Not just another exam

March 24th:

On Thursday, after spending time with my friends and doing some shopping, I went to Kurla to Anjuman Khairul Islam college. Jayantbhai and I first went to meet the principal – 2 teachers were conducting the tests in their respective classes. The D.Ed. college is on the 4th or 5th storey of a building undergoing repair work (a school occupies the lower floors). The principal apologized profusely for the state of things and for her inability to arrange for tea from the teachers’ room itself. After she sent out an order to the nearest tea stall, we got down to ‘business’.

I asked her and a couple of the teachers who had come into the room what they felt about these interventions for promoting communal harmony. It then came out that one of Anjuman’s history teachers had met the Janmukti people at Mani Bhavan during an event. They had discussed this initiative and she had invited them to Anjuman. And thus had begun the expansion of communal harmony education to Urdu colleges. “You are all teachers,” I said. “What do you think of the current approach? Is a one hour talk, a book and an exam enough to get these thoughts into young minds?” It’s a start, was the reply. A lot more would have to be done, both here and elsewhere, to further develop these ideas. The suggestions started flowing – a debate, some discussions, cultural programs…

“What about the situation in Mumbai today? How can that be combated?” This brought forth another spurt of opinions. One of the staff lives in Mira Road and she talked about how the relatively new community there was already divided along communal lines. “We had some Hindu neighbors, who became nervous at some point and decided to move. We pleaded with them not to. But they said that in spite of the respect and affection they felt for us, they did not feel safe here. After they left, the 2-3 Christian families also moved out. Now we are truly a Muslim colony. The real estate agent near the station will not even show properties in Naya Nagar, where we stay. ‘It’s not a good area,’ he says.” The pain at this was evident in her voice. Another example came through of a Hindu teacher who had worked in their college for a number of years, who left because she could not put up with the pointed remarks of some teachers in the college. “Somehow they would treat her as if she was responsible for everything done by some extremists,” said the principal. “I tried explaining to them how unreasonable they were and even warning them. But in the end, she decided she didn’t want to go through this every day. What could I do after that?”

There was talk about how Muslims get misrepresented in books and the media – how they are all considered sympathizers of Pakistan. Even in the D.Ed. syllabus, there are passages about Sikhs and Muslims that are insulting. I told them about some of the initiatives for combating this kind of ‘hate’ teaching. One teacher said that reading the booklet distributed by the Sarvodaya/Janmukti group was very comforting.

By this time, the exam was completed and we headed to one of the classrooms. About 40 girls were sitting in it – the D.Ed. course is a 2-year program after 12th standard and so they must be in the 17-19 age group. I was introduced to the class – the American bit was emphasized! – but I made sure to tell them I was homegrown. I told them that I hadn’t come to talk but to listen, to hear what they had to say about the book, the exam, the topics raised by it etc. As expected, there was pin-drop silence! The teacher accompanying me then asked them to say something – if they thought all of this was a waste of time, now was the time to speak up. Finally, one girl did get up. She said that she had enjoyed reading the book and that she had been surprised by a quote from Swami Vivekananda. From reading about him in a sociology class, she had thought he was only a promoter of Hinduism. This quote had painted him in a more tolerant light. A Sarvodaya volunteer said he would find out more details, but the teacher suggested more reading about Vivekananda to resolve these seeming inconsistencies. Another girl mentioned how she enjoyed reading about Aurangzeb and Shivaji, and so on. From their comments, it was obvious that they had read the book and absorbed it.

I then asked what other ways they could work with this information and promote communal harmony. The answer was that the book should not be distributed to students alone – everyone should read it. Plays, discussions etc. could be done in their local communities also. After about 10 minutes of discussion, I thanked them and went to the other class. A similar experience ensued. One comment received here was that there was a perception that because Musilm girls covered their heads (about 80% of the girls did), they were somehow backward. “But we are not,” she said. “We also study and work and are independent.” Another asked about terrorism and its whole-scale condemnation without looking into the factors leading to it. This prompted a discussion on non-violence as well as various forms of oppression. In all, it was an engaging discussion.

This particular project and our funding of it have been highly controversial within our chapter. Some of the points raised by opponents to funding had my agreement, especially those about effectiveness. At that time, I felt we had no choice – we had to work with groups that believe in promoting communal harmony, regardless of how effective they are. After this interaction, I feel hopeful. 60+ teenage girls read this book and absorbed what it said. They had meaningful questions, good suggestions, hopeful ideas. And this is just one college. If just a handful more colleges take up these programs, make some value addition to them, tie them up to some social activism…

Apni CEHAT ka sawaal hai

March 23rd:

