Women From India

"...The follies of mankind from times immemorial have led to broken homes and illogical political identities, severed selves and truncated stories, dislocated populations and homeless refugees..."

"... I do not care for writing with a worked out plan of beginning, middle and end. Creativity can be an unexpected journey for the writer also..."

"...So many things go into the making of a creative work – a linguistic-literary tradition, an entire cultural lineage, history, one’s own experience and that of others distilled through observation, new readings and lessons learnt, hope and despair and playfulness and sadness, all feeding the writers’ imagination in tangible and not-so-tangible ways..."

"... So for me Partition has specific subcontinental implications, but it also spans the larger world..."

"... Writing emotionally-charged scenes – independent of whether they resonate with my own life – may leave me with some sort of an enervating feeling and may also produce a compensatory aesthetic satisfaction, but they can also sap me, filling me with an incredible exhaustion..."

"...Along with all this, today’s world, dominated by the ruthless grasping market and the questionable politics making inroads everywhere, has surrounded me in ways like never before. I have to confront it more directly and also protect my literary space from its pollution..."

"...Self-critique is always there, as part of my intuition. It is this that produces, in the event of certain outcomes, that thrill of what you call ‘surprise’. It is also the pitiless slave-driver that keeps tormenting me, saying ‘no, not this, not this.’..."

"So much has changed in terms of the market; the audience has so many options, and you’re reaching for all kinds of attention when you’re making a film. I suppose when it’s really regressive sort of messaging, and it makes hundreds of crores, it hurts. Because you had the opportunity to push the needle in some direction and you didn’t. Those are the things that sometimes bother me. Having said that, every filmmaker has their goals."

"Chennamma started learning the art of warfare after she became the queen of Keladi. In no time she became an expert in the use of weapons. Raja Somashekhara Nayaka gave her complete support. Soon she became well versed in politics and statecraft. She also started learning music and literature and mastered both the subjects. She established a colony and facilitated settlement of scholars from near and far off states to spread knowledge of ancient wisdom in her kingdom."

"The Shehzada of the Congress said recently that our Rajas and Maharajas back in the day were ruthless. They snatched or took away the humble assets of the poor at their whim. The Shehzada insulted the revered Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Rani Chennamma, whose good governance and patriotism still fill us with national pride and honour. Does he not have any knowledge of the contribution of the royal family of Mysuru who we all regard very highly and are proud of?"

"The queen who was the central protagonist of Awadh’s uprising against British rule hailed from extremely humble origins. Scattered details are all that are extant about her early life. She was born as Muhammadi Khanum to an African slave in Faizabad who was the bonded labourer of one Ghulam Ali Khan."

"The Battle of Kasahrada of 1178 CE that followed was unique when an outnumbered army with its troops of war elephants managed to crush the force that had just vanquished the mighty Sultanate of Ghazni and thereafter the Sultans of Multan. It seems the weather, too, supported the forces of Naiki Devi as unseasonal monsoons put the Ghori army under further disadvantage from the position that they were camped in. Merutunga elucidates this rather poetically when he says: ‘Queen Naiki, the daughter of Paramardin, fought at a ghat called Gadaraghatta and conquered the king of the Mlechchhas by the aid of a mass of rain clouds that came out of season attracted by her virtue.’"

"But in a time and age when it was uncommon for women to ascend the throne and vanquish foes by leading forces in battle, Rudrama Devi charted for herself an indelible place in the annals of the country."

"William Forbes-Mitchell, a Sergeant with the Ninety-Third Sutherland Highlanders in British India, wrote about Uda Devi in his book Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny , which was first published in 1893: “In the centre of the inner court of the Secundrabâgh there was a large peepul tree with a very bushy top, round the foot of which were set a number of jars full of cool water. When the slaughter was almost over, many of our men went under the tree for the sake of its shade, and to quench their burning thirst with a draught of the cool water from the jars. A number however lay dead under this tree, both of the Fifty-Third and Ninety-Third, and the many bodies lying in that particular spot attracted the notice of Captain Dawson. After having carefully examined the wounds, he noticed that in every case the men had evidently been shot from above. He thereupon stepped out from beneath the tree, and called to Quaker Wallace to look up if he could see any one in the top of the tree, because all the dead under it had apparently been shot from above. Wallace had his rifle loaded, and stepping back he carefully scanned the top of the tree. He almost immediately called out, ‘I see him, sir!’ and cocking his rifle he … fired, and down fell a body dressed in a tight-fitting red jacket and tight-fitting rose-coloured silk trousers; and the breast of the jacket bursting open with the fall, showed that the wearer was a woman, She was armed with a pair of heavy old-pattern cavalry pistols, one of which was in her belt still loaded, and her pouch was still about half full of ammunition, while from her perch in the tree, which had been carefully prepared before the attack….”"

