"NOTHING" EMPOWERS WOMEN

For years, these women have been someone's daughters, someone's sisters, someone's wives or someone's mothers. In the old age, suddenly they find themselves to be not under the care of or care about any of them. They are nothing now.

What do you call this - a delayed empowerment or a mere desperation? 

For the past eight to nine months, during my visits to various villages in Kalahandi district in Odisha, I observed an interesting phenomenon regarding elderly women. Be it in a group or individually, they seem to be more vocal about their 'rights and entitlements'. They are fearless, less apprehensive, outspoken and more 'rational'. The transformation from 'purely traditional' to 'somewhat rational' over time, might have been facilitated by a multitude of factors - both external and internal. 

I feel that the main reason behind this 'delayed empowerment' in elderly women is 'NOTHING'. Yes, "Nothing" empowers women. For years, these women have been someone's daughters, someone's sisters, someone's wives or someone's mothers. In the old age, suddenly they find themselves to be not under the care of or care about any of them. They are nothing now. They are forced to stand up and speak for themselves. If they don't, survival gets more and more tougher for them.

Firstly,  in that old age, lack of regular income, and inability to earn their living, force them to a 'desperation' to fight back. Secondly, the apprehension that haunted them through out their lives, as to what the society, their male counterparts would think or say seems to have disappeared in their final phase. Lastly, the fear of being socially stigmatized seems to have vanished totally in front of the old age desperation and the new-found strength in having no strings attached.  In the absence of all those who relied on them for "honour", I think these women are able to put traditions aside and act rationally. 

Around June 2014, in a huge block level gathering to review MNREGA scheme, I witnessed this woman, slowly yet steadily and boldly climbing onto the dais and dared to question the Block Development Officer (BDO) regarding some entitlement she was due to receive. 

In an another incident around September 2014, I attended a cluster level meeting where in representatives from various self help groups in that area were present. Even when a few young and middle aged women were shy and fearful to even say their names, an elderly woman sitting at the back was exceptionally overreaching. She seemed to have answers to all our questions and solutions to all the problems. 

Very recently in April 2015, we conducted a gram panchayat level meeting, to find out about people's grievances. It was headed by Sub Collector of our district. Firstly, there were hardly any women attending that meeting. Secondly, even the young woman Sarpanch, did not speak a word. Then these two women walked in confidently and told the Sub Collector that they were not receiving pensions regularly. It might seem as a very small and trivial act for us. But when one tries to put oneself in their shoes, the context will be more clear. It is a big deal for the tribal women who would have hardly done such a thing before. It might be like a kindergarten child going to speak in front of an audience, for the first time.

What do you call this - a delayed empowerment or a mere desperation? I say, it is the both. They seem to be telling the society "We do not care for you and your stigmas anymore. We are free". And it is not a coincidence that all the cases I quoted are of widows and mostly from single women households. Yes, they are nothing. And I think - "Nothing empowers these women". This phenomenon finds further support in how the solar grandmothers are making the Barefoot College, Tilonia's efforts in solar energy training successful (Details here). You might have as well observed in your own grand mothers also, how liberal and rational they can get.

Skip this para if you are not a Game of Thrones follower :)

[To convey my point on "Nothing" more effectively I am borrowing an incident and a quote from George R R Martin's Game of Thrones. Samwell Tarly, a night's watch member, a coward at heart manages to kill a white walker and when inquired how he could do so, he replies - "I had to do something other wise Gilly (woman he was trying to save) and her baby would have been killed" (desperation). He further says - "I wasn't myself. I was nothing then. Nor son of someone or a friend of someone. When you are nothing, there is nothing to be afraid of" (Empowerment).]

This phenomenon shows how much the society is holding back women with unnecessary attachments, rules, conditions, restrictions and all the chains that do not let women take that much needed first step. Those who are able to break these shackles early, are able to stand up for themselves much in advance. Few of the rest do so much delayed at the fag end of their lives. The rest go unheard. 

Happy yet guilty !!!

I could not digest the idea that the very weather which gave me so much joy and filled my void had forced some to commit suicide and created void in many lives.

It all started when I had one of the best evenings of my life, around ten days ago. I along with a friend, set out into the wild to explore nature in the rain. I was ‘literally’ on top of the world watching the hills change colours from lush green, to brownish to orangish. It was a treat to my eyes when the last rays of the Sun turned the hills to glittery gold. There seemed to be no end to my joy when I saw a rainbow for the first time in my life. Yet times when there was no sound other than that of breeze, water flowing, or birds chirping or my companion talking, there, at that moment, it seemed as if “it was everything”. I could feel the life oozing out within and outside, every second.

That conversation we had with the nature, and its beautiful replies filled the void in me that this mundane life keeps creating every now and then. That evening continued to linger in my thoughts giving me unfathomable joy, until … until… that moment of guilt stuck me. It was when I read in the newspapers that very week about the damage caused to the crops and loss to the farmers due to untimely rains. I could not digest the idea that the very weather which gave me so much joy and filled my void had forced some to commit suicide and created void in many lives.