On Wednesday morning, I headed to CEHAT, a health group AID is associated with. CEHAT is primarily involved in research and documentation - its Pune office is the Indian secretariat for the People's Health Movement. But it does have various initiatives on the ground as well, notably the Kolhapur work. At the Mumbai office, I met Dr. Amita Pitre. She is an ayurvedic doctor who now works on a number of projects at CEHAT, one of which is the design and distribution of a cheap and effective examination kit for sexual assault victims. Another project we discussed was the Resettlement issue. This work involves people who have been resettled by the government from slums, squatter colonies and other urban settlements considered undesirable. They are often moved into apartment buildings in completely new areas, often without access to city services. Many of them haven't been able to get new ration cards or immunization for their children, and many have been refused treatment for TB. They often cannot pay maintenance fees for the buildings they live in, so electricity and water supply has been cut off. "Imagine living on the 9th floor without running water or an operating lift," said Dr. Pitre. "Pregnant women have been known not to ever come down - they even give birth in their homes." Morever, the lifestyle in apartments is very different from that in chawls or slums or the villages that many these people have migrated from - there, doors weren't closed and typically childcare was a community activity. In apartments, those old social structures are shattered. CEHAT has been doing networking with a number of groups, including those involved in City Planning, to highlight this and other issues.

We also talked about water purification techniques, this being an issue I've gotten interested in after the discussions with the Sangtin folks. Dr. Pitre said that chlorination is still a very effective technique that shouldn't be discounted. It is cheap and easy to use - Mediclor, a commercial package is available with Gram Panchayats. But just 2 drops are sufficient for a litre and over-chlorination defeats the purpose. She also mentioned a group called Jan Swasthiya Sahyog (JSS) in Bilaspur that has developed some portable filters. One of the goals of this group is to develop cheap, easy-to-use medical/health products, for e.g., they have developed a kit for testing for Urinary Tract Infections. "Products like this are essential and yet so few people are working on them."

We also talked about the need for scientific approaches to testing various herbal remedies, the social aspects of community health work and the need for involving the middle class in Mumbai and elsewhere in issues of social justice.
After this meeting, I met a friend for lunch and then the two of us headed to a few shops for a bout of shopping. One stop we had was in South Mumbai, where I picked up one of many parcels heading to US in my baggage from a friend's husband. We also visited an NGO whose representative, Mr. Thomas, had been in Nagapattinam during my visit there. His group, which is working in 30 villages on house reconstruction, was waiting for the Tamilnadu government to make allotments of land. "So basically you are not doing anything until you hear from the government?" I asked and he replied yes. "What about health, education, advocacy?" It seems they were organizing a few health camps etc. but nothing major. The discussion gave me a sense of what 'seva' - service looks like when not linked to 'sangharsh' - struggle. And the importance of advocacy and political viewpoints for any group wishing to effect social change.

Sit together, eat together

March 21st:

OK, so my second 24 hour train journey was more tiring than the last, or it was just the effect of Bombay's wonderful atmosphere, but I spent the morning tired and with a cough. My hosts, who were our neighbors during my school days, tried to get me to take some antibiotics. But I, in my infinite wisdom, refused and we compromised on standard cough syrup!

In the evening, I headed out to IIT to meet Om Damani. Om's adjusting to his new role - that of a prof. trying to encourage his students to operate 'out of the box'. Here's hoping he sticks it out. I also met my friend's 2-year-old son, who's staying for a while with his grandparents. My friend's father is a prof at IIT with enough seniority to get an independent house. But it's just he and his wife at home, and temporarily their grandson, so he's refused to take it and they continue to live in an apartment. So, when a professor is senior enough to be entitled to more spacious quarters, there aren't enough people at home to occupy them!

March 22nd:

After getting out of the traffic hell-hole that is Saki Naka (it took almost 2 hours), I got to Andheri station and then to town. I met P. Sainath for lunch in Gaylord's. It turned into a 3-hour lunch, though this seems to be the usual amount of time Sainath spends here. It seems the restaurant is very open to journalists spending a number of hours in it even if they just order coffee. And a waiter even stopped to discuss the denial of a US visa to Narendra Modi. Sainath had a lot to say about the status of agriculture, of different peoples' movements and their strategies and how AID has to position itself now and in the future. Since a lot of his writings are already online, I'll refrain from adding more here.

In the afternoon, I met with Jayantbhai of Bombay Sarvodaya Friendship Center (BSFC). AID-MN has been supporting their project on promoting communal harmony in B.Ed. and D.Ed. colleges in Mumbai. Jayantbhai is also associated with a group called Janmukti Sangharsh Vahini, a spinoff of a students' group established by JP during the Emergency. Janmukti is leading the work on the project. We hadn't received feedback for a while from them and slipped up on follow-up. Anyway, Jayantbhai told me that as soon as they received our questions and suggestions, they had a meeting. They also e-mailed us a reply, or so they thought, since nothing reached us. The idea of celebrating festivals jointly, which we suggested, appealed to them, especially since Diwali and Id were on the same day this past year. So they organized a joint celebration, which was attended by about 250 people. Different groups presented dances, sang ghazals and qawwalis, did mimicry etc. Food was provided, courtesy of the Mani Bhavan society (I didn't note down the exact name of this group). The function was co-sponsored by some Gandhian groups and a Muslim association.

