as huge as 'one in three women face abuse in their lifetime.' It gives each of us a sense of agency. Finally, it reminds us of the geneology of online petitions. They began with letters that were copied by hand laboriously and mailed to decision-makers and editors around the world. This power remains with us. We should exercise it more often!

To read all the letters we wrote, see our Facebook album.

The Letterbox Resistance

November 25, 2016. 10.15am. A group of people gathered at a cafe in Chennai, with writing supplies, colours, paper and postcards. Their agenda: The Letterbox Resistance!

The first day of the 2016 campaign started with letters written to loved ones, to state authorities, to people in positions of power like school principals and hostel wardens, and to absolute strangers who might come upon these notes, and perhaps spare a moment to think about gender violence.

Do check out the photos here!

   


Thanks to the following publications for covering this initiative:

Deccan Chronicle: 16-day campaign steps up awareness on gender issues