Aadarsh Purush: Undressing Popular Indian Masculinities by Shiraz Iqbal

Undressing popular indian masculinities

AwdS ~ pu{â&#x20AC; a diploma project national institute of design sep 2013 - jan 2014

shiraz iqbal new media design 2011 guide : dr. jignesh khakhar

acknowledgements I would like to thank the National Institute of Design for providing me with the two and a half most stimulating and educational years of my life. Dr. Jignesh Khakhar, thank you: first for being insistent and relentless in your pursuit of my all round development in this wonderful trans- disciplinary program, and secondly, for agreeing to be my guide and supporting me throughout this slightly deviant project. My dear friends Maya Pillai and Akey Sain, thank you for getting me through all those times when this project looked hopeless. Thank you professors Shilpa Das and Anand Sukumaran for your valuable e-mails and conversations on how to better direct my research. Thank you Dr. Maitreya Parekh for taking the time out from your busy consulting schedule to discuss Sudhir Khakhar and the Indian Psyche with a design student from an unrelated discipline. Thank you Girish Krishnan, Samira Jain, Shreya Kasat and Akash Anand for being the lightning in my brainstorms. Thank you Hiren bhai, Siva bhai, Rahul bhai and Chirag bhai for treating my installation concept like your own and labouring with me to finish constructing the un-dressing cabinet in a record 8 days in the Wood Workshop. Hiren bhai and Siva bhai, a special thanks for reminding me how wonderful it is to craft things with our hands. Thank you Nirmal bhai for your patience with my repeated requests for touch ups to the structure in the Paint Lab. Thank you Karan Bhai and Moulik Bhai for your advice and help in the Metal Workshop. Thank you Professor Y.N. Vivekananda for generously allowing me to use the workshop facilities at a very busy time and for some well timed, encouraging smiles. Thank you Arshad Pathan Bhai for helping me think through the simplest way to implement the electronics and for all your help soldering in the NMD Workshop. Thank you Bharat bhai from the ADM workshop for being so quick to help me with the design and crafting of the cushion cover and thank you Kutti bhai for helping me cut and stuff it's foam innards. Thank you Sourabh Bhide, Suvani Suri, Mithilesh Sarode & Priyanka Borar for your advice, interest and lively discussions. Thanks again Mitsy for giving me a place to stay when I was homeless and Bhide for helping me with Processing 2.0. Thank you Nafees Bhai from Sahil Handicrafts for being willing to try something new and for providing quality wood carving services at affordable rates to a student. Thank you Sourabh Bishwas, Manoj Kuldeep and Sheik Mohamed Ishaq for helping me setup and photograph the installation. Thank you Tanmay Kupekar, Suvani Suri, Chandradip Rana, Abi Paul, Himani Harish and Zarte Sanu for all the super music and food and laughter and all round good vibes that provided me welcome breaks from my work. And last, but not the least, a huge thank you to my mother, father, grandma and sister for always believing in me and accepting my long periods of silence during this project. Now I finally get to show you what I was up to these past few months!

CONTENTS

Outline 10

Abstract

Author's note

Motivation

Initial brief

Project scope

Project Timeline

Grappling with Gender 32

Conceptual examination

Looking outward : society

Looking inward : the psyche

The way forward

Initial precedent study

Exploring Gender Through Visual Media 106

A graphical brief

124

A game-play based brief

132

Problems faced

134

Detailed precedent study

Developing the Installation 164

Finalizing the brief

170

Experience and aesthetics

180

Medium, form, material

198

Crafting readable content

224

The setting

228

How it works

Conclusion 238

More design directions

240

Summary of learnings

References and Appendices 250

References

260

Appendix 1 : charts

268

Appendix 2 : interviews

274

Appendix 3 : interviews

286

Appendix 4 : interviews

1. outline

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

“

Girl gang-raped in moving bus in Delhi

Times Of India / Dec 17, 2012, 09.44 Am IST

Gang-raped in moving bus, girl fights for life in Delhi hospital The Hindu / Dec 20, 2012 00:39 IST

Girl gangraped in Delhi bus: Cops ready sketches, govt goes for CCTVs ” The Indian Express / Dec 24 2012, 11:05 Hrs

ABSTRACT high theory down from it's glass tower into an imperfect world of living, breathing human beings navigating an everyday social reality? What approach does it take to make change possible when you consider that action is first and foremost about survival for far too many? ow do you bring

What tools can theory provide to successfully navigate an everyday reality where the easiest to understand of radical terms - equality - is still an ideal? What do you say to those who say : we've been getting along fine for generations this way; in fact, we're barely managing to get along without all this time wasted on reforming ourselves? These are some of the kinds of thoughts that were running through the head of a woman called Carol Hanisch in 1969, when she wrote a paper whose title went on to become the slogan for a women's liberation movement that was for the first time ever, led by women : “The personal is political.” (Hanisch 1) What she meant is that personal or private life cannot be seen as being suspended in a kind of perennially pure, politically untainted bubble. In other words, the personal has an intimate relationship with the culture in which it lives. Even our most mundane, private actions (and preferences) manifest traces of the politics of our social existence. However, seeing this or becoming aware and living with the understanding that change begins within one is not an easy process to initiate. This kind of restructuring personal awareness, with the goal of social transformation is today coming to be known as either “humancentred design” or “design for social change”, as designers realize that their expertise can bring coherence and crucial impetus to such efforts. Similar to Hanisch and others' efforts in 1969, 2013-14 is poised to be the year that men (together with women) across the country

CHAPTER 1 : OUTLINE

S. Iqbal | â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14 | NMD | Diploma Project

embark on a movement to liberate the minds of our men and boys, and in doing so, provide the necessary precondition for that radical notion â&#x20AC;&#x201C; gender equality to become an everyday reality. If we do not act soon, the countrywide outrage at the savaging of a 23 year old female dental student by five ordinary men in New Delhi on 16th December 2012 will fizzle out. That is the nature of heavily publicized incidents in our hypermediated society. They are fetishized until drained of all meaning and discarded. Before Nirbhaya becomes just another hot news story that generated the maximum number of hits in 2013, it is up to artists and designers to strive to understand, support and complement the long undervalued efforts of educators, social workers and reformers who have been working for gender equality in our country. This project brings a Conceptual Art approach to address a problem that would usually fall under the ambit of Design for Social Change. It seeks to provide a multimodal, interactive, meditative experience that will enable a user to unravel those contextual aspects of their masculine identity that are roadblocks to gender equality. The process followed was one that interwove exhaustive study of the theory and it's applications, all the while anchoring it firmly to the Indian context through phenomenological research. The installation that emerged (as the logical outcome of this process) aims to stimulate in the user, a curiosity to embark on a personal journey of examination and reconfiguration of his masculine identity. The intended target demographic is the working class Indian male.

AUTHOR's NOTE s a student of trans-disciplinary design,

I can attest to the importance of introductory sociological texts for the design student/researcher. Once the design student/ researcher has decided that he/she would like to work on a certain problem area, it becomes very important for him/her to be able to locate books that introduce the topic in accessible language. At the outset I found a great variety of materials on Critical feminist theory and interpretation since worldwide, academic scholarship on feminist theory has been pursued in a more sustained manner. The problem of how to deal with the history and the jargon remained. Invaluable at this crucial stage, were the two books whose covers are displayed below, Studying Men and Masculinities (Buchbinder), Exploring Masculinity (Bhasin). Especially encouraging was the easy, flowing tone of the writing in both books that demystified both jargon and the practical implications of theory. Without these beacons of light to guide me through the jungle of research and writing out there, I would have been quite lost. The second chapter in this thesis (titled Grappling with gender) is a mini tribute to these works. It is the pseudo-pamphlet I wish I had access to while I was considering how to approach a project on Masculinity in the Indian context. It is my hope that if you are setting out to explore the space of either masculinities or patriarchy in India (like I was in early 2013), without any former training in the humanities, Grappling with gender will serve both as encouragement and as a springboard for your own research. All images included in this thesis have been numbered with their corresponding citations located in the margins (as seen to the left here). Images with no citation have been custom made by the author as a part of this project.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] lybrary.com. Cover of Studying Men and Masculinities. Digital image n.d. Web. 15 Jan 2014. [2] Women Unlimited. Cover of pamphlet: Exploring Masculinity. Digital image n.d. Web. 15 Jan 2014.

Chapter Title

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

MOTIVATION n 17 Dec 2012, 'rape' went from being a corner column in the local news section to being a daily part of front page news for most Indian newspapers. Over the following weeks and months, news tickers were recalibrated to meet the Indian public's newly surfaced appetite for conveniently denouncable savagery with their morning chai. The traditionalists bemoaned the loss of good old fashioned values : There is no security these days ... In our days girls were secure ... It's this damn Western culture on television ... Monsters! Savages! These days you ask a 10 year old boy, he'll tell you exactly how women get pregnant ... no sanskaar! And the young hastily dug up statistics from government websites, feminist treatises that had been gathering dust for years (for now we had the power of the internet at our disposal) and made posters (see facing page for evidence), joined marches, extolled the virtue in being civilized : Aha! See? Rape is the most under reported crime in the country, maybe even the planet! The reason you didn't hear about it grandpa, was because nobody wanted to talk about it ... Nonsense! When were you born? Who was alive back then? And round and round went the merry-go-round. The question remained : Where does it come from, this thing called rape?

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [3] Iqbal, Shiraz. What Does India Really Need to Talk About. Digital image 2012. Web. Jan 2014

CHAPTER 1 : OUTLINE

It was in looking for this clarity that I began studying feminist discourse. Buchbinder (71) introduced me to RW Connell's concept of a "patriarchal dividend". This is a metaphor she borrowed from economics that helps us better understand the advantages that are available to better placed members of a "patriarchal economy". A patriarchal economy itself is defined by Buchbinder (70-72) as a system of social organization within which, the mere possession of a penis puts one at a social and economic advantage.

