IACM 2012: A Report

[This report has been lying in 'draft mode since May 20... now it's out!]


Two hundred and fifty nine red candles flickered in the hot summer breeze and policemen cleared the way for them to move unobstructed through one of Patna’s busiest thoroughfares: the one that encircles its historic central park: the Gandhi Maidan. 

This was the 29^th International AIDS candlelight memorial, organized by us for the 8^th time in Bihar.

Some volunteers

This event, where we remember those lives lost to AIDS, takes place on the 3^rd Sunday of May every year. It’s known as the greatest AIDS grassroots event worldwide, with about 115 countries reporting memorials in about 500 places.

How does one organize a civil society event around an issue that is still tip-toed around? One searches for like- minded people, generous people, who will come together for a cause because they believe in compassion, brotherly love, and human rights.

The Patna IACM has always been a simple affair. A quiet coming together of people to pause for a moment, and renew their own commitment to try as much as possible to stamp out prejudice and discrimination.

The marchers

As a poem read out at the memorial said,

 “We are the victims/ not of an invincible virus  /  hunting the blood of man… We are the victims, not of a dangerous disease unleashing death on us …We are the victims, not of HIV/AIDS  / wiping mankind from the face of earth/like ripples of death spreading across lives.

We are the victims/ Victims of the virulent virus / Victims of the violent virus unleashed from the diseased heart of this infected world we live in.

Victims of a world, too prejudiced to see /that we are the victims /and they, our virus”

The people who made the event possible

 Mrs M Rizvi , who brought along several students from her school, Rose Bud. These students practiced a song and performed beautifully. Even though their school was closed for the summer vacation, these twenty kids came to say, “We believe that we should not discriminate against those living with HIV. We look forward to a time when there will be no more HIV infection.”

Mrs Rizvi and Ms Lal

The students of Kamala Nehru Shishu Vihar, sang ‘malik tere bande hum’ a bit out of tune and fumbled their words. The reason, their school had closed for the holidays, but they bravely appeared to do their bit, never mind that they hadn’t practiced.

The piece that set the tone of the evening was the beautiful Hindi song ‘Tera hai zameen, teri aasman,’ sung by the nurses from Holy family hospital – ‘O lord, yours is the land and the sky, you are the lord of everything and we are yours….’ Beautiful words.

Dr Diwakar Tejaswi handled the media, and Nitin Chandra one of Bihar’s regional celebrity film makers also was there to light a candle. Several college students from Patna Women’s College  brought along friends and family.

There were the Unicef Advocacy officer and Unicef HIV AIDS Officer; an official from Bihar State Aids Society, ten volunteers from the Indian Red Cross, and several photographers from the local media. Though some PLHA were present in the gathering, it was unfortunate that the Bihar Network of Positive people (BNP+) representative couldn’t attend.

The beauty of the event lies in its participatory nature: somebody contributes the drinking water, another pays for the ice. The rector of St. Xavier's gave us the use of his grounds and electricity. Sambad, the HIV helpline graciously printed all the banners.

The AASRA Angels: Asha Lata, Chandra Nisha, Shanti Ghimire, Manoj, Aaryan Raj, Mantosh,and several other youngsters and volunteers such as Prem, Danish, Amrit, Pranesh, Anugya, Aprajita, Shadman, manu Smriti, and Ajit handled all the aspects of the event. from registration, to decoration, to the final cleaning up after the event.

This year, some more events are planned as follow-up activity as soon as the scorching summer heat subsides.