Ring the bell to show your support screams the tagline of the 'Bell Maadi' campaign which began in the city on November 12th. In its 6th year of edition, the campaign urges men to act against domestic violence. With actor Ramesh Aravind as its brand ambassador, 'Bell Maadi' calls out to you, to ring the door bell of your neighbour's house if you know there is some sort of violence, to make the abuser know that someone is watching him.
A campaign that was initiated by Breakthrough, a global human rights institution, it promises to challenge the community at large and bring about change in the simplest of ways. Sonali Khan, the vice-president of Breakthrough, says that the project was started with the motive of connecting to the problem of domestic violence. “We needed to break stereotyping and start a small drive against domestic violence. And with the media flashing news about abusing helpless women we wanted to act in a simple way than to start a movement or a rally," says Sonali.
The crusade involves a video van which runs for 14 days and covers different parts of Karnataka from Bengaluru, Tumkur, Mandya, Udipi and Dakshina Kannada. An interactive campaign it has multiple ways and methods to tackle the issue with street plays, puppet shows, training modules and simulation games to involve public interaction. Vani Periodi, the programme director of the event says that the message would impact the quality of life. “People are worried about their safety when they speak out about domestic abuse but with such a simple gesture of ringing the bell, they feel it is easier."
Explaining about the impact that the movement has made, Vani recalls a story during one of her travels “Many people walk up to us and speak about how they could have saved their daughter if the neighbours were aware of such actions. And moreover, there was a young school boy who had asked us to come to his village to conduct the show as he wanted the people from his village to benefit from the message." Speaking about the movement actor Ramesh Aravind says, “Providing daily needs like food and shelter does not make one a man. We all work hard, but drinking or harassing family members is no solution." He adds, “To be a real man, stop domestic violence at your own home first and ring the bell in your neighbourhood"