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

Simply put, this is a system where men have "power-over" women (see the section on Project Scope in this chapter). From the perspective of a person within such a system, it appears that circumstances simply dictate that there is no other way; that it is a natural fact that men are dominant over women. And when males dominate other males by exercising their masculinity, they are dealing in a symbolic phallic power (in colloquialism, this translates to : “my dick is bigger than yours”, it doesn't matter if it actually isn't). Within this system there is no feminine alternative to phallic power. ie, Women who want to succeed also have to do so by “growing a pair of balls”. And when males who have been raised believing in the so-called natural fact of male domination come across a woman who challenges their phallic power, it is difficult for them to confer symbolic respect on this upstart. Physical domination is thus a perverted expression of restoring the so-called natural order (natural within a patriarchal economy). Because what is natural is taught to us over a lifetime through a multiplicity of forces, feminist theory tells us that what culminates in the act of rape has it's seeds in the culturing of the rapist within a patriarchal economy where he always has an entitlement to some patriarchal dividend. The significant but easily missed point here is that, along with the rapist, most other male members of the society are also cultured by the same influences! The motivations behind this project were thus : 1. To gain a better understanding of the extent of patriarchal impulses in my behaviour and to understand how to overcome them. 2. To direct this research to critically assess gender relations, specific to the general culturing of males within Indian society.

CHAPTER 1 : OUTLINE

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

initial Brief NOTES TO THE READER : Looking back on the project, in order to determine a continuous thread, we have to trace the evolution of my initial brief right from it's infancy. What I mean to say is that, since I was delving into an ocean of a topic into which I had never even dipped my toes before, attempting to formalize a proposal at such a nascent stage in my understanding was a mistake. Thus my formal proposal submitted at the time of commencement of this project represents a slightly off-track track brief, which cannot be seen as the "true" initial brief. However, since hindsight is always 20-20, allow me to share the evolution of this project in it's entirety. The very first rough introduction I had composed went like this :

introduction â&#x20AC;&#x153; Roused by the brutal December 2012 Delhi rape, I have found myself researching feminist theory, both in general as well as how it applies to gender based violence. This has helped me follow the feminist debate both locally and globally in recent times. Since masculinity is often (popularly) defined in opposition to femininity, it was a logical next step therefore, to investigate the body of theory and literature pertaining to men's studies and masculinities. The corpus of masculinities research is interestingly much smaller and contentious than research on femininity, and even more so when it comes to the Indian (or South Asian as it is formally grouped under) context.

According to Buchbinder (104), "articulating [] theory ... exposes it to criticism". This is important because the ex-nomination of masculinity gives us good reason why the culture of grappling with the implications of masculinity is so rare in contemporary discourse. â&#x20AC;? As I was continually reading and feeling overwhelmed by the body of critical theory on the topic and it's many tangents, in a fit of overenthusiasm, within my formal brief I felt it necessary to add the following paragraph :

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S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

“ Also interesting to note is that there is a disconnect between Western theoretical constructs of the self and the Indian ones, and concepts like Freud's penis envy cannot be blindly appropriated to explain the psychology of gendering in the Indian child. In addition, because of certain historical forces, the dominant masculinity of Indian academic discourse has been Hindu Nationalist. Assuming a hegemonic construct of masculinity to be more representative of the ground reality, the question arises - what about the masculinities adopted by those variously labeled the marginalized, the minorities, the backward classes across history? ” And thus I was off to the races on this tangent called hegemonic masculinity , riding on an overdose of information, whereas my original intention had been adequately expressed in the original introduction. Continuing with my formally submitted proposal :

objectives “ In Mythologies, Roland Barthes explains the phenomenon of ex-nomination with respect to the bourgeoisie : although openly "named" so, "the bourgeoisie has some difficulty in acknowledging itself ... As an ideological fact, it completely disappears." (Buchbinder 106) To understand ex-nomination better we have only to look at the use of "Man" as a category (For instance, in the collective categorization of the human race as mankind.) Although the patriarchal order remained ex-nominated until the 1960s, the womens movements and feminist discourse made sure it entered the popular consciousness. "Renomination, then, provides [us] a strategy by which to render" [conceptions of] masculinity visible "and ... vulnerable not only to criticism, but also to change."

Thus this project is primarily concerned with how and why shifts in popular articulations of masculinity have occurred/ are occurring (such as in the popular acceptance of Metrosexuality (Simpson accessed Apr 2013), or in the viral spread and appreciation of Mappila Lahala (Native Bapa), a contemporary North Kerala Muslim musical collective that expresses feelings of

disenfranchisement by appropriating a North American medium that has a long history of rebellion : hip-hop) and how such shifts may occur/ be brought about in future, with particular regard to reducing gender inequities in the Indian context. Towards this purpose it is necessary to understand the socio-cultural history of subordinated/other subsidiary masculinities as well as that of the dominant masculinity in India. This project would also seek to upset the popular notion that there is only one way to be a 'mard' by opening up the individual to the possibility of multiple legitimate masculinities. â&#x20AC;? At this point in the formal proposal were included operational definitions and the summary of the vast initial literature review that had led me to such a muddled approach to my initial goal. However, since these have been properly explained in the subsequent chapter titled : ' Grappling With Gender', we will proceed to the formally proposed approach.

APPROACH â&#x20AC;&#x153; Since the concept of 'hegemony' was used by Gramsci to denote a struggle for supremacy between whole classes, I argue that the concept of hegemonic masculinity is ideally suited to India where there is a history of rousing whole communities to political action by invoking a masculine ideal.

Also when there is this kind of struggle to acquire/and or maintain supremacy, there will be one dominant class that perceives a major threat from one other particular class that it chooses to subordinate through direct reference in it's ideology. Alongside this there will be other classes also struggling to validate their ideological spaces through articulating their masculinities (creating the structure of an authentic hegemony). From a literature review it is evident that the Hindutva ideal of masculinity has been in ascendancy for at least the past hundred years. And the dominant threat to it's own ideology that it has sought to nullify was that of Muslim potency.

CHAPTER 1 : OUTLINE

S. Iqbal | â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14 | NMD | Diploma Project

Since the shortage of material on subordinated masculinities is also evident from the review, the next step would be to conduct an ethnographic study of such masculinities in an accessible area. At this stage it is necessary to limit the scope of study by excluding one of the two main subordinate masculinities in Indian hegemonic masculinity (Dalit, Muslim). Since the author of this study is Muslim, it emerges that it will be possible to conduct a more empathetic study with this community within the time constraints. ie, it has been consciously decided to exclude the point of view of subordinate Dalit masculinities from the scope of study. Therefore, it is suggested that the Malabari Muslims of Kerala be the starting point for this study (following which both Hindu and Muslim masculinities all around the state, both urban and rural will be ethnographically investigated). Prior to this a small period of familiarization with the political & cultural history of each selected location is necessary. This will be undertaken through approaching the academic circles of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Trivandrum University & Mar Evanios College for guidance. Simultaneously it is proposed to create a visual timeline of popular symbols, rites, events & literature pivotal to the articulation of masculinities as they have permeated the mass Indian consciousness of both the dominant ideologies of Hindutva on the one side as well as 'the Other' (Muslim) on the other side. Following this, academic research needs to be directed toward artists and works of art dealing with gendered power relations and masculinities. Later a mode of expression for the project (installation / interface / product etc.) can be formulated and prototyped following a guide visit. This needs to be achieved relatively quickly so that the shortcomings can be judged through feedback and adequate time devoted to further research and study. At the end of this period a refined protoype will be constructed. This will be repeated an appropriate number of times as permissible by the project completion deadline of August 31st, 2013. â&#x20AC;?

initial timeline 17th APR - 20th APR Preliminary research on masculinities/gendering addressed in art 20th APR - 27th APR Research on the political, social, religious history of the communities to be studied 27th APR - 28th MAY Ethnographic studies & rough ideation sketches 29th MAY First Guide Visit 30th MAY - 30th JUN Ideation & prototyping 1st JUL Second guide Visit 3rd JUL - 31st JUL Second round of prototyping 1st AUG Third Guide Visit 2nd AUG - 31st AUG Final refinements and documentation 2nd SEP Final submission Thus at this late date, it may be speculated that if the formal project proposal had indeed stayed on track with the initial motivation, the delay in submission could have been avoided.

CHAPTER 1 : OUTLINE

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

project scope he scope of this project will include pursuing research that is both phenomenological and theoretical in order to better understand the conception of masculinities, as they relate to the construction of male identity within Indian society. Concurrently, it is intended to seek a mode of social intervention that would allow men to understand that the line between sexist and rapist within a patriarchal economy is finer than they think. Failing this, the hope is that the intervention will at least allow the subjects to begin to critically take apart their own masculinity piece by piece; that it will empower the uncritical Indian male to correct gender imbalances around him, beginning with his personal life and conduct. This involves a restructuring of power relations within the mind of the subject, ie, where the subject previously perceived power as consisting of power-over he will now begin to conceive of a power-to act, a power-to think. (Allen accessed Nov 2013) And since the white collar Indian post December 17, 2012 has been bombarded with social critique and concerted attempts from several fronts to engage in meaningful dialogue, this project will target the blue collar Indian male. Thus the scope of this project is to deliver high theory in an easily understandable, meditative, practical form. This form must emerge out of thorough research, plenty of dialogue and reflection and a study of conceptual art and other interventions in a similar field. And finally, the mode of execution will fall within the ambit of New Media Design, ie, it will be communicative, critical and interactive. The relative amounts of time spent on each activity is depicted below, with a timeline overleaf.

