Teach India gender and sexuality

Insight, Jun '16
By Shampa Sengupta

“Ma, are there only two kinds of human beings – male and female and no more?” This was the question my daughter Suchetana asked me 14 years ago when she was four. As usual, I pretended to be busy (which I often did whenever she asked me difficult questions) and told her I would explain later.

I had to take help of mythology when I came back to her with explanations – since story telling was part of my daily routine when I was with her, I started telling stories from Mahabharata – so Shikhandi’s story was told and retold a number of times, as also those of Brihannala and Iravan. But I distinctly remember Shikhandi was a favourite with both of us.

Books, comics, films, teaching aids are needed to make
children aware about gender and sexuality diversity.
Photo courtesy: Thoughtshop Foundation, Kolkata

Common cause, kiss of freedom in Kolkata pride!

Insight, Clickhappy! Dec '15
By Prosenjit Pal and Pawan Dhall

Photo credits: Prosenjit Pal, unless mentioned otherwise

The ‘14th Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’ on December 13, 2015 was many things for many people – an expression of not just queer pride but also solidarity with diverse social causes. Demanding intolerance for social exclusion of any kind, it broke new ground with participation by many youth and student groups and a ‘Hok Chumban’ / ‘Kiss of Love’ campaign at the end to protest moral policing anywhere and everywhere. While the walk route took Pawan Dhall down memory lane to 1999 (the year of the ‘1st Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’), Prosenjit Pal celebrated his very first queer pride walk in his home town with camera in hand.

On wings of desire!

Insight, Happenings, Aug '15
Pawan Dhall, Kaustav Manna and Drake Fort take a look at some out-of-the-box initiatives to promote greater understanding of transgender identities and rights

An artist from Amitie' Trust interacts with children during the
art workshop in Peyarabagan. Photo credit: CWF

Kolkata / New Delhi, April-June 2015: Childhood is supposed to be full of happy, carefree moments. But most children in the Peyarabagan slums of northern Kolkata learn to deal with the harsh realities of earning their daily bread early on in life. The morning of April 25, 2015 though might have been pleasantly different for them, when NGOs Civilian Welfare Foundation (CWF) and Child Relief and You (CRY) joined hands with transgender members of Amitie’ Trust to organize an event called ‘Ichchedana – Wings of Desire’ in Peyarabagan. About 150 children participated in the event, many of them school drop-outs; also involved were 20 school teachers with whom CWF aimed to link up the drop-outs.

Doodle with dad

My Story, Aug '15
Debasmita Dasgupta’s artistic venture, mY FaTHer Illustrations, is a child rights campaign based on illustrated father-daughter stories. Started in 2014, it takes a fun step forward this month

Copyright for all artworks: mY FaTHer
Illustrations by Debasmita Dasgupta

It all started with one small step. One Sunday afternoon I came across a story of a father, who despite all odds never gave up the courage to defend the rights of his daughter. His story became the turning point in my life. I knew I wanted to do something but was caught between ‘what’ and ‘how’. That’s when my red sketchbook and pencil caught my eyes.

Before long I had taken the first step. I had illustrated my first father-daughter story and shared it online to spread some inspiration. The journey of mY FaTHer Illustrations continued as I kept looking for moving father-daughter stories from across the globe. Some I found; some found me. Platforms like Varta helped immensely to spread the word (click here).

Remembering a friend, philosopher, guide

People, Apr '15
An ‘agent of change’ seems to sum up late Kusum Gupta rather well. One year on since she left behind family, friends and colleagues forever, Pawan Dhall flips through papers of an unpublished interview with her from 2002

From the family albums: Kusum Gupta (extreme right) with
Anuja Gupta (next to her), Suresh Gupta and
Sujata Gupta Winfield

In 2002, the Marwar magazine was looking to profile Marwari women who were questioning the status quo around gender inequity in their communities through their work in different spheres. A journalist friend with the magazine requested me to interview Kusum Gupta for the unconventional and brave stand she had taken around women, children and queer rights, even if this was in circles away from media attention. It turned out to be an interview that lasted several memorable hours. I could never get around to writing it out and submitting it for publication. But April 7, 2015, her first death anniversary seemed like a good occasion to retrieve some of her comments from the interview notes, as close to verbatim as possible. The interview papers also included a short note Kusum Gupta wrote to describe her work and what she felt were her “achievements”. Her thoughts and beliefs may have changed over the years since the interview, but what she said or wrote in 2002, political incorrectness and all, still has relevance. 

Was it celebration or protest?

Insight, My Story, Jan '15
Drake Fort on a fun-filled yet poignant anti-patriarchy, anti-Section 377 gathering outside Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata on New Year’s Eve

It was the perfect way to end a New Year’s Eve, with a loud, resounding and cheering “No” to patriarchy! This was the theme that resonated throughout an event titled ‘Call against Patriarchy – Defying Edition 377!’ held on a cold 31st night around a small open-air stage outside the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata.  Despite the chill, no one felt the slightest bit frosty. There was fire in our hearts and it burnt brighter as one performance after another furthered our resolve to keep fighting the injustices of a world that militates against anyone who is ‘not male, not heterosexual, not able-bodied, not normative in terms of class, caste, race or religion’.

If women gain, men don't lose

Insight, Nov '14
By Pawan Dhall

Only men with 56 inch chests welcome! When this becomes the criteria for the top job in the political leadership of a country, where is the space for the sentiment behind a statement like “When women gain, men don’t lose”? Are men pre-occupied with large chest sizes and other aggressive forms of manhood likely to let go off power, share it and invest in women and children’s gains? Are they likely to do so for supposed ‘social misfits’ like transgender, gay, lesbian or bisexual people; or people not from their religion, race, class or caste? Maybe they will, provided they are honoured with larger-than-life and hero-like adjectives such as ‘protectors’ and ‘providers’. But protectors and providers also tend to be ‘controllers’ of freedoms and choices!
So back to square one?

