ILLUSTRATIONS: SUBROTO CHOUDHURY; SUMAN CHOUDHURY

Sonali Ray and Protima Nath
Housewives, Calcutta

• It?s evening and two middle-aged women are sitting on the steps at Dhakuria?s Dakshinapan shopping complex, talking. ?Of course, we know about International Women?s Day,? snaps Sonali Ray, ?but it hasn?t changed the situation of housewives like us. I keep hearing people say, ?She doesn?t? work, she?s a housewife?. But we do a lot more work than women who are in service outside the home.? ?The only difference is that we don?t get paid for it,? her companion and neighbour, Protima Nath, chips in.

Interestingly, both Ray and Nath do end up participating in International Women?s Day celebrations, if inadvertently. ?We like to cook and usually we jointly put up stalls at fairs and seminars organised by different women?s groups, like the Nari Seva Sangha. We make traditional dishes like pitha and kachuri, because nowadays the only thing available as snacks are pizzas and chow?. How do they know about International Women?s Day? ?It is announced in television channels and newspapers and things.?

Girija Vyas,
Chairperson, National Commission of Women, New Delhi

• There is the fear that the day is being increasingly marked with some kind of tokenism. But I think this is one day that is ours. It is a day that is symbolic of woman?s struggle, of her solidarity with other women, of her power. The great thing about March 8 is that it brings women together. There is one platform for all. Of course, to do away with the sameness that the occasion can lead to, we should work on different themes every year. And, no, I don?t think having a holiday is a good idea. I am sure women do get some time off to attend the celebrations of Women?s Day, but turning it into a holiday will take away its significance. Let it be a day when women work even harder!

Jerry Pinto
Editor, Man?s World and author, Surviving Women, Mumbai

• If I were to mark International Women?s Day, I would take a band of feminists and hit the streets of Mumbai with a demand to ban Women?s Day altogether. I believe a day is marked for people who need help. We have a World Disabled Day and a World AIDS Day for people with a condition. Celebrating a Women?s Day to me therefore means ghettoising women, saying that they need help too. Rather, I would like the day to be celebrated as International Humanity Day which is not based on the presence or absence of certain hormones.

If Women?s Day were a holiday, the women would suffer the most. A holiday means that the man of the house is at home, and his friends would drop in. There?d be endless rounds of tea and snacks, and that would ultimately translate into more work for women. I don?t celebrate International Women's Day. For me, it is just another blip in the calendar, something as inconsequential as Valentine?s Day. I believe, if you love someone, you don?t need a day to celebrate that. Similarly, Women?s Day may be a well-meaning attempt to celebrate womanhood, but I don?t think it works that way.

Esha Sil
Student, Presidency College, Calcutta

• ?To me the day is a kind of celebration of all that women have done to fight discrimination against them all over the world. Even though in some ways women have achieved a lot, there is still a lot of injustice against women. So this day also acts as a kind of awareness-spreading exercise. What I like about observing March 8 is that on this day television channels, educational institutions and cultural centres screen many very interesting women-oriented films.? She giggles when you ask her if it should be turned into a holiday. ?No, I think that would be going overboard.?

Krishnakali Lahiri
Deputy superintendent of police, CID, Calcutta

• ?Initially, I thought it was a good approach to have a day especially for women to bring into focus women?s issues and problems, but I am not so sure anymore. Don?t you think it is a sort of discrimination? Not just because men don?t have a day to themselves ? and that is unfair ? but also somehow it makes it seem that women need special attention. Marking out a day is a kind of segregation and isn?t that what women?s empowerment is against?

?A holiday?!? she laughs, ?that must be a joke!? When you tell her, it is, she says, ?Good? in a relieved way. ?Pulling out the workforce will be counterproductive!?