prototyping documentation research

CHAPTER 1 : OUTLINE

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

PROJECT timeline Secondary Research and Learning Gender Theory Early Interviews

MAY JUN

Initial Approaches and Rudimentary Prototypes

JUL Ethnographic Research

AUG SEP OCT

Early Prototypes Material Procurement

NOV Structural Construction

DEC

Content Refinement Installation Setup + Shoot Documentation Submitted

CHAPTER 1 : OUTLINE

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

2. GRAPPLING WITH GENDER

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

“

The most toxic formulas in our cultures are not [passed] down in political practice, they’re [passed] down in mundane narratives... And [people] will kill you for their cliches about x, but they want their cliches about their race, class, queerness. They want it in there because they feel lost without it. ” Junot Diaz speaking at Word Up Bookshop, 2012

conceptual examination of masculinity within the Why is masIndian patriarchal social order, we need to define both terms and also investigate what we take for granted when culinity so inwe use them. visible? Some masculinity female friends Masculinity is a relationally constructed gender conception (a set of performative norms defined as being in opposition to another set asked me if femininity). This means crucially that, “there is no stable definition of they could put masculinity in and of itself”. It is more than just “maleness”. There are individuals who in spite of possessing a penis, are deemed to be effeminate. Therefore, in delineating the boundaries of masculinity, some lipstick it has traditionally been deemed that “masculinity is not appropriate on me. When to women... and ... is not to be attributed to homosexual men”. (98 ) I replied that patriarchy they could put Patriarchy means “rule of (or by) the father”. However this is a very understanding, and in the strictest sense of how we would like makeup on me literal to use the term, the patriarchy we are concerned with is symbolic. Buchbinder (66 - 69) differentiates this umbrella term into two if they could constituent and complementary “aspects” : the patriarchal order & think of some the patriarchal economy. Accordingly, we define The patriarchal order is a“social structure that advantages men as a way I could class, over women as a class.” make them The patriarchal economy refers to the transfer flows of power within patriarchal order. More specifically it refers to the individual, masculine, we the social & institutional modes of gaining power that are allowed by local patriarchal order. (Whatever your gender or sexuality, you drew a blank. the can find success by negotiating these flows of power within that specific society) (70-72) Maybe they The first thing then is to understand how “natural” gender is. How could walk around without shirts on… stick hair on their chests… complain about women... We weren’t able to come up with anything substantial. Is masculinity something so natural that it can’t be appropriated as easily as femininity? o begin a critical examination

CHAPTER 2 : GRAPPLING WITH GENDER

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

is it different from (anatomical) sex? Here, a quote from Buchbinder From a life(where he quotes Rubin) will help us illustrate : time of gender “Hunger is hunger, but what counts as food is culturally determined and obtained.” (Buchbinder 27) activist work goes on to say that (anatomical) sex is (anatomical) sex, but Kamla Bhasin He culture makes gender (or decides what counts as it). Okay so this (22) says that sounds like a proposition. Where is the evidence, you may ask. at the nearest animal you can find. Look past it’s sexual people gener- Look appendages or it’s plumage (horns, facial hair etc.) Now ask whether that animal’s behaviour is masculine or feminine. ally categorize yourself If you are honest with yourself, you will conclude that this is situation dependent; i.e., an animal will act aggressively when cornered the same set or lithely as the situation requires it. It is forever shifting between characteristics of one, the other, and sometimes oddly in between. of qualities So like Buchbinder we must conclude that, to say that gender is as masculine natural makes little sense. So where does it come from? or feminine (Which of the following do you think is masculine / feminine?) : Rational, Strong, Smart, Self-centred, Outgoing, Aggressive, Competitive, Brave, Assertive, Devious, Fearless, Impulsive, Honest, Tough, Violent, Hardworking, Opportunistic, Insensitive, Extrovert, Dominating, Independent, Emotional, Weak, Beautiful, Sacrificing, Caring, Nurturing, Submissive, Shy, Calm, Polite, Sensitive, Cunning, Soft, Introvert, Compassionate, Enduring, Fearful, Quiet, Timid, Tolerant, Dependent.

CHAPTER 2 : GRAPPLING WITH GENDER

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

If we look it up in the dictionary, on the simplest, most basic level, My grandgender is a grammatical construct or linguistic tool of reference: mother for in- gen•der [jen-der] Grammar . (in many languages) a set of classes together include all nouns, membership in a particular class stance, would that being shown by the form of the noun itself or by the form or choice of words that modify, replace, or otherwise refer to the noun, as, in rarely leave English, the choice of he to replace the man, of she to replace the woman, of it to replace the table, of it or she to replace the ship. the house (Dictionary.com accessed Apr 2013) unaccompaThis is a valuable clue. In reading gender theory, you will not be able to miss the enormous contributions of Judith Butler. Butler says nied while that, as an infant, a girl is “girled”. By this she means that what happens is that, although a baby possesses sex organs when born, my grandfait is not aware of what this means. ther was still The first step in gendering (becoming a gender) occurs when the announces the anatomical sex of the baby, and the parents alive. She had doctor react. In India, the post natal cry of “It’s a boy” is never complete a “congratulations”. This tells you of the expectations that grown up see- without the parents carry with them of how their child will live it’s life. Then the child is named according to the parents wishes and learns ing women language from it’s family. all around her The next step is a grammatically correct education. All through the of maturing, society instructs the child as to what is right who, were doc- process and what is wrong for it’s gender. Also at certain stages, the child vulnerable to the influence of popular culture. If you ile and submis- isreadparticularly Butler, you will find that: sive to the men “... gender is instituted through the stylization of the body and, in the family. These men would sit around and make jokes about women being weak by nature - meaning not only physically weak but also implying that they are incapable of making decisions, of going to the market alone etc. She internalized these notions. These jokes and constant reminders became her assurance that this was the way things were supposed to be.

hence, must be understood as the mundane way in which bodily Two people gestures, movements, and enactments of various kinds constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self.” (Butler 519) who have Your grandmother will tell you that a good woman is a good spent a large daughter-in-law, a good mother and a good wife while a good man is one who is good to his wife, regular with his work and brings part of their home money. Welcome to the patriarchal order. You live in it. careers work- And within this order, only a man can “confer” masculinity upon another man, women may merely “confirm” this masculinity. ing on Indian Because “out there”, the competition is among men. It is more valuable to have your “manliness” confirmed by a man who is masculinities recognized as highly masculine by those around you. This is a very distinction. It creates zones of exclusion. If you’re not - Kamla Bha- important effeminate or homosexual, you may be qualified to join the club. sin (feminist Remember the popular kids in high school? What kind of people admitted to their cliques? What qualities did they have that activist/author) were others lacked? and Rahul Roy My grandmother could never conceive of a woman as a person to a man in her capacity to act. Precisely because the acts (documentary equal and words that accumulate to constitute this form of repression are so banal, they are easily missed and thoughtlessly passed from filmmaker) generation to generation through force of habit. most crucial word when Butler says “gender is understood as the both agree that The mundane way in which bodily gestures ... [etc] constitute the illusion rigid ideals of of an abiding gendered self”, is mundane. I had been looking for a series of traditional imperatives from an masculinity older generation to point out as the source of this injustice. The truth that, certain actions that constituted a part of my “liberal” make and male sexu- was up were as critical in propagating the patriarchal order, as outright In fact this kind of unthinking, uncritical person is the ality condition misogyny. ideal vector for language and actions that propagate the patriarchal & impel males order. toward aggressive behaviour. This leads some to violence when frustrated, others to unsafe sexual practices/the subsequent bragging rights, and condemns the majority of boys to an unthinking, subconscious undervaluation of women and their abilities.

CHAPTER 2 : GRAPPLING WITH GENDER

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

A female Gendering is an exercise in locating oneself within the power flows economy, and the most masculine people hold friend of mine ofthethemostpatriarchal power within this patriarchal order. How then can you ask men to critically rethink masculinity and it’s effect on women and asks : “Y ... men who are not-so-manly? This is one of the major, seemingly insurmountable problems faced by women’s rights activists on did u protect a consistent basis. Men, especially those in societies that pride themselves on being “traditional”, view women’s liberation as a me from the threat to their power in the order. man in the Thus it is in their interest that the woman be confined to the nondomestic realm where she can be easily shielded from such train who had public, influences. A very high percentage of culturally sanctioned jokes on to young men are very effective at reinforcing existing spread his legs passed gender stereotypes. This passing of the baton happens in a very curious way in India. when i was Indian men wield an inordinate power over public space by busy managadopting a strategy employed by zebra in the Serengeti. When zebra herd together, even the mighty lion is confused by the massive ing my luggage under his seat....when i didn't ask u ... for help because it didn't even cross my head that I had to ... I didn't even realize my face was in his crotch..like [our friend] later told me ... y do ppl get u to the other side of the road automatically? y is there a ladies quota for everything?... ppl get amazed if a young man sits on a ladies wala seat .. n ladies ... they think it is right ... to make him get up n sit ... they get equally amazed if I give up a ladies seat for an old man ... how m i weaker than him?? its stupid really...”

beast that appears before it. Urban India Each one’s degree of masculinity ceases to matter as, the individual seeks a balbody is subsumed by the imaginary beast that is the herd. It is in such groups that the Indian boy learns what it means to be a man ance that is who will be respected. Within the herd, certain kinds of behaviour applauded and become symbolically heroic and aspirational. traditional yet are Indian males are especially susceptible to the herd because there is no space within Indian tradition for instructing a boy on his Sex. progressive. Contrast this with the fact that in the Indian family, when a girl hits not only is she instructed by her mother on her sex, she is Unfortunately, puberty, separated from the boys. consumerAmong young men and boys, “having sex is an achievement; the is gaining possession of a valued commodity; the ist patriarchy achievement valued commodity is a woman.“ (Bhasin 30) very effecSexist. Chauvinist. Men throw up their hands at these accusatory, words. How much more liberation do you want; they ask tively reinforc- unsavoury in return. We let you work, we let you wear those clothes ... These men (and a lot of women) fail to realize that the problem is not es traditional patriarchy. In public spaces, women are conspicuously outnumbered by men to the point of being invisible. Good girls stay at home. However leering down on this mass of men from towering billboards are beautiful women in various states of undress, wrapped sensually in/around consumer products. (a shy bride with her cleavage “tastefully” revealed; a “sexy”, perfectly made-up housewife surrounded by her modern kitchen appliances, the naughty college girl in a salwar-kameez that may as well be made of spandex) These bad girls seem to invite the virile young man on the street to bodily possess them.