Where the lectures in colleges are concerned, they are continuing in full pace. New speakers have been added - the list is now 9, including 2 women. Jayantbhai still does a major part of the lectures, maybe 30-40 %. But workshops, which are either a day long or a few days in duration, are handled entirely by another person, Mohan. They have also started distributing a pamphlet on Communalism written by Ram Puniyani, an IIT professor and member of EKTA, Mumbai. They conduct
an exam on the matter in this book - there was one scheduled for Thursday in Anjuman Khairul Islam college in Kurla. This college is an Urdu D.Ed. college - the group has extended its activities to Urdu colleges this year. Why an exam? was a question to which I did not get a satisfactory answer. I decided to ask the teachers and students in the college when I accompanied Jayantbhai there.

I asked Jayantbhai if he talks about the problems of Communalism in Bombay today - of how the city is divided and whether he thinks what they are doing can really bridge this gap. As he put it 'In 1947, the country was partitioned. In 1992-93, Bombay was partitioned. Most of the students in college today do not know any other reality. It is up to us to tell them about the past, to talk about what got us here - Shah Bano, the Babri Masjid and many other things.' How far these efforts will go, he doesn't know. But he continues to believe that by reaching out to future teachers, they will reach a much larger population eventually. In schools in Maharashtra, a one hour session called 'mulya shikshan' or value education has been added. Their plan is to distribute a set of lesson plans that can be used for this period by teachers.

I, for one, was immensely pleased that they incorporated our suggestion so promptly and slightly ashamed that we haven't done a better job of following up with them.

Ek ASHA

March 19th:

On the last day of my stay in Sitapur, I met the remaining 2 members of Sangtin – Sasibala and Ramsheela. In all this flurry, we set out at 9 am. After picking up Vibha and Surbala, I realized I had forgotten the carpets!! Well, there's always the postal service!

It took longer than expected to reach the ashram – half of the route was on a single track road. Sandeep had told us that he wouldn't be able to make it to the ashram – the peace march was just 4 days away. There were others to greet us there. A young girl who volunteers at the tuition center told us she had gone to Assam to learn weaving and plans to set up an enterprise in the ashram or nearby. The tuition center operates in the evenings – earlier, it was a day-long school. A school was opened in Lalpur, the neighboring village and so this was made an evening school. The Sangtin women asked whether the school should be continued with a different set of people – dropouts, adults etc. The reply was that these are all wage earners who would not prefer to study during the day. Efforts to include them in the evening classes haven't been in earnest – so far, only children are attending. A weekly clinic is also run with a homeopathic doctor in attendance. A dispensary gives out medicines throughout the week as well.

By this time, Guddu and Neelkamal, two ASHA full-timers had arrived. They started talking about their efforts in Right-to-Information and Right-to-Food. Using RTI, village records were opened in a few villages to examine them for validity. This led to the suspension of the Pradhan in Bharawa village due to misappropriation of a few lakhs. The DM of Sitapur dt. Is very supportive of the ASHA work and has placed all public records and grievance redressals on the Sitapur dt. official website (Note: A Hindi font such as Krutidev is required, which is available on the site). ASHA has been working to ensure the payment of minimum wage (which is Rs. 58 for both men and women in these parts, we were informed) in all government projects.

Under their Right-to-Food efforts, they have been working with villagers to get BPL (Below Poverty Line) cards to the right families. Also, a percentage of ration shop licenses are reserved for poor people, but are typically run by richer folks – one effort has been to ensure that shops are run by the people they were allocated to. This came into a lot of questioning - as Surbala put it, “A deposit of Rs. 60,000 is required and most people can't afford it.” The response was that if the community was mobilized, the money collected could be the group's.

Guddu and Neelkamal then began to talk about a cause close to their hearts – their efforts in the nearby village of Natpurwa. This village was once full of sex workers and its economy ran on this 'business'. Guddu and Neelkamal are themselves from Natpurwa – their lives took a different direction after they went to Lucknow for their studies and met Sandeep. Early on, they had decided they would combat this situation and so they came back to the village and started work. In the 2 years and lots of work since, they have gained the women's sympathies. Women's groups have been formed and alternative lifestyles encouraged. The result is that gangs no longer operate in the area – once upon a time, 'girls' from the village were regularly taken to clients in Hardoi and Lucknow.

More importantly, there are now choices for the young girls in the village. Every time the ASHA staff or village women hear of a situation where a girl is of marriageable age, but her family is poor and is under pressure to 'sell' her off, they hold meetings and collect money to ensure the girl's marriage.

During all the discussions so far, a few things were said that reflected some gender misconceptions – statements like 'Oh, how can women walk so far?' and 'You must all be good cooks - forgive our poor efforts'. As these were nothing serious, they were let lie. But then someone made a statement that the ASHA staff could 'teach' Sangtin how to work on certain issues in Sitapur dt. This spurred Richa to speak and speak she did! In a very polite, yet firm manner, she stressed the experiences that the Sangtin team had and the work they have already initiated with minimal external support. Some statements had been made about how ASHA volunteers worked without salary – Vibha countered with a list of work she already did for free! I cut in with a mention of how they've supported the schools so far with their own money. In short, Sangtin made its case! The discussion then reached a different level, with everyone critiquing working styles, acknowledging hierarchies within organizations and agreeing that any collaboration would have to be two-way.

