कहूं किससे शिकायत करूं किस से कुछ चीजें छुपाऊं सबसे यह बता दून सबसे, क्या मेरी गलती थी, मेरी ही तो जिंदगी थी ।
अपनी ही तो खुशी चुनी, ले जाना चाहा उसने पहचान मेरी!
उससे क्या पता था पहचान तो मेरी मैंने बनाई!
एक सिलसिला सा था वह कहानी तो अभी शुरु हुई है।।
whom to talk to, whom to complain to should I speak up, or should I seal my lip?
Was it wrong to choose my happiness, my life?
In wanting to take away my identity, they forgot I created my name!
A chapter was for all to say, a story is yet to begin!
The Bollywood movie Pink portrayed the much broken up society, the patriarchal society where the voices of a female are slaughtered and suffocated under the ever-growing weight of the male ego, the superiority complex. They are blind-sighted with these presumptuous complexes that they are the best, everyone has to cater to their needs, so much so that in the country where we worship the goddess and create temples in her name, we forgo to listen to a simple NO. A no to a proposal, a no to being outshone by men, a no to having one’s life dictated by them!
The story starts with a bunch of people who wanted to strike this place from
their bucket list, life is said to be a journey and never a destination but stops are added to each step, the train ride!! Any trip is amazing if we have good company, the spreading smiles family then reaches the city of Taj, a new destination to this journey of life
The city of Taj holds the most beautiful stories, as described by the founder of Spreading
Smiles. Itika Sharma. A weekend getaway for Valentine's day celebration with the
people who define what beauty is, what love is! With most of the members working in the corporate world, it was a little difficult to manage the timing and at times it did feel like that the trip might not just happen…….but then again where there is a will there is a way.! Things fell into place and a weekend trip which started from Ambala city directly from everyone’s office sites and it did feel like “shayad train miss ho jayegi” We contacted the volunteers of sheroes through Instagram, and upon reaching the café, the experience was surreal such that words can’t do justice to it!
While the diversity within the members of spreading smiles is astonishing. Gursimrat
Ganda, a graphic designer by
profession who came in contact with this organization almost 2-3 years back in our evergreen event Kalakriti. He expressed how he felt a little anxious that his human side will react to the reality of someone’s life. Enigma of feelings, a flood door came open, anticipating how he will feel, will he feel anxious or empathetic, it was a turmoil of feelings! But it felt like coming home. Remembering the day, when they decorated the entire café and surprised the entire family of Sheroes, the smiles and the excitement was enough to make anyone’s life light up like Diwali! Talking about this valentine there, a young girl who gushed and blushed all around on opening her card and reading it through. That smile, that happiness, he said," The look on her face, that smile made this entire trip worthwhile."
As a gesture of appreciation, a token from the spreading smiles family was given, in
the form of handmade cards which were addressed by name for each member of Sheroes family, a bunch of table calendars, and mugs carrying the spreading smiles logo and key chains with pictures on them! A memento for the truckload of endless memories we have created for our lifetime!!!
The problem is addressed, it is talked about to the extent only where they can question a woman’s integrity.
Happiness is settled in how one perceives life, tackles the problems whether as lemons or as lemonades, these words are good enough when we read them out of fiction work. The first thing people notice when one will enter the room is our appearance, materialistic one can say but how can someone know about you? By the first look, it takes time and patience to make an opinion. It's not the appearance that gets noticed but it's the air of confidence that surrounds us.
Each person has a story, every story has a different path but the bottom line is to rise like a phoenix because what is yours will be yours and no one can take that away from you.
Once a dream to give back to society, a dream to live to spread smiles. One of the places on our bucket list was to visit Sheroes café in Agra and Lucknow, a café run solely by acid attack survivors is the beacon of courage and survival.
Talking to the co-founder of Sheroes, Mr. Ashish from the Agra outlet. With a journalism background and an intriguing way of expressing himself, hearing by the first-person context of stories of the struggles and the way to victory, a step towards change.
The beginning is always tough, to bring life into a dream is a scary journey, but somewhere someone has to take the first step. What started as a dream of making a change, the pledge to have an acid attack is considered as an offense under Chapter XV of IPC which covers offenses against the human body. Therefore, acid attack provisions under section 326A and 326B of IPC cover the acid attacks against all genders. Acid Attack was recently introduced as a separate offense under the Indian Penal Code through the Criminal (Amendment) Act, 2013.
After achieving this milestone, the next milestone was to have a stable income source to help the survivors learn to be financially independent.
The story started with a mother-daughter duo, who was a victim to this heinous crime by their husband and father respectively, due to lack of financial independence and stereotype from the society they were forced to live with the same person. The idea to open up a shop for them surfaced but then the problem of being unskilled was still an issue, so ultimately, on the 10th of December 2014, Sheroes Hangout was born with 5 acid attack survivors. Stepping into the industry which is mostly about presentation it was indeed a challenge, a structure that represents strength, choice, and the will to live as a whole.
6 years down the line now Sheroes Hangout has two outlets and has served 8-9 lakh people till now.
Since 2013-2020 there have been 1200-1300 acid attack cases.
The fact that acid attack, rape threats are a thing says a lot about how it is not a matter of lack of self-control but often a tool to punish and control others.
Change is a stepping stone, the struggle is real!
A new day will be here, with new beginnings will reveal !!
Faith unveils when one believes✨ dawn will arrive when dusk leaves ❤️
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