I had begun an
ambitious project last December. Through many different platforms, I had the
opportunity to
Last December, I
remember thinking to myself one night that I wanted to use my voice in a way
that it would be heard, in a way that people would know that my voice would
count, too.
I was already doing
that – screaming through my own blog and whining occasionally on the kind and
bountiful space that another would offer me every now and then. I had friends
who shared a similar passion – and needed a little space to get out there. So I
decided that I’d tie in my second book with an organisation that would be the
voice of girls and women everywhere.
When I started the Red
Elephant Foundation, I found myself wondering why I chose the name that I did.
I’m not sure how it came to be – it just happened.
I remember my memory
was once likened to that of an elephant. So I decided I’d use an elephant as a
reference point for the initiative since we were going to be engaged in telling
stories that the world should do well to remember. I chose red – because, well,
who doesn’t remember something red waving in their faces?
But that was only the
initial thought. With time, I realised that there was a deeper significance to
the elephantine connotation – one that life’s amazing ways found a way to make
happen. And that made me realise that we have a place in the universe. This amazing web-resource put it in neat words that I quote below:
“Elephants form deep family bonds and live in
tight matriarchal family groups of related females called a herd. The herd is
led by the oldest and often largest female in the herd, called a matriarch.
Herds consist of 8-100 individuals depending on terrain and family size. When a
calf is born, it is raised and protected by the whole matriarchal herd.”
“Elephants are extremely intelligent animals
and have memories that span many years. It is this memory that serves
matriarchs well during dry seasons when they need to guide their herds,
sometimes for tens of miles, to watering holes that they remember from the
past. They also display signs of grief, joy, anger and play.”
Unwittingly, I’d named
my initiative after a symbol of matriarchy – a symbol of a world quite the
opposite of ours, where the females are given the respect they deserve.
So there you go.
That’s why it is the Red Elephant.
Over the next 16 Days,
we have a couple of things happening at the Red Elephant Foundation. Our most
valuable one is the Real Men Campaign, which is our mission to aim for equality
by including men and male perspectives in the rhetoric of gender equality. Join
us for a fortnight of thought-provoking pieces, insightful poetry and prose,
and touching verbosity through these posts. Next up, we have a series of
screenings at Chennai, a couple of films devoted to the cause of this year’s
theme for the 16 Days of Activism. Do hop on board, watch them and stick around
for the discussions we’d like you to be a part of, after each screening. Keep
an eye out for our twitter stream and a bout of live tweeting that we will be
engaging all through the sixteen days! Finally, we’re launching a series of
Activism tools through the sixteen days, in the hope that you will be inspired
to take informed action for women and girls across the world.
Last but not the least
– and on a personal note at that - I lost my grandmother on Wednesday last week. I’d like to
dedicate this whole campaign to her.
Let the Activism begin!