International Women's Day

Trip Start Jan 15, 2007
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Trip End Mar 2007


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Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Today happens to be International Women's Day. I believe it was started in the seventies in order to bring attention to women's issues. I, however, had never heard of it until I came to India. It seems that in the US, perhaps we women don't need so much attention (I disagree), so no mention of it is made there. Here, though, I received countless text messgaes from my Indian friends wishing me a happy day. It is nice to be celebrated.

At Holi on Sunday, Sky and I made the acquaintance of some people working in the medical sector here. Some of the people worked for an organization called Doctors Without Borders, while another was an Indian doctor, Asa, who has started a charity here in Bombay. As it turned out, today she held a rather special event for the Ojus Medical Center: a presentation of awards to women who have been working in the slums here. These women come from the slums themselves, yet devote their spare time to educating the others about HIV, teaching skills which can be later used to make money, and doing other such work. They are the unsung heroes here, and Asa wanted to have a special day to honor them and thank them for their work.

Much to my delight, she asked Sky and myself if we would be willing to help out at the ceremony. Because Bombay is home to Bollywood, which is such a huge industry, anyone connected in any way to that sector is looked up to and admired. As models here, and particulary because we are foreign, Asa felt that the women would feel special having us present them with their certificates of appreciation.

So, we headed to the now defunct Tulip Star Hotel, where an awning has been set up and joined the other distinguished guests (they being much more honorable than ourselves-- Doctors and other dignateries). It was such a special day, with presentations, and a play dealing with the relevant issues of rape, bride burning, and AIDS. Finally, it came our turn to present the certificates.

It was so wonderful, this interaction with these women from Bombay. They live in slums, yet each one was impeccably dressed. They were happy to recognized and beamed with pleasure. Afterwards, they shyly came up to us and wanted to shake our hands. How nice it is to get away from the daily grind of castings and do something meaningful and important.

As the day closed, Asa took Sky and I down to the nearby beach to stroll in the sand. I had my first coconut water-- sipped through a straw from the round sphere of the coconut. We ate roasted peanuts and roasted corn. And, yes, we even saw a monkey dance. (Poor guy, on a leash!)
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