At this point, we thought of visiting a field area. But Surbala had to get back that night, which would not be possible if she came to Lucknow. Further, since there was not much transportation from the ashram, we had to backtrack and drop her off at the nearest big town well connected to Mishrikh. So we said our goodbyes. Richa said they would plan another outing to the ashram and visit field areas, especially Natpurwa. We parted with good wishes to Guddu and Neelkamal for the peace march - they would participate in turns.

After dropping Surbala off, we continued to Lucknow on a road that degenerated to a dusty path under construction for about 30 km. This tired us out, and inspite of some good kulfi and later lassi, it was a wilted me that boarded the train to Mumbai. But hey – there'd be 24 hours to recover! I said my goodbyes to Richa and Vibha, amid promises to visit again with Dwiji in tow.

March 20th:

Another long journey, this time in a part of the train without any female passengers. Something to be said for the XX factor (chromosomes, I mean!). I got down at Kalyan with the plan of taking a local train to Kanjurmarg (near IIT) and an auto to the Pandes' house, where I would be staying. The train was crowded, even though it was Sunday night – welcome to Bombay!

Weaving a lifestyle

March 17th:

Richa was heading to Lucknow on Thursday to meet a representative of a Delhi group who was in Lucknow for a training session. I was planning to accompany her, but dropped out in the morning due to general tiredness. I spent most of the day reading, writing reports and sleeping.

But before I forget, one interesting event organized by Vanangana in Chitrakoot dt. recently was 'Cricket for Peace', inspired by the event held in Gujarat. There, each team was comprised of 50% Muslims and 50% Hindus. Here, the rule was to have a threefold representation of Dalits, Muslims and the rest (which is typically Savarns and Brahmins). A tournament was arranged and the weeklong event had participation from a number of teams. “This was the first time a cricket tournament of any kind had been organized in the district and so there was a lot of excitement,” said Madhavi. Local politicians and government officials attended the final and there are plans to organize it on a yearly basis. Madhavi has been stepping back from Vanangana to encourage the local leadership and chose not to attend the event, though of course she was giving plenty of long-distance advice and support. “But they did it, and did a great job!”

March 18th:

As planned earlier, Richa and I decided to go to Khairabad on Friday. Initially, on realizing it was Jumma, the Muslim day of prayer, we hesitated, then decided to leave in the afternoon. We spent most of the morning talking about Sangtin's work and direction, her own experiences and how they have shaped her, the previous day's events etc. In recent years, she has gained a lot of perspective into how government works and how hard it is for sincere people to change the system. “Even for a 10 minute visit by a senior official, a village is transformed,” she said. “How can the officials really understand what's going on there?” And on the future of Sangtin - “We will work in very few villages, maybe 10. But whatever we do there – jam ke karenge. We will tackle every issue we can.” The current Sangtin team is all based in Mishrikh block of Sitapur dt. and so this will be their field area.

On the question of income generation and good group dynamics, she didn't feel too optimistic. “I have yet to meet a group that does not have a personality attached to it, who ends up ultimately dominating it.” I told her about the groups I know about and those that I have just a little information about and promised to do some homework. In August, Sangtin members are planning to visit Utthan and the SEWA dairy in Ahmedabad and MKSS in Rajasthan. If time and money permit, they could do more exposure trips - suggestions are welcome.

We headed out to Khairabad by tempo – it is about 15 km away from Sitapur. It seems the nawabs that ultimately ruled over Awadh hailed from this town. Now it is predominantly a weavers' community. One carpet factory and its owner, Jaleesbhai, are at the top of the food chain. We went to Jaleesbhai's factory in search of him, passing the area where yarns were being dyed, and were taken to his house, a palatial mansion. Jaleesbhai greeted us distractedly – his attention was on the cricket match and Sachin Tendulkar's batting. But he did talk to Richa about her work and even ordered some dresses for his wife and daughters. In the course of the conversation, we found out that there had been a split in the business between him and his younger brother a week ago. Therefore, the factory showroom was no longer in his hands – he was planning to open a new one on the ground floor of his house.

We headed downstairs to look at the carpets – earlier, Richa told me, she and Richa Nagar had gone through the streets looking to purchase rugs directly from the weavers. But they weren't able to get any and had to come to the factory. Downstairs, we headed into a room filled with rugs from floor to ceiling – the rugs ranged in size from 1' by 2' to room size. Two neighboring rooms were also filled up – there must have been atleast a thousand rugs there. Two attendants started showing us rugs, but they hadn't even seen the stock in its new storage space so far. So they had no idea where everything was. Richa said she'd come later and we said our goodbyes.

We had planned to meet Reshma's brother's family in Khairabad and went to the main factory to enquire about their whereabouts. Here, we met Jaleesbhai's brother and an assistant that Richa knew and got talked into tea and seeing more carpets! But somehow neither she nor I liked any that we saw. We made the appropriate responses and left the factory to Reshma's brother's house. He wasn't at home, but his wife and daughters were. They greeted us and another round of hospitality commenced. At times like this, I wish I could drink tea without it entering my stomach!