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IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 148) [2] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 1)

just explicit in action but implicit in language. When women are routinely referred to as cheez or maal, it becomes easier to deal with them like pets, for whom you make certain allowances and concessions. The effect of repeating such language day in and day out is similar to learning by rote in a classroom. Such a system creates ample space for imbibing incomplete notions of masculinity and femininity. For creating double-standards. Not only this, it creates a perception that all there is to be known is already known, and that this information has come from the most reliable sources. What are the factors under whose influences, such a masculinity as we see today in Indian males has logically developed? To answer this question we have to look both without as well as within the individual. Looking within we will need the aid of psychoanalysis to understand the psyche as well as personal/familial social forces that affect the subject. External to the subject, forces are always at work delivering mediated manifestations of masculinity that the subject may reject, adapt or adopt to different degrees. These forces need to be understood contextually and this is where we turn next.

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LOOKING OUTWARD : SOCIETY

THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN “Every dog we see is a ‘he’, every stick figure a ‘he’, humans thought of as simply ‘mankind’. Boats, cars, bikes and ships always seem to be ‘she’, but this is hardly exciting once we realise that they are all objects, and possessions of (usually) men... It is because society tells us that women are objects, not subjects, that even good men, when speaking out against violence against women, tell other men to imagine her as “somebody’s wife, somebody’s mother, somebody’s daughter, or somebody’s sister”, it never occurring to them that maybe, just maybe, a woman is also “somebody”.“ (Goh-Mah 2013)

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rticulating [a subject in] theory ... exposes it to criticism”, says Buchbinder (104). This is important because acknowledging and articulating the invisibility of masculinities is the first step towards creating a culture of deconstructing masculinities in popular Indian discourse.

In his book Mythologies, Roland Barthes has called this phenomenon ex-nomination. Take the statement “...all men are created equal” (attributed to Thomas Jefferson). When we read this we somehow already know/immediately infer that the word men refers to men, women and children. However we tend to take this fact for granted and this is where our thinking ends. This identification of human with man affects us on much subtler levels. For example, whenever we come across a subject whose sex is unknown, we are quick to unconsciously refer to it as a he rather than as a she. What is happening is that the person who is subject to such language conditioning is forming a subconscious association between gender and the ability to act. This is the patriarchal ideology (of objectification) at work. All entities that are living breathing creatures capable of acting upon the world, are he’s to this person. And by exclusion and every day attribution of the pronoun she to objects, the female becomes a passive subject indebted to male agency and requiring male protection. Just as these biases are hidden in language, they also come embedded in the histories we read as children. They are encoded in the popular stories we are told and in the movies we watch. Armed with gender theory and an increased awareness, we are in a position to re-nominate and re-locate Masculinity in the Indian context by re-writing our recent history through a gendered lens. Indeed as we shall see, this act - of re-writing history - is not a unique act in the annals of our Nation’s story. This act will help us identify the different kinds of Indian masculinity, their ideological

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connections and what local factors have been/are responsible for shaping them. Since we are interested in a gender aware Indian history from the point of view of the average Indian, we have to turn to unconventional sources such as popular media culture. We will have to trace those cultural objects/media/events that have been responsible for the dissemination of ideals of Indian masculinity and Indian femininity while keeping the Indian male ex-nominated. Popular cinema, politics and literature have played important roles in both shaping and mirroring the contemporary Indian condition and we shall draw on all these as we write this gender conscious version of 20th century Indian history. Since we have spent half a century anticipating Independence from foreign rule, and the other half coming to terms with the identity created by the delineation of the Indian nation state, it is not surprising that a major preoccupation of Indian media has been defining Indian-ness for the benefit of the Indian citizen. First, as a colonized native learning how to prepare him/herself for the absence of the ruling imperial power, then as a postcolonial subject in a socialist secular welfare state, and finally towards the end of the 20th century/in the beginning of the 21st century, while becoming a consumer in a gradually liberalizing capitalist state the Indian has been bombarded with (subtle and not so subtle) cultural and media messages on the proper mode of Indian-ness. Interestingly, the central concern throughout has been to depict â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the Indianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as firmly rooted in tradition, and yet progressive looking; modern, not Western. To put it simply, how could you convince a people who believed that by going abroad you had become impure, that for progress in the industrial age, certain things would have to be transplanted from a foreign culture? As seen in the 1970 film Purab Aur Paschim, the quest for modern

scientific knowledge on the part of the Indian man is valourized (The Nationalist character “Bharat explains [to his grandfather before departing to England] that the nation needs to learn science and technology ... [they] are the ground on which the west’s superiority is conceded.” (Virdi 63)), but the ... ““... burden of representing the inner and authentic realm of the nation in [the same] nationalist discourse fell largely on the figure of the “modern Indian woman”. “ (Partha Chatterjee being referenced by Sinha 624)

OLD VERSUS NEW INDIA “The latest Old versus New India hubbub began one Saturday last month when an obscure Hindu organization, which calls itself Sri Ram Sena, or the Army of Ram, a Hindu god, attacked several women at a bar in the southern Indian college town of Mangalore and accused them of being un-Indian for being out drinking and dancing with men.” Sengupta Feb 2009

(This woman was appropriately embodied in the movie by the liberated, Anglicized character Preeti who “kicks her smoking and drinking habits, and chooses to [move to India and] live with lajja and sharam, the “rare jewels” the Indian woman possesses.” (Virdi 63)) This attitude towards a gendered Nationalism (which both becomes and reflects the everyday social rationale for prescribing gender roles) was forged in the minds of the Bengali Nationalists who had been struggling to come to terms with the apparent contradiction between their English Education (and the opportunities modernity opened up) and the virtue of their traditions as far back as the early 19th century. This is where our history begins.

A gender aware media history of modern India According to Bhatt (23), Raja Rammohun Roy was convinced that it was solely in their knowledge of science and technology that the superiority of the colonizers lay. In The Psychology of Colonialism,

a timeline for easy reference

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1793 : The Permanent Settlement Act is passed following the famine of 1770, creating a class of landowners with regular income and incentive to reinvest this capital in their land. They became British loyalists and developed a taste for English education.

1813 : Raja Rammohun Roy, a beneficiary of the class privileges conferred by the Act, moves to Calcutta at age 41.

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Ashis Nandy writes that there was at this time, a class-based split in the expectations of masculinity in Victorian culture that had it’s parallel in the ideals of the celibate Brahmin versus the virile Ksatriya in Indian society. And therefore, it was easier to legitimate the power of the colonizers as something that could be aspired to : “In such a culture, colonialism was not seen as an absolute evil. For the subject, it was a product of one’s own emasculation and defeat in legitimate power politics. This was the consensus the rulers of India sought... the monopoly of the rulers on a fixed quantity of machismo” (Nandy 4-11) It was with this aim (of forging a proud National identity), that Rammohun Roy founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 : “The present system of Hindoos is not well calculated to promote their political interests.. .. It is necessary that some change should take place in their religion, at least for the sake of their political advantage and social comfort.” (Bhatt 24) Importantly to us, in his works, we see some of the earliest media attempts at reframing cultural definitions of gender. Nandy speculates that Roy drew from his relationship with his parents to conclude that “men seemed ... ‘prone to be led astray by temptations of temporary gratifications’, [while] women seemed ... to have ‘firmness of mind, resolution, trustworthiness and virtue’” Roy seemingly understood well the implications for social life that the adoption of colonial culture held and anticipated in Brahmoism the greater role women would play in the new social structures. ("Woman versus Womanliness 32-46) He had started this project earlier, in 1815, “after settling in Calcutta

1815 : Raja Rammohun Roy starts producing pamphlets that translate the Upanishads into English as well as Bengali language commentaries on them.

1816 : Roy issues his abridged translation of the Vedant.

1817 : Roy issues a pamphlet defending the “monotheistical system of the Veds”. The following year he writes his first tract against sati.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [3] Penguin Books India. The Poem of the Killing of Meghnad. Digital image 2014. Web. Jul 2013

...he produced over the next four years a series of pamphlets challenging Hindu orthodoxy “ (Zastoupil 403 ), these being condensed translations of The Vedanta into the local languages. In the Introduction of one such, he writes : “The whole body of the Hindoo Theology, Law and Literature, is contained in the Vedas, which are ...extremely voluminous, and being written in the most elevated and metaphorical style, are, ... seemingly confused and contradictory... the great Vyasa... composed with great discrimination a complete and compendious abstract of the whole, and also reconciled those texts which appeared to stand at variance. This work he termed The Vedanta... But from it’s being concealed within the dark curtain of the Sanskrit language, and the Brahmans permitting themselves alone to interpret, or even to touch any book of the kind, the Vedanta, although perpetually quoted, is little known to the public... I have to the best of my abilities translated this hitherto unknown work. as well as an abridgement thereof, into the Hindoostanee and Bengalee languages, and distributed them, free of cost, among my own countrymen, as widely as circumstances have possibly allowed. The present is an endeavour to render an abridgement of the same into English, by which I expect to prove... that the superstitious practices which deform the Hindoo religion have nothing to do with the pure spirit of it’s dictates!” (Roy 3-5) The book from which this extract was taken, is subtitled “Establishing the Unity of the Supreme Being; And that He alone is the Object of Propitiation and Worship”. Rammohun Roy was not alone in looking to a semiticized reading of the Hindu scriptures to assert the legitimacy of the claim to equality of the Hindu culture with that of the colonizers. In 1886, Bankim Chandra

1823 : Roy issues a pamphlet “establishing the unity and the sole omnipotence of the supreme being” ... “according to the gloss of the celebrated Shancaracharya”. He publishes Brief Remarks regarding Modern Encroachments on the Ancient Rights of Females according to the Hindu Law of Inheritance.