Malobika Chakraborty
Founder-member of lesbian group Sappho, Calcutta

• ?Yes, to me it is essential to have an International Women?s Day. It?s like a birthday or an anniversary to celebrate something special! International Women?s Day is the celebration of the fight against being marginalised. Yes, of course, it works?even if you are distributing pamphlets or marching down the streets of Calcutta protesting violence against women, someone will hear and maybe think about it. Why is it that some think about it and others don?t? Those who are aware are not necessarily born with the gift, but it is often a question of being conditioned to think in some way. Yes, every year I celebrate International Women?s Day. We usually do something jointly with Maitree, which is a congregation of many women?s and human rights groups. We participate in street plays, distribute pamphlets and posters and march in the streets with our bold banners! No, it should definitely not be a holiday! It?s a day to work extra hard and women should remind themselves of their self-sufficiency.?

Bishakha Datta
Feminist, writer and filmmaker, Mumbai

• I firmly believe in Women?s Day. It is a day to protest the violations and injustices that are done to women throughout the year and such a day should definitely be reserved for women. However, I?m not sure making it a holiday would serve any purpose. That we have marked it as a day gets it the attention that is required. I don?t think a holiday will significantly benefit the status of the poor, working woman. A holiday only makes a difference to those in the organised sector, and there are more men than women there anyway. I have been traditionally celebrating Women?s Day by being part of a march to mark the day. In the evening, we have an all-women?s party. We book a nightclub, and about 400-odd women get together.

Buddhadev Dasgupta
Filmmaker, Calcutta

• ?The issue that International Women?s Day addresses ? women?s empowerment ? has tremendous significance. But I think that this issue should be in focus everyday. Especially in our country. Women still face all manners of injustice at a day-to-day level ? in public transport, in the workplace, at home. I think that those who are conscious of this injustice ought to try and bring others to see the injustice in whatever way they can, ever day of the year. The way I observe the day is by doing what I do every day. Discrimination against women is one issue which affects me deeply and disturbs me ? everyday ? and I feel it as strongly on the day of March 8 as I do on the night of March 7 or morning of March 9. While making it into a holiday may focus attention on the issue, but again, it will probably just reduce the issue to a one-day affair, which I am against.

Anurag Kashyap
Filmmaker, Mumbai

• Women?s Day means my wife will have the right to kick my backside around. She does that every day anyway, but March 8 will give her the right to do so. However, I don?t think there is a need for one particular day to be called Women?s Day as I believe every day is a day for them. This is especially true in my house, where I am outnumbered by my wife and daughter. Having a special day for women also means that they are not accorded as much respect on other days of the year, which is also not true. However, I?m all for turning it into a holiday as it would be an excuse for another one on our calendar. Since I stay at home now, I shall be getting up at 4.30 in the morning to help my wife prepare our daughter?s food, as she has a Snack Day at school that day. Then, I?ll take the day as it comes, and maybe watch a play or a film with my wife in the evening.

Tarun Tejpal
Editor, Tehelka, New Delhi

• In the modern world, women are the prime movers of most things. In the future we are going to see more and more women in professional fields. Women?s power is increasing. But I don?t think that March 8 should be declared a holiday. There are already too many holidays in India.

Zila Khan
Singer, New Delhi

• There shouldn?t be just one 8th of March in a year ? there should be hundreds of such days. This is the day that symbolises the empowerment of women, and I am all for it. As a woman who has to fend for herself, I have fallen in with this very nicely. Today, I believe that women need to be financially independent, and they have to understand how to use this independence. We are now riding a horse, so we have to know how to keep riding or how to rein it in. But I don?t think Women?s Day should be a holiday ? for that would be like going off in the opposite direction. We are talking about women and their work, and to declare the day a holiday would be a travesty.

Tavleen Singh
Journalist, New Delhi

• Women?s Day means nothing to me. Why don?t you have a Man?s Day? The sub-text is that women are inferior to men. So you have a Woman?s Day like a Cat?s Day or a Tiger?s Day. I have no time for such useless gestures. It should not be a holiday. In fact, rather than wasting valuable funds celebrating Women?s Day, we should put the money into the girl child?s education.