Violence on women is invisible, say women activists

A seminar on ‘Speaking of violence’ was held in the campus for media students on Thursday. The event saw speakers from Vimochana – a popular NGO working towards the welfare of women in the city. Donna Fernandes, a founding member of the organisation, together with Madhu Bhushan and Anitha, both active members, shared their experiences on working with women who have suffered violence at the hands of family and society.

Ms Bhushan said, “Marriage is becoming a violent institution. A woman is blamed if she voices her opinion against it. Either way women are trapped.” She added, “Patriarchy is operating in different ways in society. It can be through father being the main head of the family or external forces like Pramod Mutalik controlling women through their ideologies.”
The seminar began with a screening of video clippings of women who have been victims of violence at the hands of men. Throughout the seminar Ms Fernandes raised a number of serious issues related to women such as violence against women, female infanticide, dowry harassment, sexual abuse, domestic violence and equality in family. The presentation concentrated more on empowerment of women and their rightful place in society. It gave details on how the educated class still believes in sustaining a male dominated society with set norms for women.
Ms Bhushan also said, “Women are visible but violence on women is invisible. Violence has become routine in every women’s life, but it fails to evoke responses from a common citizen.”
Ms Anitha mainly focused on reflections about media, violence and its resistance. She particularly analysed the role of the new media such as internet and its effects on society. She spoke about how most of social networking sites such as facebook and twitter had their own agenda in attracting the audience. “These websites are powerful tools and vehicles for mobilising public opinion as a political force, empowering citizenry in influencing the state,” she maintained.

- Pavithra TG I MS Com

Dramatics team wins at ENACT

The College dramatics team continued its good show of the year by winning the ENACT a festival of theatre and street plays competition organised by St Joseph’s Commerce College recently. The play ‘The Last Hour’ was written and directed by Ravi Kiran of II PEM.

The theme of the play was a ‘Reflection on Global warming’. Ravi Kiran said, “We have shown global warming through a person’s dream. A person sees dreams of destruction.” The play questions the audiences towards the end ‘Is there any way that we can make our mother earth a better place?’, he said. “The play is basically a black comedy, full of sarcasm and elements of seriousness are shown,” he added.

Ravi Kiran won the best actor award in the team, and the best overall actor was Ravindranath K of II PEM. As regards their next plans, Ravi Kiran said, “We want to build on the current team and continue in the coming years. And also we are planning for another play in Xavier hall towards the end of the year.”

- Menuka Chhetri I M S Com

Visages gathers talents in Indian cultures

The campus was agog with cultural extravaganza for two consecutive days on February 13 and 14 when over 30 colleges came to showcase their talents in the colourful festival ‘Visages’, the festival of cultures. There were 23 events that made up the mammoth festival.

Karnataka Sahitya Academy award winner and well-known literary critic, T.P Ashok inaugurated the event. He said, “Culture means different forms of life. It is a very large world and people have different ways of life, various food habits and culture. We can’t say certain cultures are superior or certain kinds of culture are inferior.”

Dr Farial Shaik, the cultural co-coordinator said, “Today St Joseph’s College has given the youth an opportunity to represent the different cultures of India, making this ‘Visages’ a cultural festival with a difference.”

The first day of ‘Visages’ saw twelve events and several ice breaker sessions, which kept the participants occupied. Dance drama, advertising campaign, western acoustics and laugh out loud were some of the most popular events of the day.

Dance drama called up good choreography skills, as the performers were supposed to tell a story through the art form of dance. The team from Jyothi Nivas College (JNC) won the competition with their excellent depiction of identity.

Advertising campaign challenged the performers to entertain and educate the audience about a particular social issue. Serious issues such as prostitution, plight of the differently abled, transgender issues etc. were enacted humorously and sensitively by the participants. St Joseph’s College won the event.

Western Acoustics was the name of the event, but participants performed a cappella versions of the western songs they chose. “Good old acoustics is any day better than a cappella, but sadly all the participants sang a cappella,” said Dr Berin Lukas the judge of the event. The girls from Mount Carmel College (MCC) won the event.

Laugh out loud was clearly the most popular event of the day which got the maximum cheers from the crowd. St John’s Medical College secured the first place and Oxford college of Science was the runner-up.

The second day of ‘Visages’ had eleven events, some of the popular ones being ‘Western Solo’, ‘Songs of India’, ‘Personality’ and ‘Dance of India’.

Western solo gave an opportunity to musically talented individuals to showcase their voice as well as their skill in an instrument of their choice. Steven from St John’s Medical College won the event. He sang Bob Deylon’s famous number ‘blowing in the wind’.

The group from SJC won the first place in ‘Songs of India’. They rendered a Manipuri song which received much cheer.

‘Personality’ event judged the participants on several criteria like ability to handle a crowd, pressure, etc. After three grueling sessions Mr Personality was awarded to Rahul from Vijaya College and Ms Personality to Alexandra from St John’s College of Nursing.

The final Event of visages was dance of India, where the participating groups were asked to depict through dance the culture of the country. Rural Karnatic folk dances, Tamil Nadu folk dances, ‘tapang’ (street dance), etc were some of the themes which participants performed.

“Visages was good as there were many new events which I never saw in other colleges. I also learnt new criteria of judging talent,” said Rosemary, one of the participants from St John’s College.

Xavier Prasad’s dance moves and the DJ Marshal and DJ Vivian’s clever selection of music was the perfect end to Visages.

- Sidharth Gokul, I MS Com