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Unique way to spread AIDS awareness

BERHAMPUR: Though it was not the month of Chaitra, ‘Danda Nata’ festival was celebrated at Pailipada village of Belaguntha block in Ganjam district on Tuesday.

School students of the village celebrated the festival to create AIDS awareness in their own and nearby villages.

The students did not make mockery of ‘Danda Nata’, the 21-day festival of hard penance observed by devotees in the month of Chaitra. They tried to pass on the message that mental strength with which penance is undertaken could be put to use to prevent promiscuous relationships and HIV infection.

It was an appropriate message for the area, which was inhabited by a large number of migrant labourers, who were prone to HIV infection during their stay outside the State. The first AIDS related death in Ganjam district was reported from this village.

The school students dressed in yellow attire of ‘Bhoktas’ performed rituals or ‘Danda’, which included symbolic building of temples, digging ponds, agricultural works, etc. But all dialogues between them during the rituals were related to AIDS awareness. Dressed as traditional folk dance troupes like ‘Chdheya-Chdheyani’, some of them performed folk dance with scripts on AIDS awareness. A senior citizen of the village who led the troupe as Pata-Bhokta also distributed condoms to migrant labourers at the village as ‘prasad’.

The innovative troupe moved around with flags bearing the symbol of red ribbon. They also carried a holy ‘ghatam’ that bore the symbol of the red ribbon. They also performed ‘Pani Danda’ standing in water of a pond and ‘Agni Danda’, where devotees dance with fire in their hands. Large crowds gathered to witness the event.

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