Last Month at OFC | March 2020

Workshop: Digital Detox, Here Solutions, Bengaluru

Melita Menezes from our team conducted a workshop on digital detox and mental health on 5th March at Here Solutions in Bengaluru. The topics covered ranged from signs to understand digital dependency, techniques for digital detox outside work and at workplaces, activities to help in cutting down the usage of devices, digital decluttering and so on. Around 10 people participated in the same and shared great feedback.

Panel Discussion: Good Pitch, India

On the 4th of March, Vandita Morarka from our team was a part of the panel at Good Pitch, India that pledged support to the documentary ‘Dare to Dream’, one amongst the six brilliant documentaries pitched at the event. It was a humbling experience to see such a diverse room of people gathered to spark change through art and films.

Workshops: Alternative Justice, Mumbai and Bangalore

This International Women’s Day, we held a discussion in Mumbai on alternative justice practices with Sachi Maniar, Chintan Girish Modi, Siddharth Akali, Scherezade Siobhan and Yashna Vishwanathan. We were able to delve into different tools and approaches for justice and discussed, among other things, restorative practices, community accountability, power and privilege, systems of violence and narrative practices with a lens of understanding how we can provide transformative spaces for justice to our clients. We also held a parallel mini-workshop in Bangalore on the same day, where we looked at the anatomy of an apology as well as exploring the potential of alternative justice practices for our own work. This dialogue was facilitated by Uttanshi Agarwal from our team.

Panel Discussion: Women’s Day, ISB, Mohali

Our founder, Vandita Morarka was a speaker at ISB India, Mohali for Women’s Day 2020. She was a part of the panel that engaged on the theme of diversity and inclusion at the workplace. Vandita also conducted a workshop later in the day for the students at ISB on how they could be more inclusive managers.

Twitter Chat: Feminist Justice in Everyday Life

We hosted a Twitter conversation on Feminist Justice in Everyday Life on 18th March 2020. The conversation saw great participation and explored what feminist justice meant to each of us and how we can embody these co-created principles in our everyday lives.

Rainbow Club Meetup: Bangalore

The Rainbow Club is a safe community space for queer persons and their allies where they can engage in conversations, peer learning, and co-leadership development. The club runs across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and functions as a closed group. The club met on the 21st of March in Bangalore and hosted fulfilling discussions, sharing and co-learning.

Feminist Futures Virtual Meetup: Body Positivity to Body Neutrality

#FeministFutures is a curated space by One Future Collective that aims at engaging participants in critical inquiry and igniting dialogue on some of the most pressing issues of our time, with the aim of nudging behavioural shifts and building care. The Feminist Futures meetups are in person spaces for conversation on various themes towards this. The theme for this meetup, which was held on the 28th of March was body positivity to body neutrality. The meetup was a mix of facilitated conversations, activities and knowledge sharing.

Playlists: The Good Stuff

Our team members curated some feel good music titled ‘The Good Stuff’ on Spotify. These playlists are collections of Hindi, English and Instrumental music. To access these playlists, click here.

FemJustice Legal Aid Helpline: Extended service hours during COVID 19

As staying at home during this lockdown is not a safe option for many of us, we want to extend our legal advice and support services to those in need. In view of this, we are extending our FemJustice Helpline (+919019548792) service throughout the week to provide preliminary legal and mental health advice to survivors of gender based violence. The revised timings of the helpline are 12-2pm from Mondays to Wednesdays and 12-4pm on Thursdays and Fridays.

Campaign: Stories of Kindness

We recently launched our campaign themed ‘Stories of Kindness’ which will capture acts of kindness amongst friends and strangers which keep us going through difficult times. If you have a story to share that reflects an act of kindness that you may have done, that someone may have done for you or that you may have witnessed, do share the same with us here.

Support resources: During COVID 19

In the wake of the lockdown in progress in India owing to the global pandemic around Coronavirus or COVID 19, we have come up with a host of easy to read and share support resources. To know more about them, read below:

(1) What can we do as queer allies? To read more, click here.

(2) How can we manage anxiety during COVID 19? To read more, click here.

(3) How can you support someone who is living in an abusive household? To read more, click here.

(4) Workplaces have a responsibility. To read more, click here.

(5) Don’t fall for the capitalistic productivity trap during COVID 19. To read more, click here.

Upcoming events:

Sanskaari Girls Book Club Virtual Meetup: Poetry Reading and Sharing on the theme ‘Community’

The Sanskaari Girls Book Club will meet virtually on 19th April from 2-4pm to read, share and discuss poetry on and around the theme ‘Community’. To sign up, click here.

Virtual Certificate Courses

We have an engaging calendar of courses lined up for the next month with limited seats. To sign up for these courses, click here. Keeping in mind the COVID 19 crisis, we will donate 25% of what we raise from these courses towards immediate COVID relief efforts.

Feminist Futures Virtual Meetups

We will be hosting virtual meetups all through April and hold space and conversations that matter in these testing times. To sign up for these, click here.