Assam by Tinat: December 2013

LAKSHMI

Eve-teasing, verbal molestation, inadvertent touching, rape, brutality, mental torture and what not. And all this with the most beautiful creation- a woman. Starting from 2 years to a 60 year old, the torment a woman faces is endless. Only because they are weak?

But that was not really what came to my mind when I was watching Lakshmi, a film impeccably directed by Nagesh Kukunoor and acted to perfection by Monali Thakur. One could make out from small little details that the movie has been passionately made for an intense audience. The premier of this film was being shown all across the country as an awareness on women trafficking.

A true life story of a 14 year old girl who hadn't even attended her puberty is sold by her father to a woman who resells her to a pimp. He then takes her to a man who gives her estrogen injections, who later rapes her. She is sent off to a brothel, where she is raped repeatedly for the next six months till an NGO finds her. She then goes on to fight a battle; facing the shame of her videos being shown in the court-room, to repeatedly being asked embarrassing questions on rape and sex. Lashmi won the case against the Reddy brothers and hers was the first case of its kind in the court of Andhra Pradesh. Not in the least sense weak at all; Lakshmi and every other Lakshmi across the world.

Having spoken about the story, I was ashamed of being part of a crowd that hooted, yelled and jeered at every scene in the film where sensitive persons sitting and watching it probably had goose-bumps and a lump in their throat. There were deep-throated grunts amongst the people sitting in the balcony and loud whispers of irritation. But hardly someone who would take action. So, in despair and disdain, when I went downstairs, the least I could ask these grown-up kids is if this is the kind of message they want to give to the rest of the world; "Insensitivity towards the pain of a young 14 year old girl being raped, even if it is being enacted?"

Where are we going and what are we expecting from a generation which takes to the streets at the pretext of doing something different. Different? In what way? To be on television for a cosmetic purpose? Or shall we say 15 minutes of fame?

If the young think they are responsible, they should start taking responsibility of their actions first for a start. And then again, should we blame them for such a lackadaisical attitude? Are the care-takers listening?

When Nagesh Kukunoor asked which scenes in the film did they hoot at, no one stood up to it! He said, "If you hooted in the dark, let me tell you that it is pure cowardice. And now you should also be brave enough to get up and say why you hooted."

To a question on rape, Nagesh said, "Real men don't rape and molest. Real men would take his girl out on a date, buy her flowers, marry her."

I would say real men are responsible not just for the women in their home but also care for each and every woman they come across. Real men love!

I, ME, MYSELF!

I can be the most beautiful word on Earth because it has everything to do with me. I have grown up with myself, adored myself and simply gone to the point of extreme narcissism to just not be over-the-top critical about me. But as I have breathed this intense love for myself, I have noticed how insignificant I can get with this narcissist behaviour when I think of the gargantuan crisis some people face. Some of them don't even understand the meaning of I, Me and Myself. Their existence depends so much on the love and understanding of some significant others in their lives.

So, it frets me to no end when I hear veteran social workers thinking the world of their own selves of having completed a project and all the time thinking they have done it on their own. "When I was the District Governor, I did so and so and so....!!" Wow! And then I actually hear low growls of discontentment coming from different corners of the room, where some people who were engaged in the project put their heads together to whisper loud enough, ".....he'll never mention our names. We were also part of the project. How could he do this to us?....."

I can be such a boring word if you think deep enough!

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Having said that, some warm-hearted people got together to make the dreams of little angels, who would have probably never known what love is, true, by putting together the Grand Charity Tea Auction on the occasion of the International Day for People with Disabilities on the 3rd of December, 2013 at the ITA Auditorium. And what an auction it was!

A brain-child of the Chairman of the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre and Minister, Industries, Government of Assam, Mr. Pradyut Bordoloi and his team of expert colleagues put together an ensemble of fun and economics to give a show par excellence!

Arman Ali, the director of Sishu Sarathi started the show with a performance by the children from the centre singing "We shall Overcome."

Life hands down some people with blessings unlimited and some with abilities unlimited. And the disability is all in the mind.

The artists of Ability Unlimited was a show none of us in the hall will forget in a hurry as they whirled, twirled, raced from one end of the stage to the other, skipped, hopped, acted only to leave everyone dumbfounded. And you would say, "Why? What's so great about it? Everyone does this these days." Yes, ofcourse everyone does it. What so special about these children are that all of them are specially-abled in some way or the other. Some of them have a physical disability and some of them hearing impaired. But they left us feeling a nonentity! Numb! Did the I exist for them at all?

Ability Unlimited Foundation, brainchild of Guruji Syed Sallauddin Pasha (or GURU PASHA), is a 25 year old non-profit charitable organization in Delhi working to make persons with disabilities lead independent and innovative lives. Through the use of specially designed therapeutic education and dance-theatre performances with innovative methodology, Guru Pasha has pioneered the creation of socio-cultural equality & excellence in art & culture for differently-abled people.

The next one and a half hour was a whirlwind as Victor Banerjee and Ravi Suchanti of J Thomas conducted the auctions in their unparalleled and unmatched style and took everyone to a different level of thinking.

Mr. Victor Banerjee, a son of Assam who made it big; the celebrated actor, the film-maker, the cinematographer, the writer, the trekker, the bird-watcher, the arm-chair philosopher and the incorrigible vagabond. Victor Banerjee is an intense traveler and searcher. When not working, he prefers to spend time in the Himalaya, in Landour, Mussourie, contemplating absolutely nothing.

There were 9 lots in totalwhich were auctioned and to knock down the lots, there were some interesting celebrities who came in especially for the Grand Charity Tea Auction.

