The limited utility of the Gender Lens

I was in Assam, in a small village of the Karbi-Anglong people. We were greeted by two Karbi women, and one of them tied a friendship band on my wrist. It felt lovely. It is always like this - in tourism, whenever I meet local women of any area, I feel a certain kinship, a bond, because I know we have many things in common.

In my travel company too, I employ many women. It is an unwritten rule, that we will prioritize hiring of women guides. Over the past 20 years, I think we have probably developed India's largest network of women in tourism, working not just as guides, but also as cooking hosts, art and architecture specialists, craft specialists, and so on. 

And yet - I do feel that the 'gender lens' is just one way to view the world. It is an appropriate lens sometimes. Gender injustice is real. But we should not forget that any lens, if used for too long, eventually excludes you from seeing other views. 

I use lenses very often, so that I can learn to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. But if I wear any singular lens all the time, it will diminish me. 

The universe is multi-dimensional and rich. You need a million lenses and an open heart to comprehend it compassionately. 

#deepasvoice #anekantvad

P. S. Thank you Nancy, for the lovely photo! 

The complex nature of Jati (community) and Varna (caste)

 Large parts of India are highly endogamous, with deep awareness of jati. I agree that jati/varna awareness is problematic. But I'm not sure we can erase all mention of community unless we erase our entire culture. 

What we eat, how we celebrate, how we pray, what sort of jobs we do, and many other elements of daily life are associated with the communities we come from. Our literature itself is full of specialised community references. These form a very rich tapestry of Indian culture. When we remove all references to such community identities, we will lose a certain continuity which is a source of strength and richness. 

For example, I work with Warli, Thakar and Katkari tribal communities and its a crying shame to lose those living traditions. Similarly I want the Chippa community to not lose their specialisation in their block printing, traditional wood carvers to continue making their glorious chariot carvings etc. These craft occupations are hereditary. They are often not inclusionary, but that's what leads to excellence. Many of these crafts are tied up with religion since it was the temple which gave patronage. 

Erasing community / clan notions with their specialised ways of life, is a very complex issue. It means we will become like a bland tasteless porridge. It's a price we must choose deliberately to pay. 

Mao attempted to remove all culture and replace with a new set of values, putting the nation first. Americans did it successfully by adopting consumerism as the new religion and evolving a new caste system based on money and external badges of money display. 

What should India's path forward be? How do we evolve, without throwing the baby along with the bathwater? A big question to ponder upon. 

P. S. the simplest way to kill jati/varna orientation is the "love marriage". Bollywood is our strongest ally and Ek Duje Ke Liye was its first major Brahmastra.

#deepasvoice

Photo: Bishnoi elder, courtesy Ranjeet Bhardwaj

Four tips from my visit to Tadoba

Four tips from my visit to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve:

1) Adopt the Coconut-Seller Look early in the game. After repeatedly shampooing red dust from hair, I realised that a turban is the only real solution. Now I am offering this free tip to anyone who is mad enough to do summer safaris in the Deccan Plateau heat: Take a stole, people. And become a coconut seller. The beautiful complexion you are seeing in the photo is actually laal-laal Dakkhani mitti with an under-layer of sunscreen (the bonus is that it hides all skin defects).

2) Oh by the way, take a second stole also, if you value your skin and lungs. Naak-mooh dhak-kar saans lete rahiye, as the famous airline announcements say. It's perfect advice for safaris also.

3) There is a strange phenomenon in Tadoba. Vodafone works there. This has never happened in recorded history. That Vi works where other networks fail 🙂 Now you must be wondering if Jio works. Yes, it does. We expect nothing less from the country's juggernaut. But all networks are spotty, so go to Tadoba safaris only if you enjoy being connectivity-free.

4) They don't allow you to click photos on mobile phones while in the forest. So your fancy i-phones are only ornamental. Big-ass cameras are OK, provided you cough up a 250 rupee fee. So my last tip is to go with a photographer friend, preferably one who enjoys carrying around big lenses. Tiger ko door se dekhna hi sehat ke liye accha hai.

#deepasvoice

#freeadvice

#tadobaandharitigerreserve

The Prince of Wales lunching in the Caves of Elephanta

In October 1875, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert embarked on an extensive 8-month tour of the Indian subcontinent. In Mumbai, the royal party was entertained at the Elephanta Caves.

