This 26th January was different for me. The different thing was that I attended a workshop which made me aware of self defense techniques. No, this was not some technical training session where you would be given a martial art training or shown some other steps. This was exclusively dealing with situations. How would you act when someone holds your hand or tries to choke you or does a head lock? How would you wriggle out of the situation? How you can overpower the other person with moves and not by strength?
The Fight Abuse Workshop was a collaboration between F5Connect and 1Million against Child/Adult Sexual Abuse campaign. F5Connect solely aims at connecting people who need help to people who can offer help. This is a non profit initiative of SocialF5 a social media company and they intend to connect social service with social media. On the other hand the 1Million against Child/Adult Sexual Abuse campaign is run by Pranaadhika Sinha Devburman. Her campaign’s mission is to educate people, prevent sexual violence and promote a safer world for people. She looks forward to empowering 1 Million people.
So I landed up at this initiative of the two enterprising individuals and the session certainly made me aware of many things like how you have ‘weapons’ in your handbag which you can use for safety like a pointed handle comb which if used at a sensitive spot on a person’s chest can hurt a lot. I learned you don’t need pepper spray actually, if you use Volini spray or any other pain reliever that can be very effective. I got to know how the eyebrow tweezers, keys and pens can be used effectively.
What was the most important message which was given by the trainer Dave Chakrabarti, was that don’t get into altercation if you can avoid it, run for safety, inform people of your whereabouts. Some other people shared many inputs like you need to note down the cab number which you are travelling in and send it across to your friends and family. Use Google Latitude if you have a compatible phone as it can help in tracking. Your aim should be to run away from the situation rather than hurting your attacker. I got to know some moves which of course has to be practiced well so that you can use them effectively.
What I really liked about the event was the way the girls were enthusiastically practicing all the moves. We live in a strange world really where there is danger at each and every step and the fact that you are preparing for that with a smile matters a lot. We need this attitude to fight abuse, don’t we?
