Come visit my home, be my guest -Governance Now

Come visit my home, be my guest

A campaign launched by Shabnam Hashmi appeals to people to visit the house of someone from another community to break socially constructed barriers

Pranita Kulkarni | July 14, 2017 | New Delhi

#society #Shabnam Hasmi #campaign #communal violence

After massive participation in the #NotInMyName campaign initiated by filmmaker Saba Dewan – a peaceful protest against rising communal hatred in the country, another campaign along similar lines is being launched by social activist Shabnam Hashmi.

The campaign ‘Mere ghar aa ke to dekho’ (‘Come visit my home, be my guest’) is directed to change the preconceived notions and opinions that we hold about people belonging to another community, class, caste, religion, sexual orientation, language, region etc.

Hashmi has appealed to the people to meet at least one family from a different community in order to understand their life and culture. The objective is simple and direct, people must go to each other's house eat and drink tea, or even just water, and break the socially constructed barriers.

The three-day-campaign will officially begin on July 20 and participants will be asked to upload selfies clicked with the family they’ve visited on a Facebook page, with the hashtag #SelfieWithGuest.

People's organisations, activists, schools and colleges from different cities and towns have been called upon to coordinate, participate and encourage people to be a part of the campaign.

Hashmi says that the idea came to her mind as she herself has been perturbed by the kind of hatred and violence being propagated across the country. “One of the reasons why this happens is segregation. I have extensively worked in Gujarat, and there, there are areas and there are borders. On one side there are Hindus, and on the other side, there are Muslims. This ghettoisation of both the communities is happening everywhere,” she says.

Hashmi thinks that people have strong prejudices against the queer community, the Muslims, the Christians and Hindus – upper caste and lower caste. “So, we thought that we’ll try this. This is a very small experiment; not that it is going to change much, but we’ve given this call. After meeting these families, if there is even a small difference in their thinking, we have asked them to make a video in which they can talk about their experience, and send it to us,” she adds.

Photographs and videos of your interaction can be sent on WhatsApp on any of the following numbers: 9911016957 / 9811137421 / 8373940162 / 9979704474 / 9555999150 / 7503227553 / 8826768793 / 9818809018

For more information you can contact: Shabnam Hashmi - 9811807558, Abha Bhaiya - 8629863963, Leena – 9811137421 and Ovais - 9911016957/ 011 41670722

Comments

Other News

Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure released

The final ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure’ by ‘India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development’ was released in New Delhi on Monday. The Task Force was led by the

How the Great War of Mahabharata was actually a world war

Mahabharata: A World War By Gaurang Damani Sanganak Prakashan, 317 pages, Rs 300 Gaurang Damani, a Mumbai-based el

Budget expectations, from job creation to tax reforms…

With the return of the NDA to power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, all eyes are now on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s full budget for the FY 2024-25. The interim budget presented in February was a typical vote-on-accounts, allowing the outgoing government to manage expenses in

How to transform rural landscapes, design 5G intelligent villages

Futuristic technologies such as 5G are already here. While urban users are reaping their benefits, these technologies also have a potential to transform rural areas. How to unleash that potential is the question. That was the focus of a workshop – “Transforming Rural Landscape:

PM Modi visits Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh in Moscow

Prime minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by president Vladimir Putin, visited the All Russian Exhibition Centre, VDNKh, in Moscow Tuesday. The two leaders toured the Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh. The Rosatom pavilion, inaugurated in November 2023, is one of the largest exhibitions on the histo

Let us pledge to do what we can for environment: President

President Droupadi Murmu on Monday morning spent some time at the sea beach of the holy city of Puri, a day after participating in the annual Rath Yatra. Later she penned her thoughts about the experience of being in close commune with nature. In a message posted on X, she said: