Chanting, dancing, drumming, processions from every direction: the opening plenary of the World Social Forum began with a mass procession to the huge open stage. There, 50,000 people gathered to hear the opening speakers including the Nobel Peace prize winner, Shirin Ebadi.

Vibrant, colourful banners were everywhere, as streams of people poured into the site throughout the day. There is an air of optimism that confirms the forum's slogan, "another world is possible", and everyone is keen to share views and experience.

We opened up the Control Arms stall at 10am and people queued up straight away to have their photo taken. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that there are 75million illegal small arms in circulation in South Asia, or that large amounts of government budgets go on military expenditure when they should be funding education and health services, but the issue of arms out of control is clearly resonating.

By 5pm, we had taken over 1,000 photos and hundreds more had drawn their self-portraits. Volunteers from the South Asia Small Arms Network (SASA-Net) worked really hard to spread the message alongside volunteers from Amnesty International India and Oxfam in India.