Morning calls, Groundnuts and Yuppies

Part two-Day two... I have to put this down before going to bed or I'll burst with unsaid news and views.
The day started with a phone call from Lisa, my sister...a call at 5 in the morning usually accelerates my heart rate..I just expect bad news at wee hours...and it was horrible news. Bombay or Mumbai, to be Precise and Maharashtrian, was being attacked...bomb blasts, firings, hostage situation, Taj and Oberio being burnt...it was mindless and shocking...this year has been a veritable festival of bomb blasts...there were calls to revive POTA and TADA...I just hope that this does not force the government to a knee jerk reaction like that... like Rahul bose said on NDTV its the life between the bomb blasts that needs to be thought about...I totally agree!
After a heavy breakfast of Butter toast, scrambled eggs and juice I was all set to travel another 100kms to Shergarh, our field area in Jodhpur. Well I don't need to mention that Prem had another of his absolutely engaging arguments with the hotel staff on the amount of stuffing in his Aloo Parathas.
I slept throughout the 2hour journey to Shergarh. Our first stop was the field office cum training centre of the partner organisation Jai Bhim Vikas Evam Shikshan Sansthan where the head of the organisation and the project coordinator regaled us with stories of dalit discrimination and rights assertions by the community. A lot of people in India believe that dalit discrimination is overrated, reservations need to be abolished. The real story is vastly different.There are still places in India where dalits have separate cups at tea stalls, where barbers refuse to cut their hair and where they have to get their own plates to a marriage function of an upper caste. Our field visits also brought up a lot of such cases...there are issues here that are difficult and unimaginable in a independent and democratic country..imagine someone refusing to let you walk out of your village or home to the hospital, the road, nearby shop just because he/she owns the land around your village...its true...Dalit dhanis or villages do not have approach roads making them dependent on the so called upper castes for daily passage...How difficult would it be for them to oppose 'begar' unpaid labour at a Rajputs house when the only means of communication to the outside world is being controlled by the same Rajput..Life in a village is so highly romanticised in novels, movies, even history books...trust me that is all a load of crap...villages are hubs of discrimination, exploitation and violence...there is no self sufficient happy Indian village where everyone helps everyone and all sing and dance in the rain.
The best part about our field visit was the unending supply of fresh roasted groundnuts...I must have had atleast half a kilo of groundnut.
Have you ever seen the night sky in a village...it is the most beautiful sight one can ever see...there isn't a single spot left in the sky..its like someone spilt a whole sack of stars on a black satin sheet. Back in Jaipur or Delhi I can actually count the number of stars. We started back for Jodhpur at around 7 pm.
I was determined to have a good dinner after having to skip lunch, despite the groundnuts and elaichi flavoured coffee. After a heavy discussion on where to eat and what to eat (you must have guessed who was leading the discussion) we decided on Kalinga....one of the oldest restaurants in Jodhpur. The ambience was good, the food great especially the handi mutton and price reasonable. The crowd was largely foreign tourists and Indian tourists..the main difference between the two is that while foreign tourists are quite and reserved in a restaurant, Indian tourist are loud and obnoxious. There was a group of young men and women, I am guessing from Delhi, the yuppie crowd who were laughing and giggling and talking loudly, generally trying to stand out as the cool and with it crowd from the metropolis of Delhi...and Girls.. Drinking is cool, as long as you don't make it a point to impress on others your coolness quotient...we seriously don't care if you're drinking pina colada or jal jeera..honestly Shut Up!
Back at center point the news from Mumbai was still grim...almost 80 people were dead and nearly 200 were being held hostage. I hoped things would improve tomorrow...and with that thought i switched off my TV and went to sleep..Tomorrow is going to be long day...
Bye

Long trips, Giggly and Dhokla

I have decided to add a post on one of my field visits...by popular demand (please do not go by the lack of comments.I AM VERY POPULAR)...Getting back to the point...I was in Jodhpur from 26th to 28th November on an NF review visit. NFs are our short term projects and these two projects are on dalit rights and Violence against women.

We started off at 6 in the morning..there I was all sleepy and irritated at having to wake up so early...but work is work. I went off to sleep moments after we had started...I love sleeping in moving vehicles, coz I don't drive. Anyways we stopped at Ajmer for breakfast..my stomach was screaming bloody murder by that time. Parathas and coffee and a good amount of bickering with the dhaba cook (courtesy Prem..he loves to argue with dhaba cooks and waiters on the roundness and thickness of parathas) we were good to go the next 200kms to Jodhpur.