The Illustrated London News faithfully reported the entire trip to eager readers back home. They commissioned William Simpson, an artist and lithographer, to cover the entire visit. Simpson would send draft sketches, which would then be engraved in London and the pictures would appear with a four-week lag. For the sake of speed, Simpson would typically only draw in detail the main parts, and send notes and descriptions to help the engraver figure out the costumes etc. 

Today these pictures are somewhat disturbing examples of what Edward Said defined as "Orientalism" - the imagining of the East by the West, in which the imperial regime controlled the way the subjugated culture was perceived. One of the features of this Orientalism is the figurative embedding of the Prince of Wales within that imagined Orient, asserting a superior 'civilised' culture. "We deserve to rule these chaps", seems to be the message. 

Take a closer look. The Prince of Wales lunching in the Caves of Elephanta. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 11 December 1875. Creator - Charles Robinson, English (1840–81). Artwork medium - engraving

Spice Market at Lalbaug

A fun morning among masalas and pickles at Lalbaug Spice Market and Chivda Gully. Came home with a nice loot. Lunch at Shivaji Park's Gypsy Corner Maharashtrian eatery and the first mangoes of the season at Naturals icecream. Pramod's cousin Jaggi is a food fiend and naturally we had a blast.

The Accidental Professor!

- by Deepa Krishnan

In 2015 October I took charge of Abhyudaya, an education NGO, and suddenly found myself also becoming part of the teaching faculty at SPJIMR, which is the chief sponsor of the NGO. It was, I confess, a challenging assignment.

Never having taught formally, I found myself attending training sessions and trying to develop a teaching style and curriculum of my own. I learnt the basics of academic research, wrote papers, became a columnist for strategy+business, and got empanelled on the editorial board of an academic journal (Emerald Emerging Markets case studies). Eventually I became good at delivering lectures and academic course design. Awards and recognitions came my way as well.

But one of the nicest things in this academic journey are the student committees that I get to work with. The SPJIMR student committees are packed with hardworking and talented young people, who start out as strangers but end up coalescing into strong teams. Guiding their journey into a smoothly functioning unit is an exercise in mentoring and leadership. It has helped me grow as a teacher and as a person. Photo is from the Abhyudaya Committee dinner that we had last night. This is the fab team that organised all my events this year. Thank you AbCom for a wonderful year!

In which Amma gets a smart phone

Yesterday Amma got her first smart phone. What a fun morning calling everyone! 

The best call was to me, from one room to another! "Hello, who is speaking?" "Amma, it's me, Deepa." "Oh is that you?" And a long fake conversation after that in the Queen's English on useless topics! Just like kids playing "telephone-telephone".  

My sister Roopa clicked this pic 

But more seriously, it made me painfully aware that one day, I too will be tech-challenged. I too will be slow to push the right buttons or read a scrolling screen quickly enough. Already I am on the edge of that. Although, I must confess, starting a new online business has taught me new some skills! I can now make insta reels and what not. Still...the day when I get both outdated and slow is not far away. 

The most painfully beautiful thing about being near an aging parent is one's acute awareness of one's own future. I have my mother's body structure and temperament. Will I also have her frailties?

- Deepa

Visit to Pandharpur - March 2022

Visiting major pilgrimage sites is always an ordeal due to crowds and endless queues. But Pandharpur is an easy experience. 

Our family in front of the temple, three generations

If you book online slots for darshan it is a shorter queue and you are out in half an hour. The temple has long experience of managing lakhs of warkari pilgrims. The physical space is small so they have created a warren inside where the queues meander across multiple floors. 

For those on wheelchairs there are special arrangements for quick darshan. No photography allowed inside, so this is the exterior.

First sight of Namdev and Chokha Mela shrines

Namdev Payri is the samadhi sthal of the saint Namdev. "Jivanta Samadhi" was taken by 13 members of his family and Janabai in this place. The smaller shrine is of the poet Chokha Mela, who was one of the many followers of Namdev. His song Abir Gulal Udalita Rang is well known and widely sung. Being from a low caste, he was denied access to the temple. His bones were buried outside the temple, and many visit this spot where there is a small shrine. One cannot get away from caste and its hold... even in the India of today. Although things have improved a lot, there is still a lot of discrimination. 

Commerce and religion, always side by side :)

Guava seller outside the temple

Guava is called Peru in Maharashtra. The term is likely derived from the source / origin of the fruit... they are from Central America / Mexico and were introduced into India in the 1600s by the Portuguese. Peru + masala... great combo.

