GUJARATI WOMEN WHO WALKED MILES TO BE A MILESTONE

Gone are the days when women were no better than household cooks and nurses for the children. Today, they have reached heights and demand equal recognition and respect. The status of women has gone through ups and downs in India. But today, women adore the highest offices – just one example is the current President of India, Pratibha Patil.

Similar is the scenario in Gujarat. It is moving ahead in the direction of improving the quality of life of women, who do not enjoy the same privileges that some of their male counterparts on other parts of the world do. Women of Gujarat have achieved greatness in all walks of life, and proved beyond doubt that they can do anything men can do, and much more, but they have only been hardly visible and insufficiently recognized.

To mark the International Women’s Day, here’s a look at the women of Gujarat who broke the mould and are surely an inspiration.

KASTURBA GANDHI
It is said that ‘Behind every successful man, there is a woman’. So is the case with our Bapu – Gandhiji. Kasturba always stood beside Gandhiji, after they got married in an arranged child marriage, when she was just 13. She was illiterate, but learnt to read and write from Gandhiji. This was a potentially radical move, given the position of women in India at that time.

Kasturba was a very religious lady. She renounced all caste distinctions and lived in ashrams. She even joined Gandhiji in his protests for freedom of the country. Her loyalty was tested when in 1906, Gandhiji made up his mind to practice Brahmacharya. She stood by this decision, though she did not agree with some of the viewpoints of her husband.
Kasturba was born to a prosperous businessman Gokuldas Makharji of Porbander on April 11, 1869. She died of a heart attack on February 22, 1944.

DIWALIBEN BHIL

The heart and soul of Gujarati Folk Music, Diwaliben belongs to Junagadh. She was discovered over thirty years ago at a local dance group by a leading folklorist and journalist, Jaimal Parmar. She is known for being one of the 25 celebrity singers for ‘Jityu Hamesha Gujarat’ – the Anthem of Gujarat.
A self-taught artiste, Diwaliben has performed all over the country and around the world. She has sung hundreds of Gujarati bhajans, garbas and folk songs. She also worked for Gujarati films as a singer. Diwaliben has received the prestigious Padmashree in 1990. For many years, in order to maintain a steady income she worked at a Prathmikshala. Her job consisted of gathering the children from surrounding homes and escorting them to the local school.

ELABEN BHATT
Elaben is one of the most remarkable forces for empowerment at the grass root level. She has dedicated her life for the development of women and improvement of the quality of life of India’s poor and most oppressed section of people. The soft voiced, simple, cotton-saree clad Elaben has been true to the spirit of her country and her inspiration, Mahatma Gandhi. She has followed his ideals all her life. Elaben pioneered the idea that people themselves, no matter how poor or uneducated, are able to solve their own problems if they organize together to do so. This idea took shape in the form of SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association), which is one of the best grassroots programs for women in the world. She is the proud winner of many awards and heads many organizations.

Elaben broke away from the grip of an established mind-set and created her own paths and methods of organization. She has taken bold steps in a society where men ran the show.

Born in a well-educated, middle-class family on 7th September 1933, Elaben is based at Ahmedabad.

MALLIKA SARABHAI

The dazzling Mallika is the daughter of the renowned Vikram and Mrinalini Sarabhai, born on 9th May 1953. A well-known activist and one of the leading choreographers, Mallika has her own dance academy named ‘Darpana’ based at Ahmedabad. She is an accomplished Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam dancer and is known for her contributions in the fields of theatre, television, film, writing and publishing.

Mallika started out when she was just 15. She played the role of ‘Draupadi’ in Peter Brook’s play ‘The Mahabharata’. In 1989, she created the first of her hard-hitting solo theatrical works, Shakti: The Power of Women. She has won many accolades during her long career, the Golden Star Award being one of them, which she won for the Best Dance Soloist, Theatre De Champs Elysees, Paris 1977. She was chosen from among 400 dancers from 25 countries.

Mallika is a representative of India for CIOFF (an internationally acclaimed organization for folk dances). Playing roles as diverse as a mother and a choreographer, and pursuing her interests like writing and social service, Mallika is known to put her best foot forward.

Apart from the above fields, on 19 March 2009, Mallika announced her candidature against the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, as an independent candidate. She eventually lost by a huge margin.

SARITA JOSHI 
A renowned stage artist, Sarita Joshi is better known as ‘Baa’ in the super hit family entertainer ‘Baa Bahu Aur Baby’. She was born in Pune in 1940, but raised in Vadodara. She started her acting career with Gujarati theatre. She married actor-director-playwright Pravin Joshi and is the mother of Ketaki Dave and Purbi Joshi.

Sarita received international fame because of her role in Abhishek Bachhan starrer ‘Guru’ directed by the renowned filmmaker Mani Ratnam. She was also the central character in the film ‘Dasvidaniya’. Out of all the mediums, she holds a special corner for theatre and stage performances. She claims that the joy of performing on stage is always better than anything else and that it will be her first love.

In 1988, she was awarded with the Sangeet Natak Academy Award. She was also conferred with the Best Actress title in 2007 for her role in the TV soap.