"Our very limited interaction with NGOs active in this field in Tamil Nadu reveal that a large number of abortions take place outside the formal system since very often the state through its family planning outlets tries its own morality on women seeking abortions."

"There will always be a gap between the goals set down and scheme of implementation. Women's groups by now have enough data to know where the policies have gone wrong. The whole question is gathering enough political clout to make a change."

"You know, I just wanted to invent something which came from within me with the help of the vision that Mikhil Musale the director and the co-writer of the script had so together we kind of built on, because I actually didn’t really do that"

"There were some female Police officers I met and they said that they were actually reminded of the way they need to conduct themselves at work, where they have to have a very tough exterior so that no one would take them lightly. Because being a girl that’s the first challenge you have in working in a man’s environment ; dealing with hardened criminals and all kinds of sketchy characters. So the tougher the exterior, better the job — and the easier the job becomes for these female police officers"

"So the one common thing I got from all the police officers was that they didn’t think I was acting at all, the authenticity and the reality with which I portrayed the part was really uncanny for them. They know people like that or they themselves are like that on duty."

"All of them asked me where I did my research, whether I follow somebody around, was there some real-life inspiration that was behind my character study, mannerisms, the way I spoke, sat, etc. It was lovely to note"

"I don’t like the comparison between men’s cricket and women’s cricket"

"The efforts of those who played before us, and all of us put together as a community, have now made this possible. Imagine those ex-women cricketers, who even without getting much 30 or 40 years ago, continued to play. They made our present reality possible"

"It’s just a different game. You don’t have to put us in the same category."

"Initially, when tennis was developing as a sport, there were comparisons made between the serve rates of different players. Now it has reached a point where Serena Williams is appreciated just as Roger Federer is in his own right. It’s time for cricket to also reach that place."

"Mohammad Ali can’t even think about begging forgiveness from the British. If he does so then my old hands have enough strength to strangle him."

"While bulk of the marriages involved Muslim girls, others have also not eschewed the social evil. For instance, in 2008, while 4,249 of the 4,955 brides in the child marriages were Muslims, 339 were Scheduled Castes, 55 were Scheduled Tribe girls and 312 from other communities. Progressive Muslim thinker Prof M N Karassery told Deccan Herald that the figures were stunning. “Right from the beginning, a section of Muslim were against fixing an age limit for marriage of girls saying that the religion did not permit such a condition. However, the Muslim community in the State was believed to have been on the path of self-realisation that early marriage for girls would affect their employment, social life and future ,” he said."

"Kerala is the only state where child marriage rates have increased in recent years, particularly in its Muslim community."

"The death of George Floyd in the US and the Black Lives Matter movement has done for racial inequality what William Wilberforce once said about slavery, “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know.”"

"I am particularly pleased that the proportion of women amongst those appointed – 38% – matches the proportion of women in the relevant segment of the profession. … The proportion of applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds who have been appointed is also broadly equal to the proportion of advocates in the relevant segment of the profession,"

"However, the pandemic has exposed vast structural inequalities in our systems. The work-place is sharply divided between those who have formal contracts with a right to fair treatment, severance pay and protection from bullying and harassment, and those on zero-hour contracts, or no contracts at all with no rights. News stories highlight how structural weaknesses in the social security system could see many families descend into poverty and how migrants and immigrants can struggle to access benefits even while we continue to benefit from their labour. The disproportionate effect of the pandemic on BAME communities and the fact we have yet to see a plan to deal with that is yet another example."

"And, this is why we need to support @Wikipedia! Brahmins hate knowledge spreading! Concealing resources, denying education and punishing for learning is an age-old Hindu culture. Become a ’HERO’ of #FreeInformation by donating [to wikipedia]."

"In an interview she talked about her escape from death in the hands of Taliban. “The Taliban court gave its verdict. I was to be shot dead on the morning of July 22, 1995, on the charge of disorderly behaviour unbecoming of a woman… At 10.27 a.m., I was brought to the mehman-khana (guest room) where 15 Taliban soldiers, who were to be my executioners, were reading verses from the Koran.” said Sushmita."

"“Two men stood on top of me and beat me mercilessly while the others pulled at my hair,” she said. “Other women of the house just watched as mute spectators. “They were too scared. I don’t know what would have happened if a [local leader] had not intervened. He was fond of me for my work among the sick women. The Taliban, on that occasion, could not continue and fled.”"

"“I am not a box of chocolate waiting to please everyone, I would ultimately do what I feel right for me and then I went ahead to marry the man I love. The fire in me was ignited probably by all those armchair critics but what sailed me through was the desire to show what I was truly capable of. And now no one can take that away from me.”"