Act now for child protection

Advice - Rights and Laws, Nov '14
By Kaushik Gupta

Reader queries

My neighbours have employed a very young Nepali girl as a maid. She seems sad all the time and cries a lot. I suspect something wrong. Could it be that she has been forced or tricked into this job? If so, what can one do about it legally?

AB, West Bengal

Men and boys – gender justice calling

Insight, Happenings, Oct '14
Pawan Dhall and Madhuja Nandi report on a symposium organized in Kolkata on engaging men and boys in gender justice

Kolkata, September 19-20, 2014: “Our education system can no longer afford to be gender blind”; “Let us change the symbolism of god as male”; “Why should giving pain to one’s body be manly or glorious?” Snapshots of some thought provoking comments made by speakers at a two-day symposium titled ‘Men and Boys for Gender Justice’ organized at Seva Kendra by NGOs Swayam, Kolkata Rista, Ebong Alap, Sanjog and FEM Jharkhand. The symposium was a prelude to the ‘2nd MenEngage Global Symposium 2014’ to be organized in New Delhi in November 2014 by the Centre for Health and Social Justice and MenEngage, a global alliance of organizations working with men and boys for gender equality.

Father-daughter stories

Happenings, Mar '14 (update 1)

Debasmita Dasgupta invites inspiring father-daughter stories, which she promises to illustrate for a series called mY FaTHer Illustrations dedicated to all fathers who stand as pillars of strength for their children

It all started with a TED Talk by an Afghani woman, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, in 2013. She shared the story of how her father helped her to continue with her studies against all odds during the Taliban regime. She quoted her father: “We will let nothing stop your education, even if we have to sell our blood for it.”

Star quest - 1st encounter

Clickhappy! Star Quest, Oct '13
By Pawan Dhall

Beginning this issue of Varta, we bring you Star Quest, a series of photo-stories of individuals who may not be public figures like politicians, artistes, social activists or media persons, but have in their own way contributed to social equality and empowerment around gender, sexuality and related issues.

Their contribution may be in an intimate arena – among friends and neighbours, their local community, a village or slum school, their own work place and so on. It may not have attracted any media attention, yet the importance of their efforts cannot be underscored enough. Varta is happy to bring to light such hidden ‘stars’ and focus on endeavours that generate hope for a better present and future.

Varta welcomes its readers to contribute to Star Quest by sending information about individuals living anywhere in India who can be portrayed in the column. Please send a brief description of the individual and their work in about 100 words to vartablog@gmail.com, and also include 3 to 5 high quality photographs of the individual depicting their day-to-day life.

Please note that no individual will be portrayed in this column through text or photographs till the Varta team has interacted with them and obtained their informed consent. Therefore it is vital that readers also obtain the consent of the individuals concerned before sending information about them to Varta.

Star of the month: Surojit Mitra, 23, resident of Bow Bazar, Kolkata, is an unassuming youth development volunteer, currently associated with Prantakatha, Kolkata and pursuing distance education in the arts. His message to everyone is a simple one: “Don’t ignore anyone, whoever they are.” He is happy to have a diverse mix of friends from different backgrounds and walks of life, and that also includes his pet Goldie. 

Photos provided by Surojit Mitra

Surojit, or Bumba to his friends, is passionate about teaching children living in the Bow Bazar red light area. He started off with Sanlaap as a member of their ‘Youth Partnership Project’ supported by ECPAT International (End Child Prostitution, End Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes). From 2008 to 2010, he was trained by Sanlaap to conduct teaching and activity classes for small children, and this has continued till date even after the project ended. Never one to be demoralized, he now conducts classes from his own home, and also encourages older children to continue their education.

 

Photos show Surojit conducting classes during his association with Sanlaap and drawings made by his students (photos provided by Surojit Mitra).

 

Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

Recalling the initial struggle he had to undergo to convince his parents about his plans to teach children living in red light areas, he wishes that the ‘Youth Partnership Project’ had not ended. In his experience, these children need a lot of patience and long-term support to continue with their education. Many of the children have their mothers engaged in prostitution. It is difficult to win their trust in the face of other pulls like drug use and the challenges posed by their circumstances. Sometimes they take offence easily and one can expect a gradual change at best. Kudos therefore to Surojit for continuing with the teaching efforts on his own steam.

Busy also these days as a volunteer with his ‘Prantakatha family’, Surojit is part of the ‘Must Bol’ filmmaking-based youth campaign against gender based violence (see Happenings report ‘Must Bol’ Campaign Reaches Milestone in this issue of Varta).

Surojit is quite relaxed about his future plans. But his eyes brighten up when he says that the children he has taught remember him even after having grown up. That gives him a quiet satisfaction that he has been on the right track, and he is certain that he wants to become a professional social worker.

All strength to him says Varta.

Pawan Dhall aspires to be a rainbow journalist and believes in taking a stand, even if it’s on the fence – the view is better from there!

Sarita Bai and her child

Insight, Sep '13
By Md. Gulrez

In the year 2007, I was based in interior tribal villages of Madhya Pradesh working with an NGO on community development. My work involved interaction with women, organizing them to form self help groups (SHGs) and promotion of livelihood initiatives.

It must have been around the time I had received confirmation in my job after a yearlong intense induction programme. Instead of feeling high, I was a bit depressed as all the six others who had started with me either left or were asked to leave. Lonely, I tried to engross myself in work. A usual day’s schedule involved getting up early in the morning and rushing to the villages to monitor progress on agricultural and horticultural interventions, attending a few SHG meetings, getting back to the office to do desk work, having lunch, and returning to the villages in the evening to attend more SHG meetings.