Ringing in change

Picture this: You've taken the day off after lying to your boss about a severe intestinal infection because you had promised your son you'll help him improve his bowling.

Picture this: You’ve taken the day off after lying to your boss about a severe intestinal infection because you had promised your son you’ll help him improve his bowling. It’s nearly noon and while you guys are having a ball, you hear a woman’s muffled screams and a man’s not so muffled shouting. It’s them again, you think, that ill-tempered lout who beats up his wife. So what do you do? A) Go back to your game B) Yell at their window asking them to shut up C) Go play cricket somewhere else. Breakthrough, a human rights organisation based in New Delhi and New York is now giving you a fourth option: Bell Bajao. You read that right, go ahead, take your son up to their door and ring the bell. When the door is opened, smile and ask to check if your cricket ball has landed in their verandah. Get your son to look for it, while you chit-chat with the couple and talk about strange screaming you and your wife and Mr and Mrs Gulati have also been hearing, you’re wondering if you should approach the RWA about it and so what do they think? By this time, the ball has been retrieved, your son brandishes it triumphantly, you shake your head and say, “kids” and smile at the couple before leaving. So what was the point of the whole exercise?

“The abuser is made aware of the fact that people around him are also aware of what happens inside his house and are capable of taking action,” says Sonali Khan of Breakthrough Delhi. In what has got to be one of the most innovative outreach program to combat domestic violence in the country, Bell Bajao is a multi-media, multi-pronged approach to initiate men into speaking and acting against domestic violence within their community. “All men are not abusers, there is a silent majority of men who have grown up in abusive homes but who have not taken any action to stop abuse,” says Khan. Breakthrough has been collaborating with advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather. The creators of Bell Bajao are Zenobia Pithawala and Ryan Mendosca who created and conceptualised the project that flagged off in August 2008.

Two years ago, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was passed and though it was nothing short of a revolution for a nation that is used to looking the other way, Breakthrough and O&M felt women across the country need to educate themselves about the course of action they can take, if they face domestic violence.

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“Women usually negotiate all their troubles within the family space. Our baseline studies have shown that hardly any community action is taken to prevent such abuse. What Bell Bajao aims at is to engage with men, especially those are influential in the decision making process within the community and have them speak against violence and take action,” says Khan. Actor Boman Irani is the ambassador for the project and has recently shot another ad spot for the campaign, which will air shortly.

In order to reach to the heartland of the country where abuse is rife and silence is an unfortunate virtue, Breakthrough has mobilised itself in the form of the Bell Bajao van.

The Bell Bajao van was launched on August 30, 2008 and has been on the road for 150 days, travelling across 60 districts of North and South India. An estimate of eight lakh people have engaged with the van. Breakthrough works with several local NGOs who also participate in the events that are organised. “We have a street theatre team which talks about domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, and educates the audience about how to combat discrimination and abuse,” says Khan.

As for results, Khan says an astonishing number of people have jumped on board to voice their experiences, come together to affect change in their homes and communities. Breakthrough is now looking at getting men of influence on board, from the village panchayat head to the Residents’ Welfare Association officer in the colony to participate in the campaign.

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“Men listen to men, you can’t ignore the fact that in such a patriarchal society, both women and men listen to men. They can make effective role models to further the cause of human rights as well,” says Khan. So the next time you hear that scream, don’t turn a deaf ear, go right up and ring that bell.

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