Women’s Day clashed with ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final, and several residents who attended the March 8 event in BD Block, New Town, tried to keep a foot in each boat. As the programme, organised by New Town BD Block Cultural Association, unfolded in front of the association office in Green Verge 7, these residents chose the back rows and kept their eyes and ears riveted on the small screen tucked in their palms. The programme featured a panel discussion with women residents including a doctor, two teachers, an IT professional, a young corporate leader and several homemakers. They spoke on physical and mental wellness, women’s contributions in various fields like sports, politics, journalism and space research, and the need to embrace technology. The celebration also included a zumba performance by residents, who practise thrice a week under the baton of governing body member Sharmila Dey, along with songs and recitation by others. Organisers greeted all women participants with mementoes and roses. The event concluded with a cake-cutting, coffee, phuchka and a photo session. “We did not put up a screen to telecast the cricket match as that might have attracted strangers passing by and disrupted our programme. But many of us stayed back glued to our mobiles and celebrated India’s victory together,” said secretary Biswanath Sadhu. If a married man and a married woman sit for a job interview, the woman will be asked 20 extra questions, not about work but about how she would manage it alongside her kids and household,” noted actress Debleena Dutt at a panel discussion held for Women’s Day at Techno India Dama Hospital.
“But if this behaviour on the part of corporate firms needs to change, so do women’s attitudes,” Debleena continued. “How can we talk about equality if we demand reserved seats on buses or ask for ‘period leave’? Often, it is women themselves who hold other women back. Instead of telling their daughters not to wear short skirts, mothers should teach their sons that the thighs they leer at are the same as those their mothers have. If they desire anything beyond that, they may enter a respectful relationship with someone and take things forward with dignity.”
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “give to gain,” and so the panel discussion dealt with compassion. Manoshi Roychowdhury, co-chairperson of Techno India Group and co-chancellor of Techno India University, recalled forming Monosij, the mental health wing of Techno India University. “The team would go over to Snehodiya senior citizens’ home every week and engage residents in various activities. What began out of compassion for lonely hearts during the pandemic received genuine smiles in return,” she said.
Odissi dancer Sanchita Bhattacharya explained how classical dancers perform the bhumi pranam before any dance, symbolically seeking permission from Mother Earth to step on her. “Compassion can reap rich dividends,” said Mamta Binani, lawyer, past national president of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. “Consider how a gardener waters the Chinese bamboo. For five years, all he does is water, without any visible growth. Then, suddenly, the plant shoots up to 80ft. During those five years, the plant had been strengthening its roots and preparing itself to support the height.” She also cited how the judiciary showed compassion, too. “Even those accused of the most heinous crimes are given the right to defend themselves.”
The CEO of Techno India Dama Hospital Mona Sarkar added that their organisation supports women’s aspirations. “Being a woman myself, I understand their struggles and their strengths. I want them to feel comfortable approaching me,” she said. Some women dialysis patients were also honoured for their resilience.
Among others felicitated were actress Chaiti Ghoshal, idolmaker China Pal and app cab driver Tapashi Nayak.
In a sari, behind the wheel: breaking norms one ride at a time
She was cycling in a sari, at great speed one day, when a lady from an NGO spotted her and asked if she would like to learn how to drive a car. “Driving was something I dreamt of since I was a child and jumped at the opportunity,” says Tapashi Nayak, who has now become an app cab driver for Uber. She was one of the women achievers felicitated at the hospital. On her first day at training, Tapashi was so nervous that she bumped the car into the trainer! “It was nothing serious, and the trainer laughed it off, but I took it to heart. I made sure that was my first and last accident,” says the Tollygunge resident. Her batch had around 25 other women. She has lost touch with some and others have discontinued driving. But once Tapashi hit the road in 2018, she never looked back. “Most passengers are delighted to see a woman behind the wheel. The ladies come and sit in front so they can chat better (in fact one such passenger was Indrani Ghosh, marketing manager of Techno India DAMA Hospital who then invited me for this event). Traffic police and fellow drivers co-operate too. Once I got a flat tyre on Ma Flyover, but before I could change it another driver stopped his car and did it for me,” she says. This other time, she picked up a passenger who gifted her fruits from his purchase and also seemed to be quite powerful. “The fruit vendor was reluctant to accept money from him, traffic personnel were saluting him, and our car was getting VIP treatment. Finally, he revealed that he was the personal assistant to the education minister. He asked me to visit him if I ever needed any help, and to introduce myself as the “lady driver” of his app cab,” laughs the driver who had done stints before in offices, like the United States Consulate General. But the lack