A relative at their house, another weaver, took the lead in informing us about the weaver community. It is predominantly Muslim and has been in this trade for centuries. The weavers do not own any land and so are dependant on their craft for survival. Once upon a time, they used to sell their 'daris' in the local market themselves. As he put it, “If we didn't sell any, we didn't eat.” Then came the advent of trading companies which began to ship daris to Lucknow, Delhi and foreign markets. The market became more vertical, with traders such as Jaleesbhai picking up orders and placing them with the weavers. “Oh, so the factory does not have any looms?” I asked. Reshma's sister-in-law and nieces took up the tale. The factory just supplies the yarns and designs. Most of the weavers have looms in their own houses. For bigger carpets which require 2 weavers, a 'freelance' weaver may be engaged. Finally, there are small 'kaarkhane' – workshops – which have a few looms and engage weavers. The price per carpet is set by the factory based on size, complexity of design etc. The weaver who picks up an order, say, of 10 carpets may complete them himself or farm them out at a lower price.

Reshma's nieces brought out some carpets they have been working on. One carpet, which takes a day to weave, nets them Rs. 100. “Of course, we have to first put the yarns onto spools,” said the older daughter. “That takes some time.” After resisting fervent entreaties to stay the night, we headed out to visit some looms and possibly buy some carpets. Downstairs, their loom was lying idle, but a few doors across, a weaver was hard at work on a simple 2' by 5' carpet. He said he could make 5-6 a day and that each netted him Rs. 10. Our main interlocuter then took us to his house. There, a magnificient carpet was in progress – this was made with 'shanil', a finer yarn and was room-sized. Two weavers work for 2 days to complete it and earn Rs. 300. As the numbers show, compensation for the weavers is a little arbitrary.

The last place we headed to in Khairabad was a workshop with about 5 looms and a number of weavers. Here we struck the proverbial gold – a number of beautiful carpets were shown to us. I picked up two and Richa one. She also placed an order for a room-sized carpet after discussing design changes on an existing one. During our wait for carpet finishing, we found out that this was a small-scale supplier, with orders from Lucknow, Delhi and Mumbai. They said they pick up orders from Jaleesbhai as well, but they have managed to establish their own connections. Was it better buying here than in Jaleesbhai's showroom? I think so, because atleast we conducted the transaction in the presence of the weavers. I've been trying to make purchases where producers are compensated fairly – it hasn't always been easy.

We headed back to Sitapur and booked a car for the morrow. The plan was that Richa and Vibha to accompany me to the ASHA ashram in Hardoi dt., drop me off at Lucknow and return to Sitapur. In our absence, Surbala had called and pieced together our plan even though Amma could not convey it accurately. She said she would join us. The day ended with packing.

Milk for thought

March 15th and 16th:

After breakfast, I went to meet Sandeep Pandey and Arundhuti Dhuru. They are good friends with Madhavi and I had already met their son Chaitanya at her house. Arundhuti had just returned from Raja Talab where she had participated in a protest outside the Coke factory. We talked about groups she has worked with, the conflicts within them and how hard it is to achieve democratic operation within any movement. I also told her about Sangtin's decision to close their schools. She was upset about this and promised to do what she could to expedite the review process.

Sandeep joined us at the breakfast table, busy at work with preparations for the India-Pakistan Peace March. He had just returned from Lahore and seemed a little stunned from the warm reception he received there. He has written about the trip and his discussion with the Pakistani PM, so I won't reiterate the details here. He was hopeful that the Indian group (including Sanat) would get visas to travel to Pakistan. We talked a little about the work they have been doing on communalism – they have organized meetings in Ayodhya - “We get more attendees than Pramod Mahajan does at his meetings.” Sandeep has also done a few ‘stunts’, like distribute copies of the Geeta while Mahajan was distributing trishuls (tridents). We talked about how his work is perceived in the wider ASHA circles - “I tell him not to send e-mails replying to arguments and accusations – his very presence online makes the situation worse!” Arundhuti interceded. Just like in AID, there seems to be a growing gap between ASHA volunteers who have spent time visiting grassroots groups and/or building close links with them and the rest – the challenge for everyone volunteering with these groups is how to bridge that gap. Sandeep seems to have stepped back a bit from that, as he should.

Sandeep and Arundhuti exchanged schedule information just before he got into his car to drop me off at the bus station – this seemed to be the first time they had after Sandeep's return from Lahore! In the car, we talked more about conflicts and challenges in ASHA. I also asked him for an opinion on FCRA clearance – from what I've been hearing, it's a process rife with corruption and tough for a group without money or connections in Delhi. He disagreed and said that the group could contact their elected MP. “At some point we have to work with politicians.” Further, he thought that groups should fight for their rights. “What about groups who do not have that kind of money?” I asked. After all, not all groups are in a position to wait – after meeting the Sangtin folks, I have perhaps become extra-conscious about economic realities. “There still will be a way,” he replied. I asked if AID volunteers should get involved in this as we do with other campaigns – by writing/faxing/e-mailing/calling the Registrar's office. “Why not?” was his reply!

