Rachita Taneja, Artist and Founder Sanitary Panels
Ya girl is #AkeliAwaaraAzaad!
Rega Jha, Writer and Ex-Chief Editor at BuzzfeedIndia
Akeli: I matter because I am me, alone, not because I am somebody’s sister or daughter or (someday, maybe, idk, idc) wife or mother. Awaara: I can wander off the path prescribed to women, drift away from what is accepted and closer to what is authentic. Azaad: I can push myself, every day, to break out of the cages built by gender, in which we all live. Hopefully by living that process publicly, including all its pains and confusions (menstrual cups and leg hair and rap lyrics and more), I can help some of you break your cages too.
Gul Panag, Actor and Model
#akeliawaaraazaad In solidarity with the amazing work @blanknoiseactionheroes and @jasmeenpatheja are doing. A woman out and about on her own , #akeli , should be safe. She should have the ability to be free #azad , to make choices - what to study, who to marry, to name a few. Feminism isn’t about hating men as the perpetuators of #patriarchy would have believe. It’s about having equal access to opportunity. About having equal rights - socially, politically, economically and last but not least, legally.
Parmesh Shahani, Head at Godrej India Culture Labs, Author, Curator and Friend of Blank Noise
Sadia Khatri, Writer and Activist @GirlsAtDhabas
Stepping out with feet as my only guardian. Placing one foot in front of the other, without worrying where it will land. Feeling at ease on the street, to be watching not watched, to become a part of the scene, to stand tall, not just stand out. To find solitude in the crowd. Unapologetic and loud. To move comfortably in my skin, to move between spaces on my whim. I love to loiter. I also love to dance. In both scenarios, if I let myself be, my body enters a space where it is free from fear and shame. Where I am unperturbed by looks and stares, where I feel no obligation to justify my presence or movement. Being Akeli, Awaara, Azaad means embracing the wildness I have suppressed inside me. Wildness: connecting with my impulse, not giving a damn what people think-- doing, wearing, saying what I want because I feel like, no filter, no defence. Wildness: preparing to be seen as a threat. Wildness: being visible and visibly expressing myself. Nothing is more dangerous than this, because expression comes from self-love. To be Akeli, Awaara Azaad: to be wild: to center love and pleasure: to overcome fear and shame. Another source of pleasure for me: language. I often think how it is used to contain us, to make us shrink, whether in public or private, so I like to overturn these containers and release the same words that are used against my body, draw instead upon their wildness as a source of power: I say this loudly and without apology: Haan main awaaragard, haan main suttaybaaz, haan main ‘loose’ aur ‘fast’, haan main akeli, aur aashiq bhi, aur lafangi, nautanki, fahaash, haan main beizzat, gunahgaar, Azaad.
Rasika Duggal, Actor
My journey in finding/protecting my FREE FEARLESS FUN self amidst all things 'acceptable'. To be fearless while being sensitive. Fierce but gentle. To question things around me and to question myself. And to see vulnerability as a strength not weakness.....to experience and not avoid.
Because sometimes it's not about the way I look ......#AkeliAwaaraAzaad
Sameera Khan, Co Founder WhyLoiter and Journalist
I celebrate the spirit of #AkeliAwaaraAzaad everyday. To be free to be yourself, to choose your own path, to accept yourself as you are, to say No when you want to say No, to say Yes when you desire to say Yes, to walk the streets because they say it can't be done, to love those they say you should not love, to loiter the world & claim it for oneself, to sit at that chai ki tapri, to lie on the grass in the park, to take that bus/train to a place you have only heard of.... Of course this is easier said than done. But then what's life without a challenge. I hope everyday every woman and girl can take one step towards being a little more #AkeliAwaaraAzaad Posting as a #BlankNoiseActionHero for @blanknoiseactionheroes & #jasmeenpatheja #WhyLoiter
Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Actor
Freedom. Some of us have it in varying degrees, some, none at all. If the women in the eras of yore had not spoken up, had not broken taboos, had not stepped up BEYOND their everyday routine, we would not be here today. Heart swells for knowing a woman of today, Jasmeen Patheja, who in her quiet unassuming way is going ahead doing more for our kind than you and I can dream to imagine. This tee that represents a large part of her statement, says it better than I can. Akeli! Aawara! Azaad! Here's to every woman on this earth, may we be able to wear our freedom openly.
Shehla Rashid, Activist
Being Akeli does not mean being lonely. It means having the freedom to be unaccompanied, yet safe. Being Awaara does not mean being wayward. It means having the freedom to do what I like without the fear of violence and attack. Being Azaad is having the freedom to study, freedom to work, to travel, to take political stances, to make my voice heard. Remember, we didn't have to fight for the freedoms that we enjoy today. We are merely beneficiaries of past struggles. Let's remember to expand these rights for our daughters and younger sisters.