of public toilets is an issue, so whenever Tapashi spots one, she parks her car in front of police jeep, tells them she’s a professional driver out to use the washroom and makes a quick visit. “I have also had to ring doorbells of strangers and requested to use their toilet. I have never been refused,” she says. Rotten eggs But the basket also has a rotten egg or two. Tapashi cancelled a ride once, upon seeing the passenger – a man looking like a “mastaan”, and drunk as a fish. “His destination was the interiors of Rajarhat. I didn’t feel safe and aborted the ride,” she says. Another time, a male passenger broke the ice by asking if he may call her ‘tumi’. He then took out a bottle of booze from his bag and offered her. “When I refused, he claimed that ‘women like me’ pretend to be noble by day and take up other professions at night. I showed him the hibiscus on my dashboard that I had picked from the Kalighat temple like I do every morning and asked him to watch his tongue. Still, he alighted from the car, leaving the bottle for me,” says the lady who works till about 11pm, and confesses to feeli n g a tad unsafe in the final hours. A f e w passengers discriminate. “The other day a man booked a Rs 600 ride from Behala to Salt Lake – it would have been good money for me. But he called up before I could reach him, expressed shock at the driver being a woman, and cancelled the ride,” she sniggers. Tapashi is as comfortable driving in sari as she is driving in salwar and jeans, and prefers inter-city rides, dropping passengers to places like Barackpore, Burdwan and Diamond Harbour. The pay is better on such long trips and it helps support her household. Her husband is a tabla teacher and son is in Class XII. They live in her parental house, and her mother is her pillar of support. “I had learnt cycling so I could take my son to school. And even during driving classes, I was working as a cook preparing mid-day meals at a school. My husband was ill at the time, and I would face domestic abuse at the hands of my in-laws. There were days when I thought they would strangle me to death, unless I committed suicide first. They wanted me to stay cooped up in the kitchen, hidden under the ghomta,” says Tapashi. “But when I drive now into an open highway, I feel free from all shackles. It has empowered me, and I highly recommend driving as a profession for women.”
Brinda Sarkar
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The first time she saw a tiger she got fever. That was a few years ago, when she was a rookie. Now Bithika Ray is a seasoned forest tourist guide in the Sundarbans, and one of the first women in the field at that. Bithika was felicitated at a Women’s Day celebration by the Rotary Club of Dum Dum on VIP Road, and shared her experience with the audience. “I have hopped from job to job – from being a preschool teacher to working for an NGO, but there came a time when I wasn’t employed. My husband was unwell and we had two children to support. In 2019 I heard that the forest department would start accepti n g wo m e n as guides so I a p p l i e d , ” said Bithika, who soon found herself in a batch of 60-65 candidates, out of which only four were women, out of which two dropped out. “We were trained for about two months and then started accompanying veteran guides to learn on the job. By the end of 2021, I was on the field.” Now she leads teams of 35 tourists on launches or 55 of them on boats, on four-hour tours. “There are spots when we get off and explore the jungles too. The core tiger area is out of bounds for people but in the buffer zone tourists and honey-collectors are allowed. There is a sanctuary region too, only for tourists,” she says. “We had to learn the trail, history, geography and statistics of the Sundarbans to tell visitors,” Bithika said. Her greatest challenges is the weather. “Sundarban residents are born warriors, ever ready to face cyclones, tides and tigers.... The first time I saw a tiger, however, I got so scared that I got fever. I considered quitting my job but forced myself to stay on. By now, I’ve seen several tigers but have learnt to stay calm. I’m responsible for so many guests now and have to be alert in case of high tides, storms, if a guest falls sick, if someone falls off the boat....There’s always the fear of snakes, crocodiles and sharks too.” Bithika is clear that this is a difficult job and is proud of being able to deliver. “My husband supports me a lot, even helps pack my tiffin for me,” she smiled. Another speaker was Jeba Nasrin, a school teacher turned mountaineer turned entrepreneur, who has started Trail Walk, a company that leads trekking and mountaineering expeditions. “There are very few women in this field and even if they undertake training courses, they discontinue climbing later,” said the lady from a village near Barasat. “But I started my company to lead treks a month back and have already got so many bookings that I’ve had to hire people to help out.” Jeba shared how, while leading a team, one of the members developed Acute Mountain Sickness. “This happens when the oxygen level in the body drops drastically and can even be fatal. When he couldn’t continue, I carried him on my back and brought him to safety,” she said. “The man was hesitant to get on a girl’s back, but we are trained for this as it can save lives.” The event was led by club president Chinmay Roy and secretary Suman Guha. Roy reminded the audience why International Women’s Day remains relevant, recalling its origins in 1908 when factory workers in the United States demanded equal pay and better working conditions. “We held this event as interactions with such achievers can inspire other women and bring about social change,” added Guha.