Sandeep dropped me off at the bus stop, after suggesting I visit the ASHA ashram on the 19^th before leaving from Lucknow. I returned to Sitapur and shortly afterwards, Richa and I left for Kunmarapur. We first took a bus to Mishrikh and then a theliya – a cart attached to a bicycle, sort of a cycle rickshaw without the seating. “It's a multi-purpose vehicle and can transport both people and goods.” I didn't have my camera with me – pity, me on a theliya is worth a few laughs! Richa talked about how people used to stare seeing her on one after she left Mahila Samakhya. “There, I was the District in-charge. I would be driven everywhere in the office car,” she said. She may be reconciled to all kinds of transport, and even enjoying it sometimes, but it seems harder for others to adjust to her new reality.

We reached Kunmarapur at about 5 pm. Richa showed me Reena's old house – it had burned down during a fire in the village. Reena had been helping put out a fire in her brother-in-law's house. In the meantime, it spread to her house and she arrived too late to save it. Help from friends in Sangtin and elsewhere got the family emergency supplies and Reena has now collected enough money to rebuild. In the meantime, her family lives in 2 rooms that are part of the women's dairy.

The dairy has been operational for 3 years, though it was formally inaugurated only last June. Milk is collected in Kunmarapur and some neighboring villages and sent to Parag dairy in Sitapur for processing. If the milk arrives there in good condition, payments are made to the tune of ~Rs. 12/litre. But if one set of bad milk is mixed with the rest, the entire batch is spoiled and the payment is only 50 paise. So this has been Reena's biggest challenge – convincing the villagers that it is in their collective interest to supply good milk. Beyond the cash received when operating well, the villagers are saving time – earlier, they used to make khoya (condensed milk) and other milk products to sell in Mishrikh.

As we got to the dairy, Reena, her husband and two of her four sons were there to welcome us. In a little while, folks started bringing in their evening milk. Reena did a lactometer test on the milk to determine its density. Then her husband took all the milk collected to the main road where the Parag dairy van would pick it up.

All this time, Richa was telling me about Reena's enterprising nature. It seems when Reena married into the family, her husband had no land left in his name – it had all been grabbed by others. “There are a lot of fights in this village over land,” she said. “Papers have been falsified, schemes hatched and people killed for a few bighas.” Reena borrowed money, engineered agreements and somehow acquired 14 bighas. She has also helped defuse a family feud, which had been ongoing for the past 3 generations! In one part of her land, she hasn't used any chemical inputs, only gobar. The yield was better than that in the other fields. “We have to demonstrate pesticide-free farming to convince people to change.”

As the evening lengthened to night, two of Reena's sisters-in-law came to help her with the cooking. The village does not have electricity, so everything was done with lanterns. Fireflies flickered in the fields nearby, complementing the stars in the clear sky above. Richa and I sat on a cot, surrounded by the kids of the family. They began asking me questions about America, especially Reena's second son Akshit. His questions were varied and often incisive, ranging from geography to politics and trivia – I had to think on my feet. Richa later told me that he had studied in one of the schools set up by Sangtin, where they encouraged the kids to be inquisitive from the beginning. Both kids and adults were fascinated by my bottle, which has filter-cum-purifier. They requested me to forget it there. I declined, saying I didn’t want to start another fight in Kunmarapur!

We sat down to a sumptuous meal that I, sadly, could not do justice to – my digestive processes have been erratic, complaining no doubt due to my packed itinerary. We went to sleep soon after – Reena's day starts early.

On Wednesday morning, I got up at 6 am and soon went out to watch the morning milk collection process. This is a bigger event than the evening's – about 40 litres get collected as opposed to about 10 litres in the evening. At one time Reena had been receiving twice as much milk, but late and erratic payments from Parag has brought down people's confidence in the process. If the dairy supplied more milk, Sangtin could purchase better testing equipment and ultimately operate a fully functioning dairy. The plan would then be for Sangtin to get a percentage of the profit and distribute the rest among the producers, all whom are women (atleast on paper).

After the milk was collected and dispatched, Reena and a young man who has become her unofficial assistant started the work of testing. From every batch of milk, Reena takes 150 ml, for which she pays, for fat testing. This and other processes are described here. The process involves mixing milk in a tube with sulphuric acid and then alcohol, and churning the tubes in a centrifuge. The chemistry of the process is explained here. The work is tedious – it takes an hour to complete, including cleaning. Some dairy operators do not conduct this test and pay their producers a flat rate. But Reena computes the fat content, which varies from 4-14%, for the milk she receives and makes payments accordingly. Since everything is done in the open, some men and women wait to see the results for themselves. One woman, who had suspicions about her daughter-in-law mixing water in the milk, was satisfied when her milk's fat reading came to 13.6%! Ever since this process started, nutrition and care of buffaloes in Kunmarapur has improved!

