Online Desk
For the last two months, singer Chinmayi has not had a moment to spare. Unfazed by the abuse, hate and criticism she gets online for taking a stand against sexual harassment, she is now focusing on offering a helping hand to those whose lives have been turned upside down by the lockdown.
So, how did it start?
“People usually ask me to sing songs for the birthdays of friends and relatives or any other special occasion, so I thought why not do this to help the poor and needy who are struggling during the lockdown?” she said.
She has not turned back since then. Till date, Chinmayi has recorded close to 2,200 songs, raised more than Rs 50 lakh and continued to take requests for songs to gather funds for charity.
This wasn’t a one-woman task, of course. From government teachers to people in the cinema industry, auto drivers and friends of friends, Chinmayi says many helped her through the process of identifying people who are in need of money and essentials.
“We were able to help close to a thousand families get the funds they need and 400-500 families to get groceries. The list includes fishermen and tribals.”
Amid this arduous task, one thing the singer reiterates constantly is how many including her are privileged to have a roof over their heads and food to eat.
“There were many migrant labourers who desperately needed money. I would get voice notes of them crying for help as they’ve lost their jobs and livelihoods. Some of them would have physically or mentally challenged children and wouldn’t have enough funds to take care of them and all these would make me cry. It was an extremely humbling experience.”
On the other hand, people have asked Chinmayi to also get their favourite actors to wish them, but she laughs and politely declines. Talking about the most recorded song she said that in Tamil, many requests reached her to sing ‘Kadhale kadhale’ and ‘Oru deivam thantha poove’, and in Telugu, the song that is on the top of the chart is ‘Priyathama’. But she underlines that even if it was for a good cause, the continuous singing did take a toll on her.
“There was one day where I recorded almost 120 songs. It drove me crazy and I decided to take a two-day break to ease the exhaustion.”
While all of this goes on, she is fighting another battle simultaneously. One look at her timeline and you’ll spot numerous posts on feminism, sexual harassment, misogyny, social media trolls and so on.
Chinmayi explains, “Young boys studying medicine and commerce who are not more than 20-21 years old use swear words immediately when they disagree with an opinion of mine and nobody calls them out. A few of them have said they would insert a rod into me and ask for forgiveness later but I file a case with the cyber cell anyway and ask them to face the consequences.”
“Fan wars in Telugu and Tamil go to the extent of abusing the children of artistes, openly threatening to rape them and even morphing the images of their spouses,” she said, adding that it makes her scared for the future of girls from the next generation.
Chinmayi also asserts, “At least for the next 10 years, we have to keep repeating our rights, call out misogynistic attitudes and oppose sexual harassment, but it will take at least a generation for the mentality of men, families and laws around us to change. It took the death of Sarika Shah for the government to take street harassment laws seriously. It took the death of Nirbhaya for rape laws to be taken seriously. Even though we emphasize about animal cruelty, it took the death of an elephant for us to take these laws seriously.”
Ask her what she feels about the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the criticism of Bollywood celebrities not responding to the migrant labourers’ crisis and other issues, she says many don’t want to speak against the establishment.
“There is so much at stake. They think about the consequences of whether it would affect their personal and professional lives and hence don’t get into the issue. If only people did the right thing, do you think India would be the way it is today?”
Thousands of hate messages and threats later, when posed with the question of what she would tell her younger self, she says, “Even my younger self wouldn’t have been able to file a case against Vairamuthu. To the younger self of mine who has wondered if there will be any light at the end of the dark tunnel, I would say ‘Don’t worry, your life would be much better.’”
Source: The New Indian Express