The GayBombay Special Sunday Meet on Prevention, Testing and Living with HIV at Ghatkopar on 6 December 2009
Stop! Wait! Don't delete This invite thinking this is just another HIV Awareness and Safer Sex lecture GayBombay is organising on the occasion of World AIDS Day and that you know it all. Or are you thinking it can't happen to you? Or are you the one who thinks that ignorance is bliss and you don't want sleepless nights wondering if you have got the bug the next time that you have a diarrhoea or fever or a swelling that's taking long to go? If you are going to delete this mail for any of the above reasons than you probably don't care about your life! But the reason you shouldn't decline this invitation and come to this event is because this is not merely a mundane lecture on safer sex practices or HIV prevention and testing as the title may suggest, but an interactive session with an extremely gay-friendly Doctor who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in treating HIV+ people for over 22 years. Dr.Shirish G.Kulkarni, MD, DDV, is a Dermatologist, Venereologist, Leprologist, Sexologist and AIDS Specialist and heads the Thane District ART (Anti Retroviral Therapy) Centre where he is currently monitoring the health of over 9000 HIV+ persons who are registered with the Centre. Dr.Kulkarni will be keeping the academic lecture on HIV AIDS and STDs to a minimum but will be informally sharing his experience and knowledge with us while answering our queries. He will also be dedicating a part of his talk on the research and breakthroughs being made in the field of treatment of HIV. Shy about asking questions? Worried that if you ask a question, others may think you are positive. Rest assured we have devised a mechanism where in questions can be discretely and anonymously asked. If anyone has any concerns or queries on this meeting, please mail Vikram at vik...@gmail.com or Jayesh at de.joy...@gmail.com. Specifically, if you are positive and are worried about being outed about your status at this meeting, please be assured that NO ONE will be asked about their status whether positive or negative. If anyone wants to volunteer personal information that's great, but NO ONE will be forced to reveal anything. And finally, we won't just be looking at AIDS. Horrifying as it is, AIDS is not the only disease that threatens the community. There are a host of other STDs and problems that the community risks and the problem is that as we focus on AIDS, we may be getting lax about these other diseases. We do have a separate workshop planned on STDs, but if anyone has queries on them Dr.Kulkarni will try and answer them. Day & Date: Sunday, 06 December 2009 Time: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM. Venue: Ground floor Dhanji Devshi Rashtriya Shala Near Zaverben Popatlal Sabhagriha, Upashray Lane, Ghatkopar (East) Mumbai 400077 There is NO charge to come to the meet. Directions: For those coming by train: Alight at Ghatkopar Station and exit the station using the Mumbai CST end foot over-bridge on to the eastern side of the station. Walk towards Platinum Shopping Arcade and take a left turn into the lane before it. Walk straight until you hit upon a Jain Temple. Turn left and you have the school on your right. For those coming by the highway: turn into Ghatkopar at Amar Mahal Junction. (Left turn if you are coming from Sion and right turn if you are coming from Thane). Drive down straight until you come to a bridge that crosses the railway line. Turn right onto the road that goes along the railway line. Than take the first right and the left turn at the Jain Temple. Zaverben Popatlal Sabhagriha and Rashtriya Shala are pretty well known in Ghatkopar. And anybody would be able to direct you to the venue once you arrive at Ghatkopar Station East. So don't worry if you can't remember the directions. Click on the following link to see a map of the area around the eastern side of Ghatkopar Station http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=19.0844661&lon=72.9=82024&z=18&l=0&m=m Note: 1. Do get your friends along to help them gain access to the group especially if they are not netizens. 2. You do not have to be "out" to the world to attend. This is a discreet event being held as a clean, safe & social get-together of a non-sexual nature. 3. You need to be at least 18 years of age to attend. 4. There may be many who will prefer being discreet or may be still be coming to terms with themselves hence a request that all be sensitive to this and act and dress accordingly. 5. To identify the group look out for someone wearing a black cap See you all on Sunday. --------------------------------------------------------------------- This event is organised by: http://www.gaybombay.org Right of admission reserved.
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