06:00 p.m. Bharathi Kannan and Rakesh rode to a community meeting place in West Tambaram, where they had an interaction with the women and young girls and boys of the community.
The IT industry has broken many traditional characteristics of relationships between employees & employer. It provides handsome salaries and a sort of flexible work time/location. Women too enjoy more rights than in other industries.Yet, due to less gender sensitivity in this industry women continue to face challenges in their work life balance. Save Tamils Movement, a collective of IT and other professionals from Chennai, is conducting a survey among women workers in the IT industry to understand the ground reality of their day to day life.
Friends from other industries are please requested to share this far and wide. (Participate in the survey here – itsurvey.in)
4.10 p.m. The two cyclists stop for tea at the bus depot in Tiruvanmiyur.
Sudharshan drinking tea. Photo by Rakesh Kumar Singh.
03:30 p.m 18 March 2014
Rakesh and Sudharshan have begun pedalling. They would be very excited if you join them by 4:30 p.m. at Fourth Seaward Road beach, in Valmiki Nagar. Call 9962609709 or 08939592991 to coordinate with the riders.
Rakesh and Sudharshan began the Ride for Gender Freedom on ECR at 3:30 p.m.
“Riding upon a dream. A dream of a society that does not discriminate among various gender.”
Today, on 18th March 2014, Rakesh continues the Ride for Gender Freedom, accompanied by Sudharshan, beginning at 3:30 p.m. from Neelankarai Police Station -> Tiruvanmiyur Vegetable Market -> Tiruvanmiyur temple tank -> Tiruvanmiyur fish market -> Tiruvanmiyur kuppam (fishing village) -> Fourth Seaward Road Beach -> New Beach Road -> Kottivakkam Kuppam Road -> Palavakkam beach -> Chinna Neelangarai Kuppam -> Casuarina Drive (a CCTV trip) -> Neelankarai Kuppam -> Blue Beach Road -> Vettuvankeni ECR -> Cholamandal -> Injambakkam Kuppam -> via ECR back to Neelankarai Police Station.
We’d be very happy if you join us at the Fourth Seaward Road beach by 4.30 p.m. Call 09962609709 or 08939592991 to contact the riders.
Live blogging of the ride will happen on Chai Kadai and Ride for Gender Freedom Facebook Page.
Rakesh and Sudharshan forced to pose with coffee as they get ready for today’s Ride for Gender Freedom around ECR
The idea behind ‘Ride for Gender Freedom: Pedalling against acid attacks’:
The list of acid attacks survivors is long and more names are being added continuously. What we have understood at the ‘Stop Acid Attacks’ campaign is that the problem is deeper than the easy availability of a chemical weapon like acid. It has to do with the parenting and upbringing, and other institutions and structures, which generally encourage children to treat women as objects.
It is this attitude which is responsible for many crimes against women- from female infanticide to dowry deaths and from rapes to acid attacks – that go on unabated across the country.
While the information space, including TV, radio and print medium, are abuzz with pro-feminist voices, screaming out the need to stop the rising abuse of women across the sub-continent, there is hardly any ground work that is being done towards this issue.
This is an effort to take this cause to villages and towns, at present solely manifested by Rakesh Kumar Singh, an eminent Hindi author, journalist, creative writer and a formal corporate communication professional. He intends to convey this message through various media forms including puppets, colors, posters, photographs, films to the masses in Indian villages which has not yet migrated to urban towns. While there is no fixed time for his pedalling, he will be on wheels for 2 years in the first phase of his ride. This journey’s worth, impact and duration depend on you to a large extent.
While Rakesh starts his ride as a lonely crusader, he will be elated if you join him for a small or a big part of his journey. There are no plans regarding the time-limit of this ride which is completely crowd-funded.
The Ride for Gender Freedom was flagged of by Kanmanipriya, a 40 year old acid victim, who was forced to drink acid, by her husband 10 years back. She is presently staying with her ailing mother and a son, awaiting some miracle to happen so that she could live her remaining life without any pain.
Your participation will certainly be a great support to the on-going struggle against gender based violence, including the heinous Acid Attacks on women.
Chai Kadai 