1829 : Roy founds the Brahmo Samaj, institutionalizing the principles developed in his writings.

1861 : Michael Madhusudan’s modern Ravan takes on a pastoral Ram.

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Chattopadhyay produced a book called Krishna Charitra in which he...

LOCATING OUR CLASSICAL AGE & HERITAGE This re-scripting of the past proceeded in three steps. First was “the definition of the classical canon, [with] emphasis on the “Aryan’... Then “central themes from this canon [were identified such as ] self-sacrificing wifely devotion (...Rama and Sita, Nala and Damayanti, Shakuntala and Dushyanta etc.) ” And finally, these themes were “encapsulated in significant dramatic episodes” designed to indoctrinate a dogmatic set of values. The narrative also usually bemoaned the decline of this classical age “under the twin forces of Brahmanism and Islam.” Uberoi (1990 : WS41-WS48)

1886 : Bankim Chandra creates a hard, masculine Krishna in his Krishna Charitra, to give his countrymen a figure of the ideal Indian man.

“[...rejected as] latter day interpolations every trait of Krsna that did not meet the first requirement for a Christian and Islamic [‘hard’, visibly masculine] god, namely all-perfection. It was this [Christianized Hindu] consciousness which Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Swami Vivekananda shared and developed further” (Nandy 23-24) In 1861, Michael Madhusudan Dutt had “freed Ravana from ... traditional constraints to give him a new stature as a scientific, learned, modern Ksatriya king, fighting the non-secular politics and anti-technologism of a banished pastoral prince... “ “By making Meghnavad a tragedy, by inducing his readers to identify with his heroes, [Madhusudan] underwrote the emerging ideology of modernity as well as compatible concepts of masculinity and adulthood in his community’s world view.” (Nandy 18-22) Meanwhile, womanliness was being reformulated as a symbolic ideal of nationhood that the public could empathise with. In 1873, Kiran Chandra Bandyopadhyay’s play Bharat Mata gave popular form to an idea that had been in cultural circulation in Nationalist circles. “In a play of 1873, called Bharatmata that was enacted before packed theatre halls, the Motherland speaks and weeps. She is a wan, pale figure of absolute abjection, she has been stripped of all possessions by white men who appear on the stage to kick and abuse her while her children slumber on. At the end, a good sahib comes and promises her that another Mother, the British Queen,

1873 : Kiran Chandra Bandyopadhyay’s play Bharat Mata depicts the country as an abject woman.

1875 : Sir Syed Ahmed Khan founds a college to impart English education to Indian Muslims. It would later become Aligarh Muslim University & was instrumental to developing a political consciousness in Indian Muslims.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [4] Prabhanjam India Handicrafts. Ravi Varma Painting: A Lady Playing Swarbat. Digital image 2014. [5] Prabhanjam India Handicrafts. Ravi Varma Painting: Damayanti Sending a Message to Nala via a Swan. Digital image 2013. Web. Jul 2013. [6] Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore. Digital image 2011. Web. Aug 2013

would bring her woes to an end.” (Sarkar 3965) Haunted by the colonial stereotype of the effeminate Bengali babu, Bankim Chandra wrote a novel called Anandamath, published in 1882. It tried to reframe the populist struggles in Bengal against the Nawab’s forces (backed up by the East India Company) at the end of the 18th century in terms of a Hindu unity that transcended caste. The Nawab and his forces, and Muslims in general were framed as the perpetrators of violence against the Hindu population. Anandamath... ”had to carry the entire burden of a politics [of active resistance] that was yet to be born. [It], therefore, was not really a representation, it was more a performance, an iteration, making something happen with words.“ (Sarkar : 3961) Sarkar writes that “Subjection [(as seen in the play Bharatmata)]meant the loss of manhood[,] and war was the breeding ground for heroes. At the same time, war against the British would block moral and [scientific,] intellectual development. War against Muslims, in an imaginary context, would, on the other hand, throw up a pattern of masculinity and heroism, of Hindu idealism, which may enhance future nationhood.“ (Sarkar 3961) Anandamath becomes crucial in tracing the genealogy of gendered Indian subjectivity when read against it’s affect on the prevailing political climate. A hymn from the novel, titled Vande Mataram, became a popular ‘religio-patriotic’ chant : “The first two stanzas of the song evoke the gentle, peaceful, tender landscape of Bengal as the object of devotion. The land is the earth, it is a source of life and nurture, of love and beauty. In subsequent verses, the land is dissolved, it disappears into the body of a goddess, 10-armed, demon slaying, carrying weapons. At one level, such a personification of the country, its deification in a Hindu

1882 : Bankim Chandra’s Anandamath is first published. It contains the poem Vande Mataram, literally translated as : “I bow to thee, Mother”.

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1892 : Ravi Varma showcases ten paintings of women at the Intnl. Exhibition in Chicago, winning several awards. (Uberoi 1990:WS– 44) 4

1894 : Ravi Varma sets up one of India’ s earliest colour lithographic presses, putting in circulation thousands of copies of his paintings. The public is introduced to the ‘authentic Indian woman’. 5

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devotional image, would put it beyond the reach of non-Hindu affective identification: both idolatry and personification of divinity are prohibited, especially for Islam. At another level, the evocation of the armed goddess, ready for the kill, portended a history that Muslims could not possibly accept, given the narrative context of AM: the novel leaves the reader with no doubt that the enemies of the Mother are Muslims, that the weapons in her hands, and the strength in her children, are directed against them. “ (Sarkar 3963) It was in this climate of reformulating the Hindu culture to accomodate the modernizing impulse within ‘true’ traditional nature, that the carrot of self-governance was dangled before the Indians. In 1861, the Indian Councils Act had been passed, giving the legislative council under the Viceroy in Calcutta the power to pass laws for the whole country. With the demands of the Indian National Congress to expand the council, the Indians were promised representation (by appointment) in the provincial legislative councils by 1892. It was around the time that the promised reforms proved unsatisfactory, that Vande Mataram was adopted by the Congress as the de-facto National Anthem. “Nationalist Muslims found it difficult to chant Vande Mataram since the song personified the motherland as a goddess”, leading them to question the secular nature of the Congress. (Sarkar 3963) Thus even in his/her role as the fervently patriotic Indian, Indian-ness was never separate from religion. Tensions escalated to such an extent that in 1905, the artist Abanindranath Tagore felt the need to render Bharat Mata in a gentle, non-militant, married avatar (Sen 165). When finally in 1909, (with the Morley Minto reforms), Indian representation in the councils became a reality, it came at the price of communal discontent. Muslims and Hindus were to have separate electorates,

1894 : Rabindranath Tagore gives Bankim Chandra’s Vande Mataram music, and sings it. Two years later he sings it at a session of the Indian National Congress, creating unease among it’s Muslim members.

1905 : Communal tensions have escalated. Abanindranath Tagore paints Bharat Mata as a peaceable saffron clad Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth). The All India Muslim League is formed in 1906.

1909 : Morley-Minto Reforms give Indians representation in the Legislative Councils with separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [7] ebay. Mother India by Katherine Mayo 1928 With 41 Illustrations Hardback. Digital image 2014. Web.

the vote was to be cast on a communal basis. According to Asghar Ali Engineer, the orthodox mullas – constantly in touch with the pious Muslim masses – expressed confidence in the Indian National Congress and aligned themselves with it. But members of the Muslim elite, prominent among whom were Sir Syed Ahmad Khan doubted that Congress policy took the Muslim masses into consideration (Engineer 919). And thus, in 1906, on the back of the Aligarh movement - which stressed the importance of Western education to Muslims - the All India Muslim League (AIML) was formed. To counter the rise of the AIML in 1910, an All India Hindu Conference was called in Allahabad. With increasing communal polarization two Hindu Nationalist organizations, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organization) were formed in 1914 and 1925 respectively. Prominent members of the Mahasabha then made rallying calls for a deeply masculine Hindu revival through public speeches, rallies and influential publications. 1926 saw the publication of Swami Shraddhanand’s Hindu Sangathan : Saviour of the Dying Race. Pandey (1991 : 2998) tells us some of the strategies the Swami suggested for the consolidation of the Hindu Nation : ““besides the Juma and Fatehpuri mosques which can accommodate big audiences consisting of 25 to 30 thousands of Muhammadans, there are several old mosques which can serve as meeting places for thousands” ... It was to rectify this imbalance that Shraddhanand suggested the building of Hindu Rashtra Mandirs, capable of holding 25,000 people, in every town and city temples. The large compounds were also to provide space for ‘akharas’ where wrestling and gymnastics would be practised and be the venue for dramatic performances. All these activities, and the temples themselves, were to be run by the local Hindu Sabha”

1910 : All India Hindu Conference is held in Allahabad to organize a Hindu response to the Muslim League. This leads to the formation of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha in 1914. In 1913 Dadasaheb Phalke had released India’s first feature film, Raja Harishchandra.

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1915 : M.K. Gandhi returns to India and joins the Indian National Congress. In 1918, through the Champaran and Kheda agitations he develops the Non-Cooperation resistance technique and gains favour with the peasantry.

1918 : Margaret Cousins and Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy launch the multilingual journal Stri-Dharma - the voice of the Indian Women’s Movement.

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Other influential publications in a similar vein were Essentials of Hindutva (Savarkar 1923), republished as Hindutva - Who is a Hindu (Savarkar 1928) and Hindu Pad Padashahi (Savarkar 1925).