The centrifuge machine was a very basic one – it was set in the earth (which was not very hard) and had to be rotated by a crank-shaft. I kept thinking of how little it would take to make a better setup – to set the machine in concrete so that it wouldn't vibrate, get a smaller, more efficient one etc. For all her work, Reena gets less than 1% of the returns. But she enjoys it, I felt, inspite of her occasional grumbling. I asked whether such dairies could be set up in the other villages that the group has a presence – Satnapur, Qutubnagar etc. The answer was roughly that income generation schemes cannot be exported as a model everywhere. Because of the conditions of Kunmarapur and the presence of Reena, this approach will work here. In Qutubnagar, the chikan model has more chances of success, and so on. And anyway, right now there are few hands and lots of work for Sangtin!

We left the village at ~10 am and walked to the nearest town, Aant, 2-3 km away. As we walked through fields and groves of trees, Reena and Richa talked about the eucalyptus tree problem. The Forest dept. has agreed to buy eucalyptus trees – therefore there is a financial incentive in planting them. But like pine trees in the Himalayas, these are not local and not conducive to other species. Further, they render the soil acidic, increase erosion etc. But how can this be combated? The group is searching for answers. Yet another issue that concerns them is the proliferation of brick kilns in the area, all controlled by strongmen and politicians (who are often one and the same). The kilns were devastating the land, as well as incomes in the neighboring villages. “But everyone wants bricks to build houses with,” said Reena. “If I could, I would build a brick house!”

After saying goodbye to Reena who was heading to the bank, we took a tempo to Mishrikh and went to the Mahila Shikshan Kendra, an education center run by Mahila Samakhya. Richa wanted me to meet 2 girls whose cases Mahila Samakhya, or at least the staff, had taken up. The girls were both not present, but all the Sahyoginis were. Sahyoginis are the field staff of Mahila Samakhya – each has 10 villages under her purview and looks after issues coming up in them, as well as running regular programs such as savings groups, events etc. Sahyoginis are supposed to be catalysts for change and often have been.

I also met the girls studying in a bridge course – an intensive 6-month residential educational program to get them up to 5^th standard level. We talked a bit about their course and their stay in the center. One component of the course is teaching girls to cycle, with the result that a lot of girls in the area have become mobile. It seems that one batch drove a cycle to pieces, but the women, led by Richa who was then the DPC (District Programme Co-ordinator), let them. “Let's give them a little fun in their lives,” seemed to be the consensus. The program costs include Rs.30/day/girl for food. Other programs are being run for much less, but Richa resists working with such programs. “Often the people planning them will spend Rs. 20 on a water bottle. And they think Rs. 15 is enough for food for a child!”

We reached Sitapur in time for a late lunch. Soon after, Richa received a call from a young girl in Mishrikh. I cannot explain the situation in detail as it would violate privacy, but events were occurring that would bring this girl's story to public scrutiny and 'shame' her all over again. Richa immediately got into damage control mode. Angrily, she said, “This is what I mean by exploitation. Certain books have been written in Delhi and Lucknow that we cannot allow to be circulated in our district. Forget shaming a person, they can put others' lives at risk. Ultimately, it is the field workers who take the brunt and none of the glory.”

I spent the rest of the evening thinking of all the women I've met so far who work in the field and praying for their continued strength and determination.

The health of a nation

March 14th:

After a leisurely morning, I got a ride to the Sahayog office where I was to meet Abhijit Das. I met some of the staff of Sahayog and Kriti Resource Center, its documentation wing, including Ganesh Dey who does most of the illustrations for their publications as well as for CAC in Uttaranchal. Some of the staff sat around a table to discuss various issues Sahyog is involved in.

Firstly a little perspective on UP was provided – it has the highest population in India and the dubious distinction of 1/12^th of the world's maternal deaths – 40,000 women every year. Where Bihar suffers from anarchy, UP is oppressed by structural violence. In Bundelkhand, the southern part of UP, the problems are caste-based violence, dacoitry and lack of access (see notes from Vanangana). In eastern UP, an extremely fertile area, deaths from hunger still occur due to huge inequities, with people high up in the feudal hierarchy owning hundreds of acres while weaker sections of society are comprised of landless laborers. In western UP, yet another form of violence – that of village 'elders' exerting control over the community. The murder of a young couple who chose to marry against their parents' wishes in Muzzaffarnagar is a case in point. All these forms of violence, in their own right, have had an adverse impact on health, especially women's health.

And then there is the state-sponsored violence. When the average operating time for a female sterilization operation is two-and-a-half minutes, how can the government family planning program be considered even remotely humane? I mentioned watching 'Something like a war' recently – it is a horrific expose of the situation, including the quota system where government officials have to show proof of sterilization operations arranged by them before they can get their salaries. This movie is 20 years old, but it still holds true, I was told. I received a DVD which is a more recent production by Kriti Resource Center.

There was also a lot to be said about polio programs. As Abhijit put it, “Maternal deaths are a subsidy for polio eradication programs.” To elaborate, Rs. 13 crore is spent on each round of polio immunizations. And there are numerous every year. All government officials – PHC staff, village level officials, even teachers - are caught up in the activity. So where is the time or money to devote for other programs? Even regular vaccinations – DPT and BCG have been affected. Malaria and TB are on the rise, as well as maternal mortality. “To be able to say that polio has been eradicated, we are sacrificing the health and lives of countless people.”

