FashionAble. It was a fashion show with a difference. No professional models sashayed the ramp, no flashy cameras, no music, no wannabe socialites, etc. The ‘models’ were a few students from Modern School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, members of NGO Ekatwam, and the Neurology Professor at AIIMS, Dr Manjari Tripathi.
Instead of the ‘SS’19 collection concept’, it was a fashion show to spread awareness about the ongoing bullying and discrimination at educational institutions. The show was organised by The Too Project (founded by Jaideep Pahwa, 16, a student of Modern School) in association with Ekatwam.
Bullying has become one of the biggest problems in India, especially amongst the youth. One in three children is a victim of bullying. It has many forms — physical, verbal and emotional, and can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and even substance abuse. “I have seen a lot of bullying, ragging and body-shaming happenning in schools. It always pained me, but I could do nothing about it,” says Pahwa. “People are criticised for being too thin, too fat even for their complexion. Why? I could get no answer to this question and it bothered me a lot,” he says. With The Too Project, he aims to eliminate bullying and create safe spaces for people who have been or are being bullied.
Pahwa’s father is a textile businessman, so the closest thing that came to his mind was designing a range of T-shirts that talks about accepting yourself, no matter your size, shape or skin colour. It’s about spreading love and choosing kindness. “If you really want to fight bullying, you must begin to respect yourself and accept yourself,” says Pahwa, with wisdom beyond his age. As Pahwa came up the idea, he learned about Ekatwam on social media. “I got to know that this NGO is working with epileptic patients and decided to associate with it,” he says. Couple of meetings later, FashionAble was crystalised.
Held at The Lodhi, the fashion show saw Pahwa and his friends walk the ramp in T-shirts and hoodies designed by him. Then, Dr Tripathi gave some hard facts and figures about epilepsy. “There’s a lot of discrimination against epileptic patients, not just in schools but in offices as well,” says Dr Tripathi who founded Ekatwam.
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder, which affects more than 50 million people worldwide. “India alone has 12 million epilepsy patients. But there’s little awareness about it. Sometimes, epileptic patients are even called mad. This means epilepsy is not just a medical problem but a social problem,” she adds. “In schools, epileptic students are bullied more. That is why we associated with Ekatwam for this project,” agrees Pahwa.
In fact, Dr Tripathi is so upset with the stereotypes prevailing in society that she even lodged a complaint against the popular The Kapil Sharma Show as in one episode an epileptic patient was made fun of. Ekatwam is also lobbying for National Epilepsy Control Programme to bust myths and superstitions about the disease.