The awareness programme called Aman Chowk, was curated with workshops on gender justice, dances, music and speeches.
Women in Bengaluru organised an event for raising awareness about violence against women. This was part of the global ‘One Billion Rising’ movement. The movement began in 2013, when the United Nations declared that one in every three women experiences rape or sexual violence in her lifetime. The awareness programme called Aman Chowk, was curated with workshops, dances, music and speeches. It was conducted amidst fears that the gathering would be disrupted by a protest march, purportedly supported by MP Tejasvi Surya, called “Bengaluru stands united against anti-nationals”, from Mico layout, Bannerghatta. However, the police denied permission for that event. This "solidarity meeting" was held at Jayanagar's Kittur Rani Chennamma basketball stadium. Women came from far and wide to join the gathering. The women from Mahila Sanghas (women's groups) came from Hesarghatta, Anekal, and Kolar. The threat of the event being disrupted dissuaded many from joining in, however, the programme still went ahead. Women put up posters of the first page of the Constitution from previously-held Preamble workshop for children, as well as reading material on the Karnataka government's minority schemes. Women from the Sadhana Mahila Sanghas stitched together a fabric display made of colourful squares of cloth to make a “harmony quilt”. All this was to prepare for the "Aman Chowk", which means harmony square. The protest was first organised at Russel Market, but the police clamped down on it before it even happened. The women then had to think about how to take the movement forward, even as protest venues were continuously being withdrawn, with the police demanding a large bond to hold a protest, or even denying permission for holding the protest. Post the various citizen uprisings and the arrest of student protesters for making politically inflammatory speeches, the landscape needed to change as it could provoke people from two different viewpoints to clash, organisers said. Instead, they wanted to have a multicultural program where women could learn something. “At a protest, people shout slogans, but what do the people get? We wanted to hold these workshops for gender justice, on the constitution, and for harmony, so that people get empowered by the knowledge they gain and the interactions they share,” said Madhu Bhushan, an activist and one of the organisers of Aman Chowk. For example, the ‘Manasina Harike’, or tree of wishes was compared to going to a temple and putting your wishes in. “The current political climate gives me great sadness, but I also take pride that the protest movement, which could have become a Muslims-only one has become big, because women from various backgrounds have joined and added their voices,” said Roohi Afza, one of the women at the discussion. At the Gender Violence and Justice workshop, the women discussed domestic violence, and they agreed that even the first instance of violence needed to be condemned. After the workshops, the women gathered together to watch performances from singers like Pallavi MD and Akkai Padmashali, a street play, and dances. Finally, there was a speech by Su Sarasawati, which highlighted the need to improve the number of people affected by sexual violence, and the need for people from various backgrounds to come together for this. She said, "In Kannada, we don't even have a way to say 1 billion, because it’s such a big number. Instead, let's have crores and crores of prayers for peace and harmony, and for stopping violence against women," proclaimed Su Sarasawati.
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