A poignant three-minute song sung in unison by 16 classical, pop, Punjabi and film singers will kick-start an intensive campaign against AIDS later this year.
"Tod Do Deewarein (Break the barriers)", based on the story of two children who were dismissed from their school after being discovered to be HIV positive, will be broadcast from radio networks and television channels on World AIDS Day Dec 1.
It will be part of a campaign by Unaids and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to spread "complete AIDS awareness" in India by July 2005 through serials, music, plays and posters.
"The first step is for everyone to be made aware of the disease, only then can we go about preventing its growth," NACO director S.Y. Qureshi said.
Penned by Abbas Tyrewala, who has written lyrics for films like "Maqbool" and "Munnabhai M.B.B.S", the song features renowned singers like Pandit Jasraj, Alka Yagnik, Shaan and Sukhwinder.
Manika Sharma, its music director, said there was no sorrow in the song, just a lingering hope.
"It focuses on children who are tomorrow's adults, and is all about deriving hope from the forces of nature," Sharma told IANS.
"It was conceptualised after more than 10 months of discussions and interactions with people infected with HIV. They were fighting against discrimination and stigmatisation, and that is exactly what the song says."
In the video, you can watch children singing, laughing and playing together as the chorus goes "Your face is mine, and my breath yours".
Boys and girls join their hands, and as the song builds up, they lift their hands high - against discrimination and for unity, understanding and care.
India's first AIDS case was discovered in 1986, but the number rose to 5.1 million by 2003, making India's HIV positive population second only to South Africa. The government aims to abolish the disease by 2020.
--Indo-Asian News Service