The contributions of the women’s movement

A FEMINIST WRITES c . 1927 “Our laws as ordained and drawn up by the ancients,” as one contributor to the Stri Dharma in June 1927 wrote, “were satisfactory enough for the men and women of the old days. But they do not satisfy us today. We must agitate and get them changed or get new laws introduced.” (Sinha 633)

1923 : The Hindu Nationalist ideology gains force and momentum as V.D. Savarkar publishes Hindutva : Who Is a Hindu? - providing a unified Hindu identity where previously there was none. (the original title was Essentials of Hindutva)

The contest to communal electorates came from an unexpected quarter : the Indian Women’s movement. The Women’s Indian Association and the All India Women’s Conference (WIA & AIWC) were formed in In 1917 and 1926, respectively (these mark the comparatively rapid growth of female education around the turn of the century). From it’s inception, the WIA began petitioning for the enfranchisement of Indian women. Both bodies regularly published magazines (WIA published Stri Dharma, and Roshni was an AIWC publication) discussing the effect of “all major political, social and economic issues of the day ... on the lives of women”. (Lateef 1949) Although various token concessions were made to them in an effort to dissipate the force of their arguments and subsume them under the various communal movements led by the male orthodoxy, they remained influential. Significantly, they showed considerable foresight in refusing the communal electorate, realizing perhaps that they could only effect real reform as individuals with equal agency in a democracy. They would not be able to do this if they were divided under the deeply patriarchal communal banners. However two crucial factors conspired against them. The first was the publication of Mother India in 1927 which forced them to expend their energies combating the “formulaic image of the oppressed Indian women” that this book presented to the world

1925 : K.B. Hedgewar leaves the Mahasabha to form the RSS. The call to ‘strengthen’ Hindu society is intensified with the publication of Swami Shraddhanand’s Hindu Sangathan : Saviour of the Dying Race in the following year.

1927 : Mayo’s Mother India comes out.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [8] Hassan, Rabia. Nadia Hunterwali 1935. Digital image 2013. Web. Jul 2013. [9] Gaurav Debnath, Raj. Poster of Achhut Kannya movie. Digital image 2013. Web. Jul 2013. [10] Ainapure, Mrunmayi. Kunku. Digital image 2012. Web. Jul 2013.

(Liddle and Rai 500-502). Mother India had been researched and written by Katherine Mayo, an American (and therefore seemingly neutral) reporter. “She presents Indian women as universally weak, passive victims of the barbaric Indian male, and as too backward and ignorant to find any means to resist their oppression” and the entire culture as therefore incapable of governing itself. It was in fact meant to counter rising foreign political support for Swaraj. (Liddle and Rai 504). It became necessary to counter this argument both at home and abroad by publicizing the Indian Women’s movement. They chose to agitate for the Sarda/Child Marriage Restraint Act as the flagship reform that would counter Mayo’s argument. It was through their efforts that the Colonial Government, although looking to maintain favour with conservative male Indian political leaders, came under pressure to pass the act in 1929. The act was flawed and incomplete due to the resistance from various quarters, but it nonetheless was a double entendre : a real international victory for Indian Nationalism, as well as a symbolic one for the Indian women’s movement.

Popular film & radio and more communal politics That this awareness simmered in the public consciousness is revealed by the commercial success of the 1937 film, Duniya Na Mane (1937, also known as Kunku) which dealt directly with the concerns of the Sarda Act. Here, a young girl forced into wedlock not only successfully resists her aging husband’s advances but manages to rouse enough guilt in the old man at his own lust, that

1935 : Indian film audiences rush into theaters, delighting in movies that provide an escape from their everyday reality.

1936 : Love blossoms btw a Brahmin boy and an un touchable girl in Achut Kanya.

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1937 :

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he kills himself. (Dhondy 134-135) The second factor that undermined the momentum of the women’s movement was that ultimately, in spite of their best efforts, the patriarchal Colonial Government forced the movement to divide it’s members among communal constituencies. Split up, the women political activists found it difficult to fight the patriarchal biases prevalent in their respective communities. The (largely middle and upper class male) communal leaderships argued that, although “... women from all sections of Indian society were active in the nationalist movement, those involved in women’s movement activities were largely middle class”.(cite) And thus their concerns were but the concerns of a few! Over time, as the Nationalist movement became a mass movement, the image of the woman as a public agent of modernity receded into the background and there it would remain until the early 1980s. The establishment of akharas or gymnasia by the Hindu Mahasabha proceeded as planned following Shraddhanand’s wishes from the late 1920s. Bhagavan (41) “tells us that by the early 1940s akharas were unmistakably militant training camps associated with Hindu nationalism.” It had come to Gandhi’s attention that a Gujarati Congressman K.M. Munshi was also a “leader of the akhadas movement in the Bombay presidency” and he made clear his stand in a letter published in the Hindu newspaper in 1941 : “Those who favour violent resistance... must get out of the Congress and shape their conduct just as they think fit... [Also,] a Congressman may not directly or indirectly associate himself with gymnasia where training in violent resistance is given” This led to Munshi’s resignation, and so afloat, he vigorously subscribed to Hindu traditionalism. However, in 1946, in a strategic

1940 : “Don’t be under the assumption that you can lord over today’s women. If the nation is to be free, women have to be freed first !“ : proclaims Fearless Nadia in Diamond Queen to her male-dominated audiences. As Nadia, Mary Evans fought one social injustice after another, always embodied by a male villain.

1940-46 : On-screen love repeatedly blossoms between lovers from distinct economic strata as India moves toward Independence.

1948 : Lata Mangeshkar gets her first big break recording the song Dil Mera Toda for the film Majboor. Her voice had previously been described as “too thin”. Khubchandani (2003)

move calculated to limit the power of the Hindu Right, he was welcomed back into the folds of the INC by Nehru and Gandhi. Thus the Congress, seeking to maintain it’s hegemony in National politics, forgave members with Right leaning tendencies in the time immediately before Independence. This according to Bhagavan (41) created a space with the secular Congress where the ideology of the Hindu Right could gestate and promote it’s vision while the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha would be persecuted for their role in the assassination of Gandhi himself two years later.

HINDUTVA vs AHINSA “I believe in the saying that a nation is happy that has no history” -MK Gandhi, 1924 “The nation that has no consciousness of its past has no future” -VD Savarkar, 1970

1949 : Lataji strikes gold, singing all the female lead vocals in Barsaat.

Gandhi’s view of the Freedom movement operated within a fine zone between the outright secularism of the Congress and the militant vision of the Hindu Nationalists. In ‘The Psychology of Colonialism’, Ashis Nandy (52-53) writes that in response to the militant Hindutva construction of masculinity, Gandhi from his own reading of culture put forward this view : “Courage allows one to rise above cowardice or kapurusatva, on the way to becoming the authentic man who admits his drive to become both sexes.” Thus true courage lay in the ability to suppress violent tendencies, conserve your energies and tap into both the feminine side of your psyche and this would free one up to become an ‘authentic man’. He believed that if this could be accomplished then there was no need to separate religion from politics. Thus, Gandhi’s view of the Freedom movement operated within a fine zone between the modernist secularism of the Congress and the militant vision of the Hindu Nationalists. Ironically, it is important to note that Gandhi through his life and discipline embodied the Brahmacharya, or man exercising selfcontrol in the face of potentially dangerous carnal desire (read as woman). Therefore although his philosophy is one of nonviolence and inclusiveness, an uncritical subscription to Gandhian

1949 : When Aayega Aanewala (from the film Mahal) hit the airwaves, there was such a flood of calls to AIR asking for the name of the singer that the radio station had to call the record company and announce Lata’s name. It was a historic moment for Indian playback singing.

1955 :

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masculinity has in itself, allowed patriarchal values to be propagated in a seemingly benign form. With the foresight of an oracle, Gandhi himself “expressed profound distrust for the historical genre”. (Khilnani 164-165) This was so because, Munshi (whom Gandhi had invited back into the INC) was considered an authority on and it was his “caricatured” re-writing of the temple’s history in the early 1950s that “the Sangh parivar of the 1980s and early 90s would use to justify their campaign to build a Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya” (Bhagavan 46).

THE MODEL WOMAN The women who had organized themselves during the Independence struggle posed an ideological threat to the old patriarchal order. A. Aziz & S. Srivastava suggest that around this time, Lata Mangeshkar’s voice (reminiscent of a prepubescent girl) was honed to play the ideal foil to Mohammad Rafi’s “rambo-esque” male and gently shepherd women back into the domestic sphere; to ease the re-drawing of the Laxman Rekha as it were ...

1957 : “Main beta de sakti hoon, laaj nahi de sakti”.

As the medium of film gained mass popularity (late 30s - early 40s), it was not easy to ignore the Indian woman as a (possibly equal) participant in the project of modernity with the kind of films that were being made. From 1942 on, 13 year old Lata Mangeshkar began a playback singing career that would last several decades. Over most of this period, she worked to keep the quality of her timbre the same and slowly became the voice of the ideal Indian woman in the popular imagination. With the rising popularity of radio programming, she took over the airwaves. Through her “shrill adolescent-girl falsetto”, and even it’s association with her manner of performance - “she would stand rigidly on stage, and sing with her head buried in a notebook” (implying a passive follower of the authority of the writer, who by virtue of her/his absence is assumed to be male in the patriarchal order) - “the public Indian woman became forever infantilized”. The threat posed to masculine control of cinematic (modern) Indian space was thus, effectively quelled. (Srivastava 2000-2024) As women were portrayed as childish creatures under the control of a strong masculinity, it became easier to ridicule transgressions from

1964 : “Shaadi dharam hai”.