While I continued to ponder upon this happy-go-guilty feeling, today another incident happened. A massive earth quake killed at least a hundred people in Nepal and tremors were felt across North India. One of my friends tweets me expressing joy and praising the day for giving him an opportunity to experience tremors for the first time in his life. I would have reacted the same had I been in his place. Nevertheless that happy-go-guilty feeling struck again. I am sure many of us have gone through such moments.  

When I ruminated on this idea, I could recall many such incidents from the past. I think we felt the same dilemma when we had to welcome 2005 new year after Tsunami in December 2004. Back in my home town, I remember people not wanting to celebrate Diwali after the cyclone Hudhud devastated the city of Vizag in Oct 2014. I also remember to have had an ounce of happiness that a war (Kargil) has happened during my life time, though felt sorry for the lives lost.

In all the above incidents there are certain commonalities. They are either natural or lie outside of one’s influence. May be if I had the power to stop a war or prevent a disaster I would do so, rather than enjoying or living the moment. On the contrary, I was never seemed to have been celebrating my helplessness, I think I was just living the moment. The best part of this feeling is my realization that what gives me pleasure is giving pain to someone else. There are and will be many more from which I continue to draw pleasure and don’t even realize that the same is painful to someone somewhere. Also, there is a deep social and geographical connection to this feeling. The guilt that follows the happiness is mostly confined towards people or places one is surrounded by or associated with. I hardly ever related this guilt to some happenings in the Middle East.

I neither have a great mind nor an imagination to assume that pain and pleasure get cancelled on this earth. But it seems so somehow!!! When we take a moment to think through such happy yet guilty moments, I hope it will only widen our thoughts, open our minds and will be able to treat more of ‘others’ as ‘significant others’ and ‘one of us’. 

Suffocate schools with inspiration !!!

In this 21^st century, opportunities to learn are to be provided for rather than waiting for chance to work in one’s favour. Inspiration put in the air around will be inhaled no matter what, and will give excellent outcomes. 

Scouting for a skill or a talent is a herculean task. Various kinds of tests – objective, subjective, physical, interviews, group discussions etc – are conducted by schools/recruiters to identity right talent. Of course, these are not foolproof methods and so need to change with times and evolve gradually. What should precede scouting is our sincere effort to hone skills.

Such an effort essentially needs two things. One, believing that each one of us has some hidden skill or talent which needs a conducive environment, a little aid and guidance for it to be brought forth. Two, the individual should be given the freedom to experiment, make mistakes, learn and unlearn. I need no statistical evidence to state that our current education system is lacking in both.  

Any interest or skill is to be identified much early in a students’ life by making the process part of the curriculum. It will only make it difficult with passing time to tap that hidden potential unless they are lucky enough to get right opportunities at the right time in their life. But our education system seems to have taken the proverb “curiosity kills the cat” too seriously. So, we are killing the curiosity itself. A good learning environment would stoke curiosity not kill it.

We do not even know how many Tagores we are killing at the budding stage. Imagine had Rabindranath Tagore been deprived of all the excellent exposure, encounters with eminent personalities and his own father’s guidance, what would have happened? The world would have missed a great personality. He mastered in all the arts that were introduced to him through someone. And he found his own inspiration from nature.

On the other hand, consider Ambedkar’s story. In spite of the caste discrimination he faced as a child and his familial problems, he was lucky enough to get good opportunities to get educated. He was highly self motivated and became the first not only in his family but also in his community, to have pursued higher studies. He later became an inspiration for millions.

In both the above cases, two things mainly mattered. One, the kind of exposure and opportunities one had. Two, how well the individual had utilized the opportunity.  Not all those who are given the opportunity will be able to use it well. But provision of right opportunities and exposure is the first step in the long journey. Especially in this 21^st century, opportunities to learn are to be provided for rather than waiting for chance to work in one’s favour.

So, who should ensure that students are exposed to right information, right opportunities to learn? It is the responsibility of family and schools. State cannot directly target families but they can motivate the parents only through schools. Even before that what should schools do to inculcate “learning” as a habit? It should not be by “asking” them to learn but by “inspiring” them to do so. What can inspire? The question is what not can inspire.

A book, a pen, a movie, a song, a talk, a walk, a chat, a meet, a toy, an animal, a bird, the nature, a game, a teacher, a problem, a leader, a story, a struggle, an innovation, a solution – will the list of those which can be inspiring ever end? NO. Institutions should use these to give positive strokes of inspiration to the students. That will inculcate a ‘culture of learning’. Any learning should be rewarded in an appropriate way, though the best way to do so is to put that learning to use. This will lead to more inspiration. Inspiration put in the air around will be inhaled no matter what, and will give excellent outcomes. 

For example, a reading club initiative in a school, where in children read and discuss a book, their opinions should be published along with photo in an annual magazine. Once in a while an exposure visit to a new place, an interaction with new people will definitely make students’ minds curious and enthusiastic to learn. A talent search period should be made part of school curriculum. Students should be given an opportunity to show case their talents, appreciated for and provided opportunities to further hone them.

Many private schools and organizations are already working on making the learning interesting, inspiring and lively through activity based learning and teaching techniques. It is not a difficult task for government to take an initiative to change the learning environment of every school. The first step is to start thinking in these lines and with sufficient will power it can definitely be implemented. Money should not matter when it comes to human resource development, which will have a long lasting impact on generations to come.