"Ladies & Gentlemen, when the first lot of auction was put up for bid in 1970, the going market rate of Assam tea was Rs.4-7/-. The floor price was fixed at Rs. 7.20. And then, a patriotic tea trader from Jorhat, bought 1317 Kgs of tea with the highest bid of 42 Rupees and 50 Paise per Kg and thereby launched the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre successfully. Today in our midst we have the first buyer of Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, Shri Jaffer Ali. I would like to request Shri. Jaffer Ali to do the honours by knocking down the first lot."

"..we would like to pay our tribute to a person who was instrumental in shaping things for Guwahati Tea Auction Centre. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are talking of the then Chief Secretary, Late. Dharmananda Das. We would like to invite the son of Late Dharmananda Das, Dr. Tonmoy Das to kindly come on stage and do the honours for knocking down the second lot of tea."

"We would also like to specially mention the name of Late Radha Govinda Baruah. When the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre formally started on 25^th September 1970, the then Hon’ble Industry Minister, Shri Kamakhya Prasad Tripathi requested another illustrious son of Assam and owner of The Assam Tribune, Late Radha Govinda Baruah, the then Chairman of Assam Tea Brokers to wield the hammer for the first time. We gratefully acknowledge the role of Late Radha Govinda Baruah in establishing the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre. The first pledge of tea from the producers came from Bahonie Tea Estate, in Upper Assam and accordingly, the first lot arrived in Guwahati. And we are today fortunate enough to have in our midst Justice Shri S.N. Phukan the former-justice of Supreme Court of India to do the honours. Justice S.N. Phukan, owns the Bahonie Tea Estate that first pledged their tea for sale at Guwahati Tea Auction Centre."

"Ladies & Gentlemen, on 25^th of September 1970, when Guwahati Tea Auction Centre was established, Shri Hemendra Prasad Barooah the head of Khongiya Barooah family which owned the Haroocharai Tea Estate among others offered their first lot in the auction which was sold and the proceeds of Rs. 55,972/- was donated by the family to the then Chief Minister’s relief fund. We are today fortunate to have amongst us, Late Hemendra Prasad Barooah’s nephew Shri Rajiv Barooah, presently the proprietor of Haroocharai Tea Estate and also the Chairman of Assam Tea Planters Association. We request him to kindly do the honours of knocking down the next lot."

"We have an esteemed guest from Mumbai who has come especially for the Charity Auction. Laddo fame ‘Amma ji’, that is Meghna Malik. After training from the NSD, Meghna Malik started her acting career at Bombay and worked in many serials, plays and films like ‘Kuch Na Kaho’, ‘Chalte, Chalte’, ‘Tare Zameen Par’, ‘Yo Hota To Kya Hota’, ‘Kaise Kahen’.

1) She has been honoured with the Great Women Achiever Award, 2010 for television

2) She has won the stellar performer zee gold award 2011 as a T.V. artist.

3) She has won the India Telly Award 2010 as the Best Actor in a negative role.

4) Awarded the Zee-Gold Critics Award organized by Zee Telefilms amongst a host of other prestigious awards.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would now like to request Ms. Meghna Malik to come to the stage and knock down the next lot of auctions."

"We are honoured to have in our midst today an esteemed wild-life conservationist and writer, Ms Prerna Singh Bindra, who started off as a journalist.

Ms Bindra is a member of the State Board for Wildlife, Uttarakhand, she has very recently set up a trust, Bagh of which she is a Trustee and she is also the editor of the journal Tiger Link. Ms. Prerna is associated with Wildlife Conservation Society, India and her efforts have helped draw attention to crucial conservation issues, and several of these have resulted in successful action. It was her report on Impact of tourism on Corbett that triggered the debate on tigers and tourism, and ultimately led to the creation of buffers around reserves and guidelines for tourism for tiger reserves.

Ms Prerna has won awards for her work which include the ABN-AMRO Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Service Award, 2007 for in-depth and consistent coverage of conservation issues, and the Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award, 2007 for excellence in networking and engaging the public at large for the cause of wildlife conservation.

She also won the Shrishti award for wildlife conservation and journalism, 2007.

It gives me immense pleasure to invite Ms Prerna Singh Bindra to knock down the next lot of auction."

"Now, I would like to introduce to you a young girl, beauty with a purpose Pond's Femina Miss India 2013, Ms. Zoya Afroz. She started her career at the tender age of 3 and has worked as a child artist in many bollywood films likeHum saath saath hai, Kuch naa kaho and Serials like Son Pari and many more. Recently she has done a Punjabi movie titled "Saddi gali aaya karo"

She is also the new face of Ponds pimple clear white face wash. Winning Miss India was herchildhood dream come true and she believes in the saying "A winner is a winner even before she wears the crown". I would like to request Pond's Femina Miss India 2013 Ms Zoya Afroz to please do the honours by knocking down the next lot. And now most of us must be wondering about her Assam connection. Zoya’s father came all the way to Dibrugarh to marry Zoya’s mother."

And the last few lots were knocked down by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam, Shri. Tarun Gogoi. Everyone went into a tizzy as the MD from the Wagh Bakri Group of Tea Traders, from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, third after Tata Tea and Hindustan Unilever in tea production in the country, created a World Record by being the highest bidder at Rs. 73,000/- per kg, which adds up to Rs.27,74,000/-.

And the Grand Charity Tea Auction grossed an approximate amount of Rs. 1.8 crores on that magical evening to be given away to the three NGO's, whose people have tirelessly put the needs of others before their own.

1. Moran Blind School – working for visually impaired

2. Vaani - working in the field of hearing impairment

3. And Shishu Sarothi – working to empower people with disabilities