Bindi-man!

There are a lot of things about our country that make us weep.

The terrible way women are treated has deep roots in our society.  The horrible gang-rape of a young woman in Delhi at the end of last year brought some stirrings about what has been going on for decades...

But hope is at hand.

Enter:  Bindi-man!

This weekend the Art for Change foundation and India for Integrity did  a collaborative event at Jantar Mantar - the open space in New Delhi for civil society protest.   It was called 'A Public Celebration of Personal Change' and was one of the end-points of the international artist residency that the Art for Change folks ran.

Bindi-man?  He is Sikan Kumar Panda, a performance artist who festooned himself with bindis and walked around challenging people to take a bindi off him, stick it on a postcard, address it to themselves and write a pledge undertaking to treat women with dignity and respect.

The postcards will be sent today and tomorrow (and depending on our wonderful postal service) will arrive later to remind the participants of their pledge (and hopefully the postman will read it too!).

A small step, but one that can change our nation, one person at a time.

This morning the event was written up in the Wall Street Journal India Realtime blog.  Do take a dekko by clicking: here.  

Hooray for Stefan and all the merry men and women who are doing things that really matter!