Mandals deserve credit for creating awareness

Devotees carry an idol of Lord Ganesha to a pandal from the Parel workshop. Pic/Shadab Khan

Several Ganesh mandals across the city are highlighting the importance of women's safety. One of the mandals will hold a workshop to teach kids about good and
bad touch.

The topic is certainly one that will resonate, given that protests against the rape-murder of a young doctor in Kolkata, which has had the nation on the boil for several weeks now.

It is a good initiative as Ganesh mandals have a ready audience, with devotees making their way for worship. For a while now, mandal organisers have looked for topics that strike a chord with devotees or one that is in the news. There have been campaigns on mandal premises about the importance of blood donation. In 2009, a year after the Mumbai terror attacks, some of our bravehearts found a place in these mandals.

Given the huge numbers that visit mandals to seek blessings, the demographic is varied too. The medium through which the message is sent is also powerful and memorable. When we combine the divine and a social message, it is a mix that works.

We must remember too, that a lot of children visit mandals along with their parents or entire extended families. This means even children will learn about the import of women's safety and gender relations. This is surely a meaningful way of including them in the conversation and getting them thinking about women's safety.

We want to see festivals used as a platform to send messages, create awareness and bring about social change. When one has such a huge platform, it makes sense to use it as a launch pad for awareness, transformation or even re-affirmation.

Today, we need all avenues to emphasise women's safety. Credit to mandals, which believe in keeping pace with the times.