Many of us across India are currently organising to make our voices of solidarity, dissent and hope shine through the storms of misinformation, violence, bigotry, smear campaigns and our own fears.

Sometimes we scramble, and we are sometimes doubtful, but while the intentions and priorities of protestors may be many, a common thread is clear - we will not stay silent as people are allowed (or made to) fall through the cracks of maliciously-crafted and/or misguided and mismanaged implementation of governmental decisions. Some of us protest by necessity, and some of us as a "choice" as concerned citizens in a secular democracy.

The sites of protest are many, and the routes riddled with landmines to navigate through (or around) - from the "well-meaning" relative to lack of legal awareness and rights, from doubting one's sense of reality, accountability and expectations; to vicious trolls online and offline, and authoritarian brutality.

A body may become the site of victimisation and brutality when it is identified by an embittered 'other' as something to quell. On the other hand, when, placard or candles in hand, bodies meet to resist and register their dissent, the very collection of the bodies becomes the site of resistance.

Some of the other sites of protest coming to our mind- physical locations of organised protest, the internet ( a "giga"-sized site, for sure), songs and other intangible sites.

We choose to focus on these fraught sanctuaries to explore what stories and feelings we carry in them, what we take to the space, and what we take from.

What are the choices we people make in these sites, and why. Some choose to create safe spaces for dialogue and conversation, some brave the possibility of detention. Some focus on highlighting the wrongs and lies of the "other", and some attempt to band all protestors under singular banners of unity; nationalistic or constitutional notions of identity.

Share your stories, and listen to others', said and unsaid in the room.

Come if you protest. Come if you're tired. Come if you're curious. Come if you're yet-indifferent. Come if you are hopeful, and if you are not.

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citylamps officially began in early 2019, primarily as a playback theatre group, in Bangalore.

As a conviction thought, less consciously, it grew long before that in the exploratory desires and conscience of its current members (who are all also the co-founders): Akash Narendran, Angela Melanie Rego, Deepti Bhaskar, Rashmi Ravikumar, Laxmi Priya SN and Vivek Purushothaman. They have been practising playback theatre for many years now.

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Playback theatre is an improvisational form of community-theatre that invites real-life, first-person stories from the audience to play-back. It was first developed by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas with a group of performers in Hudson Valley, almost half a century ago. As an art form, it is used in various contexts from purely performative formats to conflict-resolution and from engagement through dialogue and discourse to understand and work through the issues of representation. The roots of playback theatre can be seen in theatre, rituals, community storytelling, psychodrama and education.

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