The rain clouds looked ominous, dark and foreboding on Sunday afternoon. CAN-STOP, the organisers of One Walk One Hope – to raise awareness about breast cancer – were admittedly worried that the event might be battered by the coming rain. But luckily for them, the clouds held in the rain till a little after 6 pm, by which time the walkers had painted the Marina pink, on an otherwise drab Sunday afternoon.
Supported by The New Indian Express, the walk has been organised since 2009 to get people to guard themselves from the growing burden that breast cancer is. Though they were walking for a cause that is as serious as any, the hordes of NSS volunteers, college and school students, doctors, social workers, Rotarians and expats were as gay as could be – attracting as much attention to themselves and thus helping the cause. There were stalls for people to sponsor a subsidised mammogram for deserving women and information stalls to learn about breast cancer and its spread.
Though the ‘pink ribbon’ which symbolises the pink theme of the breast cancer awareness month was mostly thematic, almost everyone there was dressed entirely in pink – from salwars and skirts to men in pink pants (which was, for once, not frowned upon) – the spirit of the afternoon was intact as the student actively distributed flyers and raised slogans to women on the beach and the Vivekanandar Illam area to ‘get a mammogram today’. Some expats like Kathy were seen sporting a pink star-shaped pair of coolers, that really stood out and made people smile.
The procession hit the road at precisely 3.45 pm and made a quick walk down to the Labour statue and then returned, all along remaining gay and cheerful. Once they were back at the Lady Willingdon College ground, they quickly rested up and were treated to a concert by Akash Jacob, Anjana Raghavan and band. Some of the most active participants were the students from Lady Andal school and the NSS volunteers of Presidency college and students of the Soka Ikeda College for Women.