It’s time to salute these women who moved out of their comfort zones as daughters, wives, mothers and sisters. But there are many others who are waiting to get the motivation, opportunity and strength. Women have changed and progressed to unbelievable heights, but one thing is clear – so much is still to change. Let’s pledge for a brighter future!

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IT’S 99% PERSPIRATION

SAYS ESTHER DAVID IN A TÊTE-À-TÊTE ON THE WOMEN’S DAY. HER QUESTION TO ALL OF US: IS THE MODERN, GLOBAL WOMAN LOSING OUT ON THE TRADITIONS AND VALUES? ADITI RINDANI

• You are into so many activities. How do you manage to justify all?
I am a creative person. For me, creativity is more important than anything else is. I am also much disciplined, when it comes to work hours and projects. So, basically, it is about creative time management and depends on how you make your own timetable. I give a deadline and as far as possible, I stick to that deadline.I am not a morning person, I start work after 3 in the afternoon and that could be up to anytime in the night!

• What is the central idea of your books? 
Writing is my method of understanding myself better. As I belong to the Jewish community, I create a lot of fiction based on that. I grew up as a part of a minority community, in a country like India, where there are so many other communities. The main concern is how to keep your identity alive, as well be an Indian; because ‘Indian’ is a general and large term. I am not religious, but we all belong to a particular area or fields – say for e.g. the writer’s field. In midst of all these, you need to create your own self. So, I write about the Jewish life, especially Jewish women, because this is a group that is unknown to the world.

• Any inspirations?
Writers generally give a definite thing for their inspirations. But for me, there is no such muse. The only inspiration is my life, by heart I am an artist, because I was trained as an artist. While by profession, I am a writer. So I would not say that I saw a flower open or a child smile and I got inspired!

It is 99% perspiration. You have to keep yourself inspired all the time to write. Actually, this applies not only to writing, but also to whatever you do.

• How has the journey been from being an art student to a successful writer & journalist?
I used to write since I was an art student. It used to be about art and art history though, as a part of the studies. I was told by my professors that I was good at it and should continue with writing. It was then, in 1978 that I decided to switch my career to writing and did not wish to be an artist anymore.

I did not hold a professional degree in Journalism and was a student of Fine Arts. However, I got an opportunity to work for a newspaper as an art writer. In those days, we used to get almost half a page for our write-ups. So I could experiment and learn as well while writing. In the meantime, I discovered that I could do something better that would be more satisfying. Art had a limited scope. I have always believed that creativity is like a room with many doors. You should be able to open any door, and I felt that through my writing I could open many more doors. I could express myself better through the power of my pen and when people sit back and relax, I totally changed my career interests, at the age of 46. I turned to serious writing and got my novel published. It did well and my literary voice became stronger and stronger day-by-day.

Now, writing is my life, if I don’t write, it makes me feel miserable!

• What is your take on today’s women?
It’s very interesting but unfortunate that even when we are celebrating International Women’s Day and women are into different fields, we have absolutely no idea as to how this liberation came. There is no knowledge as to why do we celebrate this Day and where did this freedom come from. What is feminism, what is women’s liberation – are some questions that I usually ask people I meet, especially if they wish ‘Happy Women’s Day’. Today we move about freely in western clothes. But do we even know how difficult it was for women in the 40s and 50s? We cannot forget our past. Today’s woman who is multi-tasking and is efficient, lives in an era of ‘womanhood’. But sometimes I see that women forget that you are an individual, you also have a creative life your own that needs to be explored. Besides this, in this fast moving global world, materialistic pleasures are becoming more important. And in this race, we forget our basic values of being a woman, a family-maker, a mother. Today’s women are working hard and meanwhile, the family structure has a lesser priority. Children are left to themselves and the concepts have changed.

This may sound old-fashioned. But I really wonder, are we forgetting our values and the warmth of our traditions? Of course, there is no harm in being a global woman, but there is much more to be an Indian woman. This question needs to be explored. Are today’s Indian women ready to sacrifice in order to retain the values and the culture?

• Is there any particular issue about the modern women that affects you the most?
I think retaining culture, traditions and rituals – these are the three things that I find lacking a lot. Of course, you see them enjoying Navratri and other festivals with all fervor, but that is at a commercial level. So I feel it is the duty of the women to be more conscious to spread the culture, not only in the household but also beyond that. It just does not end by becoming modern or saying that ‘I am free’. Free of what? Nobody on this earth can be free of certain values and traditions.

• Can you share an incident that is the most memorable for you?
One of the very important moments was when I received the courier of the first five copies of my first novel ‘The Walled City’.

Second was when I received the Sahitya Academy Award. My son called me up at 10.30 in the night as the news came to the press and he works for one.

And the third was when my first grandchild was born, to my daughter in Paris, France. I think being a grandmother changed everything: my relationships, my talks, my meetings. So being called ‘Nani’ is the high point of my life!

• Your message to the society on Women’s Day?
I think traditions and heritage, is what we all women need to hold on to, in order to survive. I wish them all the very best and may they get the courage to fulfill all their responsibilities.

(Esther David is a Jewish-Indian writer, an artist and a sculptor based in Ahmedabad. A columnist for leading English Dailies and an author of a few novels, she says ‘I am just a seed of a buried tree!‘)

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