Getting symbols drawn on hands

Tukaram sings:

Gopichandan-uti tulasichya mala haar milwiti gala,

Taal mrudung ghai pushpa varshav,

Anupamya sukhasola re

The pilgrims have anointed themselves with sandalwood paste and put on garlands of basil leaves. Drums are reverberating and flowers are being showered. The joyous celebration is beyond words.

The pilgrimage experience includes getting markings on ones hands and forehead. Experiencing Vitthala not only through the eyes (darshan) but also through one's own body.

Little boys come running with pastes and metal moulds when you reach the temple. The most popular are the Vaishnavite urdhva pundra marks on the forehead, but arms are also decorated with outlines of Vithhala or the temple or other sacred symbols.

Amma with the forehead Vaishnavite tilak mark

There is a lot of sugarcane grown in this belt, so of course, we had to stop to taste fresh juice!

Overall, a great happy visit, and one that the family is still talking about it! We are already wondering where to go next.

The Magic Room

The Magic Room is a textiles and crafts store in Sion, which I opened this month. 

This pic is from our Navratri Exhbition, when my mother and daughter were both present and we got a 3-generation photo. Of course, I had to put it here! 

The Magic Room is social enterprise that supports handmade products from India, with a focus on sourcing fairly from craftspersons, and supporting women entrepreneurs wherever possible. We also have a tailoring livelihood program for women (and men!) from low-income areas of Mumbai.  

Do drop in at 331, Champaklal Estate, if you would like to see all the nice stuff we have on offer. 

You can check us out on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/magicroommumbai/

Our facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/TheMagicRoomMumbai

Learning to Let Go

- by Deepa Krishnan

The government's handling of the pandemic has become a heated political debate. Today in three of my WhatsApp groups, I watched people leaving the group on account of differences in view points. A couple of them left without any explanation. A couple of them wrote a few lines and left without reading responses. I am sure all of you are familiar with such abrupt exits.

I used to be one of those abrupt exiters. Some years ago, you remember that time when all of us were having Modi-Wars and Trump-Wars and so on? In one such debate, I stormed out of a WhatsApp group, where there was a guy making me see red. At the time when I left, a couple of friends in the group reasoned with me, saying that I should learn to be more tolerant. I answered angrily that values mattered, and that such tolerance was in fact, cowardice. But eventually I went back to the group. And I learnt to tolerate the people who made me angry. 

It's not easy, the process of learning to tolerate someone who is the opposite of you, and whose very presence is constantly pushing your buttons. I really struggled a lot. I still struggle, but it is getting easier. What made it possible was my realisation that the group was a community in which I lived (albeit virtually). Communities are made up of all kinds of people, just like the real world around me. I deal with a lot of diverse people in the real world, without getting into fights. Then surely I could do the same in the virtual world? As soon as I realised this, my online life changed and I stopped heated verbal duels. Instead I started modelling my online behaviour in line with my real world behaviour. It's nowhere near perfect, because hey, my real world behaviour also is very immature and impetuous. I still cuss and swear, but everything is much more calm than it used to be.    

As I get older, I am trying to accept that people have different kinds of viewpoints, different levels of awareness, and different levels of sensitivity to certain values that I take for granted. What we think, is largely a matter of our upbringing, and the company we keep. If someone has been blessed with parents or teachers who made them think a certain way, or has developed a reading habit that made them more aware, they'll be a different type of person. Sometimes it's crisis that changes us. A friend of mine changed completely after her husband's affair. Another changed completely after his daughter went through a medical crisis; and started frequenting temples. It's really a complex cocktail. That's why political and relgious debates have no easy resolutions. Each person has to navigate their way through it.

Then what to do? Nowadays when I meet people who don't think the way I do, I engage upto a point, and then try to politely leave them to their doings. Instead of trying to convince them, I focus on my own work. I tell myself that I am responsible for my own path and my own growth as a human being. Others can find their own paths. 

Doing my work gives me meaning and direction. That is enough. I really feel no need to evangelise these days. I feel no need to get angry. There is no benefit in anger except to make oneself sick, anyway. Often my blood boils and I want to kill someone, but I have learnt to leave the arena when it gets unpleasant or acrimonious. I, who used to be the original debating champion, am learning to let go. Is it cowardly? Yes. But it is also very liberating.