1969 : Anant Pai begins his comics effort to reinculcate lost Indian values.

this ideal feminine. The Hindu Code Bill, passed in sections between 1952-1956 had become “notoriously controversial in the public’s view because of a divorce clause granting women the right to annul a Hindu marriage” (remember women’s movement institutions like the AIWC had been agitating for such reform since many years). In Guru Dutt’s 1955 film Mr. and Mrs. 55, “male anxiety about women repositioning themselves in society ... [was eased by] publicly mocking women ... and caricaturing their demands” (Virdi 75-76) Mr. and Mrs. 55 then, presented to the public a clear vision of a master narrative that would be later taken up by movies like Purab Aur Paschim (1970) : one where “the modernized woman finally [learns] the virtues of a [traditional,] “Indian” sensibility.” (Virdi 75-76) The bounds of a”woman’s place” were firmly emphasized as being one where she was obligated to find fulfillment within her marriage.

HOW ITs Done Those who have sought to retain male privilege have always framed any quest for justice / or equal subject rights on a woman’s part as an issue of tradition vs. modernity & used mockery to dismiss such “dented & painted women”.

1969 : The fallen woman becomes popular leading into the 1970s, hinting at a perceived crisis in society. 16

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The motif of the suffering woman who’s resilience in the face of despair was deified, is quintessentially on display through the travails of Nargis’s character in the iconic 1957 film Mother India. In Gumrah (1963), the female character “defends her loveless marriage [saying] : ... “Shaadi farz hai” (marriage is a duty).” The following year, in the film Sangam the female character Radha rationalizes her conflict between her husband and her childhood sweetheart using the same trope: “Pyaar ho jata hai, par shaadi, shaadi dharam hai” (one falls in love, but marriage, marriage is a matter of duty).” (Virdi 130) Outside her sacred duty to the institution of marriage, the woman forfeits her right as an equal citizen subject. Jyotika Virdi demonstrates the effects of such cultural programming at work

1973 : The angry young man arrives with Zanjeer.

1974 :

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [11] Barsaat / The Monsoons (Raj Kapoor 1949). Digital image 2013. Web. Aug 2013 [12] Mr. & Mrs. 55. Digital image n.d. Web. Jul 2013 [13] Flick Facts. Mother India (1957). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013 [14] Movieloverz.com. Sangam DVD 1964. Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013 [15] Krishna the very first ACK no. 11 (reprinted as no. 501). Digital image 2008. Web. Aug 2013 [16] Aradhana (1969). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013 [17] Zanjeer Handpainted Poster. Digital image 2012. Web. Aug 2013. [18] Wikipedia. Aaina (1977). Digital image 2013. Web. Sep 2013 [19] Prime Point Foundation. Blank editorial of the Indian Express protesting censorship. Digital image 2013. Web. Dec 2013. [20] Thai Film Foundation. Deewar Film Poster. Digital image n.d. Web. Oct 2013.

30 years later, closer to our time. In 1985, Mohammad Ahmad Khan “appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court’s decree” that directed him to pay a small monthly alimony to his divorced wife Shah Bano. The Muslim orthodoxy insisted that the courts could not interfere in a matter of Muslim Personal Law. Eventually the government capitulated and bought “electoral support at the cost of women’s rights”. A Bill was passed formalizing the decision so that such conflict would not arise in future. (Virdi 71) Indian men were assured (their confidence culturally & legally sanctioned), that when it comes to dominating their women in the private sphere, the communal patriarchal code will back them up, thus compromising certain gains of the women’s movement. In Saudagar (1973) Amitabh Bachhan plays a rascally character (Moti) who tricks the widow played by Nutan (Majhubin) into marrying him so he can have enough money to court the young nymph Phoolbanu whom he really wants to possess (played by Padma Khanna who along with Helen, Bindu or Madhumati was usually seen on screen as a vamp). In the end both women (the widow with the gumption to remarry twice and the openly sexual wife) are united in their realization that they have been pawns in Moti’s game and Moti has to face financial ruin as well as shame at being exposed. Tellingly, although the film won critical acclaim, it did poorly at the box office. (Directed by Roy 1973) (Kohli) Shortly thereafter, beginning with films like Zanjeer (1973), Namak Haraam (1973), Deewar, (1975), Sholay (1975), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978) and Trishul (1978), the mid - 70s saw the meteoric rise in popularity of the “angry young man” films. Both Kajri Jain and Jyotika Virdi in their respective pieces, link this phenomenon to the National political drama that was unfolding at the time. The working class unease at state megalomania (the 1973 Oil

1975 : National Emergency is declared and censorship is imposed on the press.

1975 - 77 : A new name in documentary cinema, Anand Patwardhan secretly films and then smuggles Waves of Revolution out of the country. The film documents the 74-75 peasant’s uprising in Bihar that led to the Emergency.

1975 : The angry young man rages across screens. Sholay and Deewar are released.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [21] Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978). Digital image 2014. Web. Aug 2013. [22] Kaala Patthar (1979). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [23] eBay. Bollywood 1980 Insaf ka Tarazu Press Book Zeenat Aman Raj Babbar. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014. [24] Nagina (1986) Poster. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014. [25] Dekh Bhai Dekh Ramayan. Digital image 2008. Web. Aug 2013. [26] Khoon Bhari Maang. Digital image 2011. Web. Aug 2013.

Crisis and subsequent rise in commodity prices leading to popular unrest that was squashed under the iron heel of the 1975-1977 Emergency) and the desire they harboured for retributive rebellion found vicarious release in the “tall, angular” form, “trademark deep voice” and self-assured vigilantism of Bachhan’s ‘Mard’ persona. (Jain 329, Virdi 107-108) Most interestingly, Jain draws on her experience as a teenager in these years to affirm how it was everyone, not just the “street boys” who found pleasure in imitating & adopting elements of “the angry young man’s” style. (Jain 332) The popularity of this super-masculine archetype continued well into the late 80s - with films such as Kala Patthar(1979), Coolie (1983) and Mard(1985) - leaving a lasting imprint on the minds of young Indians of all classes. Meanwhile through the 70s, films that foregrounded women did not do well; and those that did, like Aradhana (1969), Khilona (1970), Amar Prem (1972), Aaina (1974) and Noorie (1979) provided ready examples of what happens to “fallen women”. However, the Shammi Kapoor produced Manoranjan (1974) starring Zeenat Aman as a prostitute - who far from being a victim, is shown to be an active sexual agent who is never shamed for her promiscuity - failed at the box office. Similarly, “Parveen Babi ... plays a character of similar mettle in Yash Chopra’s Deewar. But when she falls in love with the protagonist (Amitabh Bachchan) and finds herself pregnant, he decides to make an honest woman of her by getting married... [But in the traditional masculinity of the patriarchal order,] their love is doomed ... she is killed in full wedding finery ... [thus] granting her an ‘honourable’ death.” (Deosthalee) The rule-breaking modernizing angry young man remained very much a traditionalist when it comes to his women.

1979 :

1978 :

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1980 : Zeenat Aman brings the angry woman into the mainstream.

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

THE HIDDEN CASTE SYSTEM “Under patriarchy, masculinity is to femininity what upper castes are to lower castes in a caste system. One rules, the other is ruled, one is superior, the other is inferior.” (Bhasin 8)

Although the feminist movement in the United States was protesting sexual harassment in 1975, the clouds of outrage took a little while longer to gather over the Indian subcontinent. In 1978, a Muslim woman Rameeza Bee was abducted by police officers and raped and beaten at Nallakunta police station in Andhra Pradesh. In court, the police department fabricated proof that Rameeza was a prostitute and therefore deserving of the treatment meted out to her. In 1972, in Nagpur district, a Dalit girl, was retained alone at night for questioning - in blatant violation of Section 160(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code - and raped by constables Tukaram and Ganpat. Although the Bombay High Court found the constables guilty, the Supreme Court in 1979 reversed the decision based on the policemen’s claims that intercourse had been consensual. In UP June 1980, “Maya Tyagi was assaulted by the police, ... stripped of her clothes and dragged though public streets to the police station where she was subjected to indignities and sexual assault”. Although the accused were charged for the murder of her husband and “for using criminal force against Maya Tyagi to outrage her modesty”, the rape charge was dismissed. ("Not For Lack of Powers" 225) In 1979, Four Professors of law (two of them female) from Delhi University wrote an indignant open letter of protest to the Chief Justice of India. Women from Delhi to Bombay to Bangalore organized rallies and marched through the streets, demanding reform in rape laws. The nation had to sit up and take notice. Litlle wonder the that the rape revenge drama, Insaaf Ka Tarazu (1980) turned out to be a box office hit. “Throughout the 1980s ... the “angry woman” [replaces] the “angry

1986 : Sridevi shoots to superstardom with Nagina, leading to a 1989 sequel, Nigahen and the 1988 Sherni. 24

1987 : “Ramayan fever” for the next 18 months, every Sunday morning, public life would come to a halt nationwide.

1988 : Rekha heroically avenges her husband’s death, bringing a new urgency to the angry woman.

man” of the 1970s”. (Virdi 164) In Insaaf, Bharati (played by Zeenat Aman) is a former Miss India and career model who is raped by the wealthy Ramesh (Raj Babbar). Bharati’s lawyer tells her : “It is very hard to establish rape. That is why so many rapists go unpunished. And whether or not the rapist is punished, one thing is certain, the woman definitely gets a bad name ... You may not know this, but for a woman, a court case involving rape is not very different from rape.” (Virdi 162) The accused’s lawyer uses photographs of her modeling as indicators of her suspect character and has the case thrown out of court. Defeated and depressed, she leaves town. However when Ramesh rapes her sister, Bharati shoots and kills him. When she testifies in the final trial, she however falls into the trap of erasing the abuse of power on the man’s part by comparing raped women to desecrated temples. (Virdi 163) The woman as victim is foregrounded. It is not heartening to read the text of the Lok Sabha debates (forced by the agitating women on the streets) in 1983 concerning amendment of the rape laws. It “suggests a central concern with discourses of shame, stigma, death, and defilement as the defining features of the rape experiences of the victim... One MP stated : “A rape victim is practically given the same status as a prostitute. She bears a stigma in the eyes of the society. She has to hide herself” ... This discourse marks the loss of status of the raped woman by giving her another stigmatised status, that of the prostitute... She has no chastity to guard and hence cannot be gifted in marriage ... Section 228 of the IEA which makes legally relevant the character of the woman was not amended in 1983... [Another MP stated :] “I do not understand why you have gone into detail. The issue of husband wife rape is

1988 : Dimple Kapadia rouses a group of women whose relatives had been raped to castrate the rapists in Zakhmi Aurat. 27 CHAPTER 2 : GRAPPLING WITH GENDER

1988 : A busy year for Dimple Kapadia’s avenging avatar.