We reached Jodhpur at around 1 pm, an hour later than we had planned...our partners were already there waiting for us at Center point hotel (yes that's where we stayed). After having assured them of our our well being we moved on to our respective rooms. The bathrooms were clean thank god...that is the only thing I insist upon in a hotel room. In half an hour we were ready to go visit Vishaka, a leading women's rights organisation.

Vishaka...rings a bell somewhere doesn't it..no it does not have anything to do with Vishaka guidelines on sexual harassment at workplace..this organisation was a byproduct of that movement though...We have been working with Vishaka for the last two months thanks to an overzealous and dictatorial activist who bad mouthed Vishaka to our CD...so the year long project with survivor victims of violence was cut short to four months. Sad, frustrating but true.

Coming back to our visit..our first stop was the Mahila Salah Suraksha Kendra, a crisis help center for women victims of various forms of Violence. We were received by the project coordinator, case worker and the head of the organisation. Their understanding on VAW and women's rights is extensive..though their work style is institutional based..infact we hope to include more community based work through our project. It was good visit except for one tiny fact..the head of the organisation(name withheld) is a nice chap who has the irritating habit of giggling after every sentence..so i have rechristened him Giggly.

From there we went to Kala Tanki, Sanjay Singhvi Basti where we met women who were survivors of violence. I would call them survivors not victims coz they are all amazing people with such a strong spirit to live against all odds. for the first time in my life i was so close to breaking down in public...and to think that they are living it...One of the women told us how her husband threw her and her children out of their home one night...and when she said "I was standing out there with my kids all beaten up, I didn't know where to go, what to do"...that helpless feeling is something out of nightmare. I wondered then about the sanctity of 'Family'. It is considered to be the ultimate unit of security, shelter and love..it is..in a lot of cases...but it is also the place where a child is taught patriarchy, communalism, regionalism and casteism...Marriage is still the ultimate answer to all problems of a woman in India...it is the ultimate social security package...a woman as an individual , now that's an alien concept. Look at our social security schemes...most of them base family as the basic unity of service delivery, be it ration card, BPL or NREGA.. how would these serve women who have been displaced from their homes by their much adored families.

Coming back to our visit... we got out of the basti by 5 pm and I was going crazy with hunger...we had had to skip lunch...After having said our bye's and tata's to Giggly and group, Prem the die hard junk foodie dragged us around the local shops where we had dhoklas, kachauri, mirchi bada and imarti... My stomach was now a host of acidity...we went back to the hotel and I refused point blank to go for any further food hunts with Prem and Party.

That was the end of day one, a thoroughly tiring but enriching day...part two is soon to come.

Good Night

The Sacred Feminine

The Gender Gap report of the WEF ranks India as 113th in a list of 130 countries...and we are still shining (oh that slogan's gone now isn't it, wonder what the Congress will come up with) We are 128th in mortality and health and 6th in unequal wages....The only positive thing the newspaper stated was that we were 114th last year...so there's an improvement.

My colleague Navin thinks until caste exclusion is reduced there can't be a real change....There is a lot of strength in that statement. Women are not a homogeneous group...there might be certain problems like domestic violence, property rights that are common for all women but the degree and actual impact changes according to the context.

Women are as divided into caste, religion, tribe, region, colour, class as men are... this also proves to be strong counter to the whole 'A Woman is Woman's biggest enemy' argument. Patriarchy is a set of values that anyone can ascribe to..and that's what often happens to a lot of woman who finally get power (political or administrative). They try and follow the same rules and methods that have been used till then to stay in power... Whats good for the Gander is good for the goose too! So stop complaining and start working on new rules

But then that's neither here nor there... All that I want to say is that we need to look at the whole issue of Women's rights from a new perspective...need to see them within their contexts..and Pleeease no sweeping generalisations or symbolism of yin and yang and the sacred feminine (that makes me really sick).

Sacred feminine does talk about feminine power, but it also strongly emphasises the reproductive part of it..its like a woman's power lies in her uterus...Does that make post menopausal woman.. men?

It is imperative that we demystify these theories and get down to more practical and tangible issues like public health care system and its accessibility to Dalit and Tribal women or freedom to choose what to do or not do with one's life or sex selection.

I also read about this reincarnation of Buddha in Nepal and how people are going mad to visit him...We are so stuck up with religion and religious leaders...