Welcome to our campaign ‘Free taBOOBS’ that is meant to spread breast cancer awareness among Jaipur women. To begin the campaign on a high note, along with our media partner 94.3 My FM, we have decided to create a unique tabla-tune comprising the many tabla-beats played by Jaipur women whom we met on this journey.

This tune will then be played on 94.3 My FM to make the message reach thousands of other Jaipur women. And why tabla? Because the upper-view of tabla looks similar to the front view of breasts or boobs! And we wanted to be loud about it!

RJ Mrs. Sharma

To begin, JWB team and RJ Mrs. Sharma of 94.3 My FM reached the city-based Kanodia College to meet young girls. We wanted to know if they are acquainted with this medical condition. We gathered many under-graduate girls aged 17-21 and made them sit in their college music room.

With curious eyes, they carefully listened to what we had to explain about the campaign and taboos related to breast cancer. Each one of them was asked ‘do they shy away from talking about or even uttering the word boob/breast?’ The only answer we got was their silent smiles.

Lavanya of JWB

At that, we asked all of them to create the voice of their body by playing tabla one after another along with their pledge towards breast cancer awareness. Look at the diverse answers of these young minds:

Komodi: “I love playing tabla and have been learning it. So allow me start the event. With this I pledge to become more knowledgeable about breast cancer since I know very little about the condition.”

Rashi Rawat – “I am straightaway going to tell my friends about the breast cancer. Most of them are not aware of this illness.”

Bhavya – “I don’t know how to play a tabla. However, for this wonderful cause I am going to consider this tabla as my school bench to play the music.”

A student giving pledge

Mrs. Sharma has joyful interaction with a student

Apra Bharadwaj – “My mother will be the 1^st person to know about breast cancer once I leave from here.”

Surabhi – “My pledge is to find out about the cure of breast cancer and how women can prevent it!”

Kalpana – “My pledge is to check out for Jaipur based NGOs that are working for the awareness of breast cancer among women. I am all set to support social works related to it.”

Saroj Yadav – “I seem to be the thinnest of everyone present here. So what, I will play the loudest tabla to announce my strong pledge of becoming more aware and proactive about breast cancer.”

A student giving pledge

Prerna Bairwa – “I hope what the girls here are playing will help create awareness. I am happy to do my part.”

Nancy Kumawat – “Soon after you told us about breast cancer, I have managed to put my Facebook and Whatsapp status about it. In the era of social media, I am sure my status message will reach many girls.”

Palak Jain – “This is the 1^st time I got to know that cancer can develop in breasts. Incidentally, this is the 1^st time that I am playing a tabla! It’s a nice experience.”

Vrinda Srivastava – “I am a medical student and I want to add to the information given by Jaipur Women Blog & Mrs. Sharma. These days the eating habits of young generation is not very healthy. All the junk and oily food and colas are harming our internal system. This contributes to the symptoms of breast cancer. I think we must take care of what we are putting in our mouth.”

Vaidika Sriman – “I will speak about it to my female friends and at home.”

Someone asked Vaidika – ‘About what Vaidika? Speak it, don’t be shy.’ At that Vaidika smiled and looked right into the camera and said it loud – “Breast Cancer” Bravo!!

Kirti – “I want to know about the mammography. Can you tell me more about it?”

Mrs. Sharma speaks about breast cancer

To answer her question, we told her about hospitals like Mahaveer Cancer Hospital, Sita Devi Hospital, etc that operate the breast cancer detection. All this is done with the support of some NGOs that make the bearing cost minimal.

[group] – “We all are very good friends. All this while we were deciding on how our group can contribute and we came up with the idea of going to nearby bastis (villages) in order to educate the rural women about breast cancer. Of course, all this after we gain its complete information.”

Most of them played the dhun on tabla after which we gave them pamphlets describing how women can do a self-check of the breast cancer symptoms. With confident smiles on their faces, they now looked happy contributing to this social cause.

And here is the epic tabla-tune that RJ Mrs. Sharma will play across Jaipur continuing our campaign. It is assembled and produced by Jaipur based young DJ Akki. He has done a great job!

Tell us, what learning have you got from this campaign! Or, is there any suggestion you have to let more women know about early detection of breast cancer? Tell us in the comments below!