AIDS campaigners warn Navratri revellers looking for sex

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Aids campaigners warn Navratri revellers looking for sex

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2004 09:56:39 PM ]

AHMEDABAD/VADODARA/ SURAT: Education minister Anandiben Patel hates

to be reminded of her comment that number of abortions rise in

Gujarat a couple of months after Navratri. But, four years after the

state's women and child welfare minister made this statement, little

has changed as NGOs take it upon themselves to turn the Navratri

celebrations into a one big classroom for sex education.

As the state kicked off its nine nights of gay abandon on Thursday,

talking about birds and bees is not a taboo. If plans are afoot to

approach couples headed towards garba venues for a `chat' on safe

sex, condoms are being distributed freely and condom vending machines

installed in hotels.

" That sexual activity is on the rise during Navratri is no more a

secret, " says Lakshman Malodiya, director of Ahmedabad AIDS Control

Society (AACS). The society, anticipating a rise in unwanted

pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases, has asked the 26 NGOs

in Ahmedabad working in the field of AIDS awareness to directly

address the youth, the high risk group, by hitting garba venues and

advocate safe sex.

" We do not want to hurt their sentiments but wish to empower them by

offering them advice and condoms, " he adds.

" Our volunteers will be talking to youngsters hanging out at

restaurants and outside clubs on the SG Highway in Ahmedabad,

advocating safe sex measures, " says Manuni Upadhyay, project director

of KH Jani Charitable Trust.

" We are distributing pamphlets to couples spotted in the vicinity of

garba venues, " says Bharat Kinariwala of Quality Circle, another NGO.

Extending condoms to the youth will be an important part of the

campaign. In Vadodara, Vikas Jyot Trust, an NGO, has installed condom

vending machines in 25 hotels frequented by couples during Navratri.

Even the room boys have been asked to keep at least 10 condoms with

them.

" Passing on condoms through room boys is more effective than even

vending machines. Over the past year, we have built relations with

hotel managers and room boys to achieve this, " says the trust's

project director Kamlesh Bhatt.

" Every Navratri,we have young girls in chaniya cholis walking in with

boys, looking for rooms to spend a couple of hours at night. I have

stocked condoms and pass them on to such couples along with the room

keys and ask them to be careful. At times, it works better than

putting up a vending machine, " says a hotelier in Vadodara's

Sayajigunj area.

NGOs in Surat have begun visiting schools and colleges to create AIDS

awareness. " We are making students realise the seriousness of the

problem. It is important to let them know that Navratri is a

religious festival and should be celebrated in the right spirit. Any

wrong step out of sheer excitement can destroy their life, " says

Geeta Shroff, president of Apmratiyu Nivaran Sangh, an organisation

working for the welfare of women in Surat.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/887115.cms