Brinda Sarkar
From the quietly resilient heroines of Rabindranath Tagore’s fiction to the often-unheard voices of the domestic workers in our own homes, the arc of a Women’s Day discussion at SPK Jain Futuristic Academy revealed how far the idea of dignity for women has travelled—and how far it still must go. “Tagore created women who are strong in the mind. Chitrangada, the Manipuri princess, had proposed to Arjun in the dance drama (in contravention of a gender stereotype),” filmmaker and actress Sudeshna Roy reminded the audience in the school auditorium, adding that she too had taken the initiative for her own marriage. Sharing the historical context to the day, she pointed out how in 1910, at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, German activist Clara Zetkin proposed an annual, international “Women’s Day” to promote equal rights and suffrage. Over 100 women from 17 countries unanimously approved the motion. Finally, in 1975, the United Nations accepted the proposal. “Women’s Day was needed because women were not given an equal footing. Having children should not take you away from a working life,” she said, citing the example of Mary Kom, who returned to the ring to win gold medals at the 2014 Asian Games and the 2018 World Championships after the birth of her third child. She urged new mothers not to give up on their professional dreams. “As I was working, my grandmother helped me bring up my son. Now I think it is my duty to help my daughter-in-law bring up her son.” Roy announced that she had never cooked for her son. “Whatever free time I had with him I spoke to him about films. Now he is in the same trade. Be a friend to your child. It is not enough to look after their physical needs. As mothers, we have to look after their mental needs also. For that, you have to be happy,” she argued. S h e a l s o thanked her cook and her son’s caregiver whose services allowed her to have a career. She was full of admiration for a young woman who looks after her grandson. “She comes from South 24-Parganas, and helps my grandson draw and build with blocks. Not only urban woman, even first-generation educated women in the districts are taking up professions. We have to stand by them and be happy that they too are moving forward,” she urged. Elocutionist Pranati Tagore, who married into the highly emancipated Tagore family, recalled how the men were not dependent on the women. “Even at the age of 81, my fatherin-law made his own coffee even if I was around. Neither did he expect me to be in a ghomta.” Jute revivalist Chaitali Das brought in women in correctional homes and from backward communities into the discussion. “Earning the first rupee wins them dignity and is a ticket to survival. They reclaim their identity by earning. Are we including the most vulnerable sections in our growth story?” she asked. Doma Wong, who runs the Sikkimese eatery Blue Poppy, asked women to take a pledge to be the best version of herself. The GD Block resident added another dimension to the discussion by pointing out that she was raised by a single father and wanted to thank him on Women’s Day. Lily Pradhan, a Border Security Force officer who is currently serving the National Disaster Response Force on deputation, contested another conception that women were physically lesser than men. “We work shoulder to shoulder with men during earthquakes, floods and building collapses and never feel we are weak. It’s in the mind,” she said. Dreams, insisted oral and maxillofacial surgeon Moumita Maity Rana, can never be defined by gender. “Yet, so deep-rooted are gender-related prejudices in society that during my internship years, patients would ask if a ‘Doctorbabu’ would see them next, even when I was the senior-most around,” said the New Town AC Block resident. School principal Jayeeta Ganguly mentioned how women down the ages were expected to make sacrifices for male siblings and husbands. She defined the modern woman as one “who is not scared to choose career over family and live alone”. “Let’s all be ourselves, in love with our imperfect selves,” she said.
Sudeshna Banerjee
E C Block–based Sristi Dance Academy kicked off its 20thyear celebrations with an event to mark Women’s Day. Held at The Pearl hotel near Purbachal, ladies from various fields were felicitated, including a transwoman who was once a student of the school, Megh Sayantani. “I grew up at a time when any boy performing classical dance was declared meyeli (effeminate). But this wasn’t the adjective used to describe the likes of eminent dancers like Birju Maharaj, Kelucharan Mohapatra or even actor Kamal Haasan. People forget that the Lord of Dance, Nataraj, himself is male. Initially, even director Rituparno Ghosh wasn’t accepted by the audience that was used to the likes of Satyajit Ray, masculine in his mannerisms,” said Megh, a lawyer who has started a dance group for trans people, called Rudra Palash. Megh was born Sayantan Ghosh but always identified as female. “I had a difficult time fitting in, but my mother was on my side. After she passed away, Indrani di (Ganguly, founder of Sristi Dance Academy) has been like a second mother to me, guiding and mentoring me,” she said. Also present were author Debjani Basu Kumar and singer Miss Jojo, who spoke about how women can be targets of gossip in society. “After I delivered my daughter, I wanted to adopt another child. The process took 10 years, but when I finally welcomed the child, people started asking why the nyakami, why at this age, and if this was my grandson. I simply wanted to give a family to a child. At such times, we need to turn a deaf ear to society and do the good we set out to do,” she said. Veteran beauty expert Jeesa Gupta also shared her thoughts. “When I started out in the 1990s, not many women worked, and they had limited pocket money. But everyone wanted to look beautiful, so I focused on cheap home remedies like rubbing banana and papaya skin on the face,” said Gupta, 76. “Before sitting on a chair, we check if it is clean and stable, or else we don’t sit on it. Well,your body is the temple of the livingGod, so keep it pure and attractive soGod feels like residing there.” Ganguly, the founder of the school,said she had started out wanting toteach dance free of cost to needy children. “Gradually, we opened up toother marginalised sections as well.Now we have students who are hearing-impaired, survivors of acid attacksand transgender persons,” said theresident of Karunamoyee K Block.“And we wanted to honour womenamongst us for their contributions.”
Brinda Sarkar