First,
Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers.
As
someone said, V-Day presents a good opportunity to focus the world's attention
on what happens when "love" goes wrong. Violence against women
remains, unfortunately, one of humanity's biggest problems and shames. In my
blog postings over a month ago, I talked about a remarkable woman Eve Ensler,
the award winning playwright and activist, as she brought her cause "One
Billion Rising" to India in support of the massive protests held to deliver justice to the gangraped, and murdered,
Delhi Braveheart. Worldwide, one in three women will be raped or beaten in her
lifetime. That is one billion women...the inspiration behind "One Billion
Rising".
Eve
Ensler prophesied, "They are saying if India can do it, so can we. India
now is really the vanguard. And I believe we are going to see a massive rising
in India with regards to violence against women issue."
Today,
India staged one of the biggest showings of the uprising to break the chain of
violence against women as she participated in "One Billion Rising"
events around the world on this V-Day. The indefatigable Eve Ensler couldn't
have been prouder. "I don't get tired," Ensler says. "Because
every time a woman doesn't die or doesn't get beaten or raped or honor-killed
or acid burned, it's a huge victory."
Yesterday,
it was heartbreaking to hear as Anoushka Shankar, the daughter of the sitar
legend Ravi Shankar, opened up about her own story as a victim of childhood
sexual abuse. Today, she was at the forefront of the V-Day "One Billion
Rising" celebrations dancing with millions of school-going girls as they
promoted awareness of violence against women. Way to go Anoushka!
