Yes. This is the only news!

"Is this the only news you have?" asked the Chief Minister of Karnataka when asked about the measures taken by the government. 

Can he be any more insensitive?

This, and many such statements by our elected leaders, demonstrate their attitude towards their electorate. Can we rely on them to

run our country?  Can we rely on them to make the right policies and implement them?

All of us stayed out of political process and are now paying the price for it; we have to listen to such insensitive comments on a daily

basis from the so called democratically elected public representatives. It is time, we put our energies together to bring systemic

change.  As you know I'm working with Loksatta which has a great track record of bringing reform and enacting strong laws, even

without having elected representatives in the legislature.  

Our ultimate aim is to bring a REAL CHANGE in the current situation. Yes, some promises been made. But there is no clarity on timelines, or how they are going to do it. 

Eye wash measures, or some arrests just to keep public satisfied, are not acceptable.

With help from eminent women Leaders of Loksatta, Bangalore, we are drafting policy changes that will bring long lasting positive changes in our system. For example, there must be a known "Sexual offenders list" that is put in place and background verification MUST be done against that. That would have saved the child from VIBGYOR.

Ever since my petition on change.org went viral, I've been inundated with calls, messages, media - I realized that there is a huge dearth of leadership

in our society. Instead of waiting for some great leader to emerge, each of us must be the LEADERS and fight for change. I am committing to this

cause and will not rest until systemic changes are realized. I'm willing to go to every Minister, every Party, ever Legislator until we get it done.

Will you support me?  If yes, let's join together at Town Hall on Sunday 27th July at 11AM. Let's walk together to Freedom Park raising awareness

and sending a strong signal to our insensitive leaders that "YES, THIS IS THE ONLY ISSUE" and "IT MUST BE FIXED NOW"

Please. Not another child.

One more innocent child comes under sexual assault. And this time not just in some home or isolated place, it happened inside an upmarket school, that too during the school hours. This is a shock. If a high end school can’t ensure the safety of my child, then who can. I thought of my two young daughters. A shiver ran through my spine. I just thought what that child would be going through. How it will impact her outlook towards the world, how much of a pain she must have gone through. It rattled me. I felt breathless. On hearing that the school has shirked its responsibility off the whole affair, and in fact tried to hush it up, has enraged me further.

Its just not about this one child, in the last one week, there were unbelievable brutal attacks on women of all ages, from all strata of society. What’s wrong? How can I step out without fear of getting dragged in to a passing car. How do I walk on road anymore? I don’t want to live in fear. It’s my basic right to be able to live without fear, with dignity in a safe society. For long, we were complacent with ‘it didn’t affect me, so I don’t care’ kind of attitude.

I was perturbed. Disturbed beyond words.  “What can I do?”  These words haunted me.

I was clear. This time, I don’t want to sit back and cry.  I don’t want to control my emotions. I no more want to blame the world. I need to take charge. Let me do something, which will really create an impact, a long lasting one, which will be a beginning to the end of atrocities committed by mindless, cruel, digressed beings that are a shame to humanity.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it happen. But change.org seemed to give me a platform to express my anguish, to gather the support of like minded people, who don’t want to just sit and crib, but want to be the path to Action. I have signed many before, but for the first time, I started a petition by myself. Quickly it’s no more my fight; it became ‘OUR FIGHT’. Collectively, our voices have much larger impact, and I am intent upon taking everyone along with me in this journey to achieve our collective goal.

At almost the same time, I saw another petition started by another mother which was taking off online, much faster. I was glad that there is more support pouring in. It’s time we make ourselves Matter. It’s time the Government realizes we are not ones to be taken for granted.