Ritanjali Hastir, Keekli Reporter, 15th April, 2015, Shimla
An Evening of Live Music and Dance Performances were organized here today at the Gothic Hall of Gaiety Theatre, Shimla by the YWCA of Shimla in collaboration with Unified Shimla Musicians under the One Billion Rising Campaign. It is one of the largest global actions to end violence against women and girls in human history. Shimla’s Mayor Sanjay Chauhan, braced the occasion as the chief guest. While speaking on the occasion he said that, “It is a very laudable effort and I have and will always extend my full support for such a noble cause. I am inspired by the message that before telling anyone else to change his / her outlook towards women, I personally need to implement it in my own life and inculcate it in my own character. I hope that in future this event achieves greater reception by audiences and reaches a new height”.
One Billion Rising, which was launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women across the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. That’s ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS.
With the tagline “Drum, Dance & Rise,” women, men and youth rose in Shimla to highlight, spark and mobilize artistic and community-based initiatives to bring in the new revolutionary world of equality, dignity and freedom for all women and girls.
The primary purpose of this event was to spread awareness and put an end to all forms of violence against women and girls. From every corner of India millions of people have risen and joined this campaign. Over the last few months multiple events have been taking place in Shimla with a strong support from both men and women.
This special evening brought together a group of performers and artists united around the common goal of ending violence against women. Artists and activists came together in an evening of dancing, singing, and drumming to call up the world revolution, continuing One Billion Rising’s legacy of harnessing the power of art and activism.
Bhushan Kumar, Jasmine Chandla, Neha Sharma, Debashish Bindra, Digvijay Singh Rathee and Amit Thakur all showcased their talent on the occasion and made the evening a success. Whereas Rohit Rana, Anshul Kaushal, Abhey Lakhanpal, Nitin Kukreja, Udayveer Singh Rohewal, Akshita Singh Dhadwal, Ashwani Negi and the YWCA of Shimla gave full contribution for helping in putting up a wonderful event for the global campaign of OBR (One Billion Rising).
