This Valentine’s Day, Gyaan Adab sought to speak about a subject most would not associate with the day of love, but which forms an integral aspect of a woman’s experience of the world.
The members of the group called Anti-Rape Squad, headed by Aditi from IAPAR, performed “A Rapist in Your Path”; a Chilean anti-rape protest song that has been translated into over 100 languages, including Hindustani. Written by the feminist collective, ‘Las Tesis’, it has been performed at protests in over 100 countries.
On the 14th of February, we invited the Anti-Rape Squad to perform this piece at Gyaan Adab. A preliminary performance was staged outside the Kalyani Nagar Jogger’s Park, after which we rushed back to our space for a second round. The expressive characterizations of women in the song only developed more strongly as they built to the accusatory climax. The point-blank gazes of the performers were enough to send a shiver down anyone’s spine, and to truly make us question the society we live in and its decay that has brought us to this point of dehumanizing people.
Evocative and eye-opening, the performance led to a dynamic discussion that brought together people and perspectives from different walks of life.