Kavita Krishnan
Secretary All India Progressive Women's Association
Monika Manchanda, Food Blogger and Consultant - Sin.a.mon
Repeat after me! No woman of any Age, colour, character Ever deserves to Be sexually violated Of what some might Lightly call “Eve-Teased” #INeverAskForIt This is what is written in the card this Akeli, Awaara, azad girl is holding. Since the day I have seen this t-shirt I have been wanting one, it is like it defines what I am. And I am proud of the fact. In this day and time when we are asked to be careful, coy and constrained in what we do. I really feel Alone, independent and awara (is there even an English word for awara, I know rouge & loafer could come close but they don’t quite cut it do they?) is the what we all should aspire to be. To break those barriers society is put around us. I have been working with Blank noise when they were a tiny little group and it’s amazing to see what @jasmeenpatheja has achieved over years in this area. @blanknoiseactionheroes are now everywhere and in each one of us when we raise our voice against harassment. Come join the fight and become an #actionhero today. Be the #AkeliAwaaraAzaad girl, be on your own, be unapologetic, be free! #sinamon #womenpower #blanknoise #metoo #metoomovement #claimingit #claimingmyspace #feminist #feminism #monikamanchanda
Actor , Director and Film Maker
Strawberries, white asparagus, concerts in the woods, Marina Abramovic… ha ha ha. (Ground Control to Major Tom…Put your head back on and get right back to earth, the country of your birth…) And wondering what does it mean to me, an Indian woman age 52 to wear a T-shirt with the legend Akeli, Awara, Azad? That would be Marina’s to wear easily and deservingly. Alone, Wild, Free. Like every child ever born, I was born with at least two qualities of the three. But, like almost every child ever born, the older I grew, as an Indian woman (I’m not overstating it, it’s part of the deal for better, worse or till it gets subverted), the less I felt of two qualities and more of the third. Too much has been said about why those two disappear. Schooling, socialisation and rank stupidity. But less is said about the millstones that are culture, family and tradition. They are wonderful and all, but boy, they’re heavy to shrug off. And in the eternal pursuit of lightness, they are mind numbingly hard to ignore. So wearing a t-shirt that seems to shout out, in tri-colour, that for a woman, an Indian woman, these are sexy, nay, desirable, nay, spiritual qualities is sublime. It recognises we follow in the tradition of many fabulous awaras and paris of yore. It says - I’m done with the finger, the grabs, the pain, the words, the shame, the horror, the eyes, the expectations, the stabs, the ice, the nicks, the cuts, the blows. Stick and stones, baby, plus, it’s getting boring. How long before, how long? My body has served me well. It has felt, it has sensed, it has loved, it has shut down, it has grown, it has flown, it has held my spirit. Therefore, more than my culture, family or tradition, My spirit remains, Yours truly, Akeli, Awaara, Azaad
Japleen Pascricha, Founder Feminism In India
"I have always considered myself as a one woman army, working alone, wandering alone, existing alone. For me, the Akeli Awaara Azaad tee-shirt says exactly that. I used to solo travel a lot earlier and these are the exact words that would define my experience. Maybe, I needed a reminder of that and this will help me experience my solo journey once again. Always a Akeli, Awaara Azaad aurat."
Varnika Kundu, DJ and Producer
Here's a little something I wrote, that for me, embodies what being Akeli Awaara Azaad means; ENOUGH with the questioning, Our choices, Our character, Our freedom, OUR VOICE! ENOUGH with the victim-shaming and victim-blaming, The finger-pointing, The hushed whispering, The silencing, The oppressing! ENOUGH With the treating us like we're not ENOUGH, Not good enough, Not delicate or strong enough, Not quiet or loud enough, Not assertive or submissive enough, Not free or restricted enough, Not opinionated or relevant enough, Not satisfied or dissatisfied enough, Not bold or meek enough, Not independent or dependent enough! ENOUGH! Our voices will resonate through the ages, To reclaim our lives, And our spaces, Our Rights and our freedom, TO RECLAIM OURSELVES AS PEOPLE, AS HUMANS, AS WOMEN! You can try to silence us, ignore us, demean us, hate us, But YOU WILL FAIL! We will be the undying whisper in every storm, in every crashing wave of revolution, AND WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS! THIS IS OUR TIME. We will take what's ours, unapologetically, and proudly. We are NOT afraid, But perhaps, you, whose thumbs are sore from holding us down, SHOULD BE! Here's to every single Indian woman being Azaad; From all the stereotypes and boxes that patriarchy tries so hard to put us in! LADIES, let's fight the good fight!! Here's to all the akeli awaara and azaad women of the world!
Gurmehar, Activist and Writer