"It is a man’s world and to fight back we have to develop a very thick skin. Take criticism very constructively, but at the same time fight back and retain your position."

"If you have faith and keep moving on, things will eventually fall in place."

"Fight your insecurities with all your might. Stay strong on the face of temptations that might lure you into bad company or undesirable vices that might throw you off the tangent. Whether you become a civil servant or not, you will have blossomed into a better human being at the end of it."

"In the end the court said we share your concerns, but the law is weak, we can't do anything."

"I will get back on my feet even if I am knocked down’. For that, you need to know what all might knock you down and where would you fall."

"In my perspective, development is not limited to infrastructural development. Even sociological factors need to be considered. Women empowerment and ensuring gender justice is important."

"Let us put our democratic freedom to delight use!"

"Given the rigor and detailing that was needed to write the book—through the process the concepts I wrote about kept getting stronger."

"It is now an established fact that there is a complete lack of fear of law in the minds of criminals and instead the laxity of the system emboldens them to commit gruesome crimes against women and girls in the country."

"Imperfections need to be appreciated."

"Women need to equip themselves to address depression."

"A lady is conventionally trained to take up more responsibilities than a man. This enables her to take pleasure in every simplest thing she gets into. Women of Kerala are well trained to be happy in each stage of their life. But unfortunately, a very few of them are trained to face depression and hence they fail."

"Despite the annual embarrassment of India scoring a poor rank on the , nutrition and hunger hardly merit a mention in the budget speeches of our finance ministers. The last time there was anything related to tackling malnutrition among women and children was in 2014-15 – the first budget of the Narendra Modi government – where Arun Jaitley announced that a national nutrition mission would be launched. [...] Notwithstanding its positioning, budget 2020 in effect fails on many counts to respond to the nutrition challenge in India. The direct programmes which address the multidimensional nature of malnutrition including the ICDS, mid-day meals, PMMVY and Poshan Abhiyan are underfunded and at the same time PDS which contributes to basic food security is sought to be undermined. The government seems to be oblivious to the situation of hunger in the country. It further seeks to create an illusion of plenty by arguing in the Economic Survey in its chapter on 'Thalinomics' that food affordability has increased in the last few years. This chapter is based on a flawed methodology where it compares food prices as a proportion of incomes of workers in organised manufacturing who comprise less than 5% workers in India and does not take into account that wages for the majority have been stagnating and unemployment is at its peak."

"In a sector where there is systemic failure and worker-management relations are turbulent, putting the onus of worker safety and security in the hands of the management alone can be risky. Moreover, it is well-known that in supply chains the brands call the shots. Involving them in discussions on worker dignity and equality is important. Omitting workers and trade unions from discussions about the amendment is also seen by the workers as a short-sighted measure. Women garment workers are concerned that while the amendment has stipulated many ‘new’ guidelines amidst the plethora of unaddressed concerns, allowing night shifts would only extend daytime exploitation."

"On November 20, the issued a notification allowing women to work night shifts (7 p.m. to 6 a.m.) in all factories registered under the Factories Act, 1948. [...] In principle, this is a welcome move. However, several concerns have been voiced by women garment workers who are estimated to constitute over 90% of the five garment workers in Karnataka (according to data by Asia Floor Wage Alliance, a global coalition of trade unions). The amendment suggests that night shifts for women will only be allowed if the employer ensures adequate safeguards concerning occupational safety and health, protection of dignity and honour, and transportation from the factory premises to points nearest to the worker’s residence. The amendment stipulates 24 points related to occupational rules and regulations, most of which have been in existence for years. Yet, women workers fear that when there is no safety or dignity in the workplace even during daytime, how will employers ensure all this during night shifts?"

"Clearly, the disparity between the prospects of win-alls and lose-alls maps perfectly with their respective general socio-economic conditions as determined by class, caste and . The current pandemic can significantly worsen the existing and expanding inequalities in Indian economy and society. Inequalities of health, income and employment even within the informal workforce can expand, with some informal workers at lower risk and others at higher on the three counts. This is as much a inequality issue as much as a public health dilemma. After the dust settles and restrictions are relaxed, the win-alls as well as others lying towards the more privileged end of the means spectrum should be able to hop straight back to their routines with their health, wealth and job security intact. The lose-alls and those proximate to that extreme will be more susceptible to illnesses, loss of income and job insecurity – and quite likely all three together. The latter group is trapped in an adverse equilibrium with the unjust choices of risking their health if they go to work, risking their income if they don’t go to work, and risking their employment if the COVID-19 continues."