Getting into Women's Studies

Right from my teens I used to get very agitated when I saw a lot of disparity in families and the attitudes of boys and men but then I could never comprehend the situation in terms of the structures and systems in our society. It would be right to state that I was not politically conscious that this could be a discipline with which I would be involved in future. I still remember one of the many incidents, we used to stay at Allahabad and I was a student of eleventh class and lot of relatives would come down during the Kumbh Mela to have a bath in the ganges. Once a relative brough an aunt who was about seventy and a widow. She lived in an Ashram at Brindavan and she would eat nothing through out the day except at twilight, when she had two small chappatis ( the dough made with mixing little milk and salt )with out any curry. She spent all her time in reading religious books and she had been leading this life since she was eleven years and became a widow. I had big arguments with my mother and other relatives as to what was her fault and my mother answered as she would often do, ”you talk and argue too much. This is how it is”. Today I keep thinking I wish I had spoken to her in detail and asked her questions but this image has stayed with me. As a student of class tenth in our school boys did interesting things in their craft class with repairing a fan, a press a scooter but we had to do knitting and embroidery. I got all the girls together and asked the principle that we would like to do what the boys were doing but were refused stating the Board did not allow it.

I had joined the University of Hyderabad in 1984 and I would leave my son in a crèche and pick him up in the evening, looking fresh and all well dressed. One day I reached home early and when I went to the crèche I was shocked to see fifteen to twenty children lying naked because they would soil their clothes. I was so upset that I stayed home for few days. When I narrated this to few friend involved with the trade Union movement then told me that I could afford to stay home because my husband earned enough but what happens to women who are not so privileged. Hence, along with a friend and colleague, Kameshwari I looked at this issue and we were shocked to see how callous every one was and child care was not at all an issue. It is from here that I really got into women's studies as a discipline.I think women ’s studies places a woman’s own experiences at the centre of the process that establishes women’s reality. Child care is such an important issue but it was never taken up seriously by any one. infact many of the trade Unions which wanted the support of the women to fight issues of wages, over time etc. did not give any importance to the isue of having a creche. We went to factories after factories and found that there were no creche worth their name. Some places only had a board stating creches and this was used either as a tea room or a place to store things. The factoreis had to follow the Factories Act, according to which any institution employing more than thirty women must have a creche. We found 28 women or 29 women in permanent posts and more than thousand women in temporary posts and thus the factory could easily do away with following this Act. We generally write reports and submit them, publish papers and nothing happens. We were very surprised because one day we got a call from the Director of the Women and Child development, Ms. Chandana Khan. She called us for a meeting and when we went we saw that she had invited a few NGO's and Government Officilas. She had kept our report in front of her and she had underlined many sentences. We had a long discussion and a creche for the children of construction workers was established . Our first project had a big success and we were very excited. This gave us a lot of confidence that we could really bring about some change and I became very much involved with women's studies as an academic discipline.

Life in Allahabad in the late seventies

In the seventies we lived in Allahabad. I had entered the University of Allahabad in 1974. So much was happening around the world and it was an exciting period to be a student. In a sense, the ideas and philosophy of the 60s continued well into the 70s - sexual freedom, the end of the draft, legalisation of abortion, gay liberation. England was not having the best of times. There were strikes all over and one read in the daily newspapers how they had to manage without electricity, petrol, heating, coal, milk, television, hospitals or having their bins emptied. The IRA continued its bombing in Northern Ireland and mainland Britain. The CIA engineered a coup in Chile. War finally came to an end in Vietnam but it opened in newer fronts like, Cambodia, Lebanon, the Middle East, Cyprus and Rhodesia. On the fashin scene jeans became tighter and bell bottoms also made their entry. In the film world Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Rajkapoor were now being seen along with Biswajeet, Joy Mukerjee also.

In India this was a period of war with Pakistan and Daddy being in the army participated in the Bagladesh war. Every day was filled with dread, there were night outs, sirens blaring but life went on peacefully in the small and holy town of Allahabad. We all waited anxiously for the morning newspaper to find out what ever little detail was published about the war. The only solace was that once in a while we would get the military dak and there would be three or four letters together written by my father during different intervals but all reaching us together.
The government controlled every thing from railways to telephones, to media, to food stuff and not many things were found in the markets. Dalda became a prixed commodity. There was a deep fear that the country’s independence would be jeopardized if foreign companies were allowed to grow. As a result there was strict governemnt control on every thing.
However the social life in Allhabad was very much tied to the festivals and fairs. Allahabad or Prayag is also called the "Tirth Raj", the king of all pilgrimage centers. There are many references to Prayag or Allahabad in Indian epics, Vedas and Puranas. Allahabad stands at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna (two of India's holiest rivers) and Saraswati River (a mythical river which is not visible). The place where river Ganga and river Yamuna meet is called Sangam (union). Sangam is the venue of many sacred fairs and rituals, and attracts thousands of pilgrims throughout the year. The most important event at Prayag is the Kumbha Mela. Millions of people from all over India and the world gather at Prayag to take a holy dip at Sangam. Kumbh Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world performed by the Hindus and is the greatest of the Indian pilgrimages. It is the largest bathing event in the world which is celebrated four times every twelve years, once at each of the four holy destinations - Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik. Each twelve-year cycle includes the Maha (great) Kumbh Mela at Prayag and and others are termed as Ardh (Half) Kumbh Mela, attended by millions of people. The fair is also renowned for the active participation of the sadhus and mahants coming out from remote hideaways of forests, mountains and caves. We would also religiously go and have a dip in the sangam. What was significant was that in every house there would be many many relatives who would drop in and stay for taking this holy bath. None of the conversation among friends would be complete till we spoke about Prayag, the holy dips and the hordes of relatives that came and stayed with us.
I can trace my getting into women's issues from this time though I was always interested in this issue but never realised at this moment that it could be an area of study. Right from my teens I used to get very agitated when I saw a lot of disparity in families and the attitudes of boys and men but then I could never comprehend the situation in terms of the structures and systems in our society. It would be right to state that I was not politically conscious that women's studies could be a discipline with which I would be involved in future. I still remember one of the many incidents, from Allhabad. I was a student of eleventh class and lot of relatives would come down during the Kumbh Mela to have a bath in the ganges. Once a relative brough an aunt who was about seventy and a widow. She lived in an Ashram at Brindavan and she would eat nothing through out the day except at twilight, when she had two small chappatis ( the dough made with mixing little milk and salt )with out any curry. She spent all her time in reading religious books and she had been leading this life since she was eleven years and became a widow. I had big arguments with my mother and other relatives as to what was her fault and my mother answered as she would often do, ”you talk and argue too much. This is how it is”. Today I keep thinking I wish I had spoken to her in detail and asked her questions but this image has stayed with me.
As a student of class tenth in our school boys did interesting things in their craft class with repairing a fan, a press a scooter but we had to do knitting and embroidery. I got all the girls together and asked the principle that we would like to do what the boys were doing but were refused stating the Board did not allow it. I think women ’s studies places a woman’s own experiences at the centre of the process that establishes women’s reality.