By Trina Talukdar | Cofounder
Happy Diwali to all of you from all of us at Kranti! Diwali is the festival of light. While it is a Hindu festival, regardless of our religious beliefs, Diwali symbolizes the end of darkness with light, it symbolizes the victory of good over evil, light bringing prosperity and happiness into our lives. The victory of light over darkness or good over evil is not just outside us, not just between us and someone else. A lot of the time it is an internal battle of darkness and light within us.
At Kranti we heavily resonate with this internal struggle between darkness and light. As you know, at Kranti we work with daughters of sex workers from Mumbai’s Red Light Areas. The girls, who we call Krantikaris (revolutionaries!) have faced so much trauma, exclusion, discrimination and abuse growing up, they are often in a dark place in their minds and hearts. But through therapy, meditation, Yoga, emotional support from a community of other girls who have been in the same place as us, and other wellbeing practices, we can bring light, healing and happiness into our lives, to dispel the darkness.
But even this, is not a one-time process only. We find light, our source of happiness, that makes us less anxious, depressed, triggered traumatized – for some of the Krantikaris their light is the art they make, for some the poetry they write, for some it’s being loved by others in the community. But, the darkness sometimes comes back, and we have to find our light again, maybe the same thing, maybe something else, to dispel the darkness. It is a continuous battle between good choices and choices harmful for us, between being in a dark place and finding happiness, and over and over we have to find our light, healing and joy. Perhaps that’s why Diwali comes every year!
This is not just true of the Krantikaris, but of all of us, no matter who we are or what life experiences we have had. We are all constantly negotiating between good and evil within us. We have all been in a dark place and looked for our light. So, this Diwali, we wish light takes over all darkness in your mind, heart and life. We have been some of the darkest places and found our light, so take it from us – there is always light at the end of the tunnel!
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