Therefore, Sahayog, with the help of its partners in the field, has been demanding accountability. For example, Prayas, a spin-off group working in Nainital and Rudrapur dts. in Uttaranchal, has been partnering with village women to demand more from their health services. A maternal death audit was undertaken in UP – it listed 8 lakh cases. On the basis of this and other reports, the group has been fighting for improved quality of care and increased surgeon qualifications. Finally, compensation for deaths by negligence is a demand of HealthWatch, a network of groups facilitated by Sahayog.

On population control, there was again a lot to say. I, like most middle-class mainstream people, grew up thinking population rise is the root of almost all the problems in India. As the folks at Sahayog put it, “We are 'educated' to think that.” Sahayog has been working to increase awareness of the issue and the problems such single-minded focus on one 'problem' at the expense of all others has on the 'beneficiaries' – rural women. In one district, 1400 women were sterilized in 2 days. Some of them were unmarried, others past childbearing age. 99% of the interventions for 'family planning' are directed towards women and an overwhelming majority are sterilization operations. Recently, vasectomies or male sterilizations are again receiving attention – in the last 6 months, there have been cases of boys being intoxicated and operated on. And all of this inspite of the fact that there is a shortage of contraceptives in many parts of the state, so that families that want family planning approaches aren't getting them. Finally, there are so many factors that lead to families having more than 2 children – infant and child mortality, women's lack of control of their bodies and sexuality and so on.

With all this evidence in hand, various health and human rights groups successfully intervened in Himachal Pradesh, with the result that the government withdrew a plan to ban jobs and rations to families with more than 2 children. Also, the national government was forced to say that they do not endorse the 2-child norm, even though it is in the Common Minimum Program of the UPA. On the flip side, the Supreme Court passed an order to enforce the norm. So its a constant struggle... 8 months ago, Dwiji and I had a long discussion on this issue with staff members of Vanangana, based in Chitrakut dt., UP and a partner of Sahayog. Some of these women have more than 2 children and during a group meeting, the more vocal and 'radical' women in Vanangana convinced two women to go in for sterilization operations. They are still having health problems a year later as a result. Others who were contemplating sterilization were too scared to go in for it. Yet others, this the staff of an NGO fighting for women's rights, are contending with husbands who believe that more children is a sign of 'mardangi'. As they told us, this is not an easy problem to deal with.

On the role of NGO's – Kriti Resource Center relies on NGO partners to provide information from the field as it does not have a field presence itself. In Abhijit's opinion, 'Small is beautiful' as far as NGOs are concerned. One thing NGOs should NOT do is make the government redundant. “NGOs are in an area only for a few years. 'Sarkar aur samaaj' – government and society – these are the only sustainable partners in any effort.”

After the Sahayog staff left to continue their various tasks, Abhijit and I continued talking. We discussed his report on HIV/AIDS in Uttaranchal in 2000 and the subsequent arrest of 5 members of Sahayog (including Vasundhara, his partner) for distributing obscene literature. “We didn't anticipate the reaction to the report and should have,” he commented. Ironically, or maybe logically, he felt that the book 'Sangtin yatra' shouldn't have been written. “It upset a lot of people in the NGO community here and affected relationships.” He hadn't read the book, so couldn't comment on specific aspects of it. Incidentally, Kriti Resource Center has worked with Sangtin on their most recent campaign, after 'Sangtin yatra' was released.

Abhijit also expressed happiness that I was spending so much time in the region. “Not many AIDers visit UP,” he remarked. Working in the region was very hard, with the violence, caste and gender discrimination and everything else, but the inequities that exist between the North and South of India have to be tackled. And that requires more presence in the area. We discussed ways of further educating people in AID about population and health issues and I ended up adding a huge stack of Kriti Resource Center publications to my collection!

From the Sahayog office, I went to the railway reservation center to reschedule my Mumbai-Bangalore ticket. Only then did I realize that my ticket was for 27^th February, not 27^th March. Yet another loss by the Nagavarapu-Guru combine in travel, though mine is definitely not as expensive a mistake as Dwiji's last year!

Back at Madhavi's home, we talked about the activities she has been involved in. She moved from Karvi to Lucknow a few months ago and while she still continues to support Vanangana's activities, she has taken on new tasks such as helping the Dalit Women's network in UP with case work. This involved preparing briefs on about 200 cases in a couple of days, picking out some cases for highlighting and working with the group to organize an event that brought out the continuing oppression of Dalits in the state. She continues to work with groups in Gujarat – a tuition center started in Kalol town is into its third year of operation (and we're still waiting for the proposal!). The legal work they did so far has resulted in one case – Bilkees Bano's. Huma and Madhavi are among a group of people supporting Bilkees through her struggle. Madhavi was in Mumbai for about 10 days during when the case was postponed twice. She talked about Bilkees' courage and how important it was that a rape case in this country receives a favorable verdict. We talked about the adverse impact of the developments in the Best Bakery case. “But Bilkees has made her deposition and has stood firm. Now only time will tell.”

Some sightseeing, shopping in possibly the biggest chikan market in the world and more great chaat (7 different flavors in pani puri) and kulfi brought the day to a close.