1989 : The Censor Board bans Pati Parmeshwar in which the “heroine carries her brutal but sick husband to a prostitute’s house, saying it is her duty to do so” ... “for showing women as servile to men“ ! (Shedde)

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [27] Zakhmi Aurat. Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [28] Flickr. MERA SHIKAAR. Digital image 2009. Web. Sep 2013. [29] Ram in an angry mood. Laminated chromolithograph. n.d. n.p. Pinney, Christopher. "The nation (un) pictured? Chromolithography and'popular'politics in India, 1878-1995." Critical inquiry 23.4 (1997): 837, FIG 1. PDF [30] Outlook India. The original yatra Advani, circa 1990. Digital image 2011. Web. Sep 2013.

entirely new, how can we bring this provision as rape looking at our culture (sanskriti)”... the rapist as a social category [was] not transparent either. The model of rehabilitation [strove] to ‘cure’ men overwhelmed by their sexual instincts through meditation and other forms of therapy.” (Baxi 1196-1200) Even in the case of the immolation of Roop Kanwar – in the relatively developed village of Deorala, and conducted without the knowledge of her politically connected family – the patriarchal order revealed how deeply entrenched it was through the response of men and the State. The urban men formed a Sati Dharma Raksha Samiti and along with the Trust that had been set up in Deorala to collect donations, they declared that the ritual cremation of the deceased’s veil after the sati, would be celebrated as a Chunri Mahotsav – a veil mega festival – for the first time. Although the High Court instructed the State Government to prevent the festival (as per the feminists’ petition), the police did as little as they could. And thus with perhaps full knowledge of the implication of their actions the men “transformed [the act of mourning] into a show of strength, a victory celebration ... [where] sword wielding youth ... surrounded the sati-sthal”. They were reinstating ‘tradition’ by force. Modernity be damned when it comes to our women, they seemed to say. (Kumar 174 - 177) The furore from the previously mentioned Shah Bano alimony case had barely died down when the BJP raised claims that the 15th century Babri Masjid in Ayodhya had been built on the Hindu God Ram’s birthplace. To rally support for the cause, the Hindu Right commissioned the production of “the angry Rama image ... in the late 1980s”. (Pinney 836) Prior to this muscular depictions of the Gods were uncommon.

198? : In the late 80s, Bombay artist Ved Prakash is commissioned to produce an Angry Ram image. (Pinney 1997 : 836 – 837) 29

1990 : BJP President L.K. Advani undertakes a rath yatra in a minibus modified to look like a chariot. He poses for photographs with a bow in a pose copied from the Angry Ram image. The yatra begins from Somnath, tying in K.M. Munshi’s re-written history of the mandir with the Babri Masjid.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [31] Khalnayak. Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [32] hum-aapke-hain-koun-1994-poster. Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [33] India Store. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge - 2 DVD Set. Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [34] Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [35] Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya. Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013.

Here we turn to Amar Chitra Katha and Ram Waeerkar, it’s most prolific artist. In his interview with Kajri Jain he reveals that the publishers insisted that he develop a more rounded style akin to Ravi Varma’s Indian figures, since “the gods were not supposed to have muscles” Jain investigates this phenomenon further through a quote from NTR (a Telugu film actor from 1950s to the 1990s who played many mythological roles) : “I realized that keeping a muscular body won’t be nice, particularly for a character like Krishna”. (Jain 308 - 309) She uncovers that divine strength (shakti) traditionally is different from bestial earthly strength (bal) and it was only through the force of devotion (bhakti) that shakti became accessible to earthly beings. (Jain 313) Musculature was thus required only for earthly or semi-earthly beings. But this was before the Hindu Right decided it needed a strong symbol for the Hindus of India to rally around. Additionally, Deshpande (3224) tells us that : “The dramatic expansion of television broadcasting in the 1980s (with the 1982 Asian Games held in Delhi as the springboard) created for the first time in Indian history, a national network organized around a medium vastly more powerful than either print or radio”...”it was hardly a conspiracy ... [however the new] religious tele-serials of the 1980s prepared the ground for the hindutva movement, as it’s leaders have themselves acknowledged.” In the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition culminating in an eerie murderous chill following the Bombay riots of 92-93, we observe a twisted, obscene masculinity on display in Father, Son and Holy War ("Father, son and holy war"). In one sequence, Patwardhan cycles through a series of disturbing icons of masculinity to arrive at a body-building competition where according to Bharucha (1995), the “shared narrative of sexual repression that gets sublimated through the virtues of preserving semen” is being propagated. “The

1992-93 : The Babri Masjid mosque is demolished following the support raised by the Ramjanmbhoomi incident. Riots erupt across the subcontinent leaving thousands dead.

1993 : The Choli Ke Peechhe Kya Hai controversy.

1994 : Hum Aapke Hain Koun brings a welcome release from political events. and controversy.

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S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

illusions of Brahmacharya are unconsciously perpetrated ... where ironically the models of masculinity are not ‘native’ or ‘traditional’, but embodied in internationally recognized hulks like Arnold Schwarzenegger.” (Gandhian discipline and virtue is confused and diluted with consumerist symbols & fabricated myth in the late 1980s and early 1990s)

amar chitra katha & comics as masculinist pedagogy

HEROES According to a used book salesman in Ahmedabad in 2013, comics are voraciously consumed by urban males upto 40 years of age (Raj and Diamond Comics). His favourite characters were Raj Comics’ Nagaraj and Commando Dhruv (corresponding to the two main genres of popular Indian cinema that see conflict - the war film and the Hollywood import superhero film).

1995 :

Rewind a little bit and we arrive at a time - the late 1970s and early 1980s - when the previously mentioned Amar Chitra Katha recorded a strengthening of sales figures and began to be circulated widely among the youngsters of middle class India. It made easily available to them reframed ideologies of valour of ‘exemplary patriots’ that fit a ... Brahmanised, yet modern masculinity. (in the vein of Bankim Chandra) (Sreenivas 4) It’s femininity seems to borrow heavily from Ravi Varma’s vision. Somewhat misleadingly, this one-sided perspective was presented as a factual representation of history and culture. This is understandable considering the concerns which drove Anant Pai to become involved with the series : In 1967, in Delhi, Anant Pai watched in consternation as participants in a quiz show in Delhi were unable to answer the question, “Who is the mother of Ram?” (Pritchett 1). Beginning in 1969, the first ten titles launched in English were : “Krishna” (1969), “Shakuntala” (1970), “The Pandava Princes” (1970), “Savitri” (1970), “Rama” (1970), “Nala Damayanti” (1971), “Harishchandra” (1971), “The Sons of Rama” (1971), “Hanuman” (1971), and “The Mahabharata” (1971).”

1998 : The smoothchested, ‘6 pack’ hunk craze begins after the song O O Jaane Jaana.

1998 :

(Pritchett 1998 : 5)

HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN The economic reforms of the early 90s provided the middle class with a new spending power. Filmmakers began catering to this growing new segment of the audience that - although less in number than the working class males that used to fill cinema halls was willing to pay more per seat. Hum Aapke Hai Koun single handedly set the new bar for box office earnings at 100 crore+, where earlier a hit film would only gross up to 20 crores. Cinema halls were asked to upgrade to accomodate middle class families before being allowed to show the film. The family entertainer was here to stay, showcasing an interesting blend of consumerist and traditional values.

2001 : This decade saw embodied male power being eroticized.

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Sreenivas (115-117) says that “we are left in no doubt about the power of [the heroic] lean, [male] muscular body, galvanized through celibacy and harsh rituals”. “It emerges that what truly ails the nation is ... the loss of tradition, and the loss of respect for authority”. Viewed through a critical lens, Sreenivas’s strong claims begin to sound probable. To illustrate, let’s take a look at some of the ACK’s publication history. In 1986, the “Indian Revolutionaries” collection was advertised, consisting of : Bagha Jatin, Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Rash Behari Bose, Veer Savarkar. Also advertised in 1986, “The Makers of Modern India” according to ACK consisted of : Babasaheb Ambedkar, C.R. Das, Dayananda, Jayaprakash Narayan, Lokamanya Tilak, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rabindranath Tagore and Senapati Bapat. By the time the 2004 edition was published, Jawaharlal Nehru (1991) and Mahatma Gandhi(1989) become #1 & #2 in “The Makers of Modern India” series. Vivekananda (1977), Subramania Bharati (1982), Rani of Jhansi (1974) and Bhagat Singh (1981) were added (the brackets indicate the date of first publication). There seems to have been a conscious decision to merge “The Makers of Modern India” and “Indian Revolutionaries” series. It is possible to speculate that this may have been done because of the negative connotation that a reading of Mahatma Gandhi would associate with Revolutionary action. It is evident that the contributions of Nehru (antiCongress sentiment had been strong following the emergency) and Gandhi could no longer be diluted. What is striking is that the date of first publications of issues dealing with Jawaharlal

2007 : The adequate male body went from the hunk...

2008 : ... to the hulk.

S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi were as late as 1991 and 1989 respectively. Even the industrialist G.D. Birla had an issue dedicated to him in 1987, two years before the ACK Gandhi was released! Pritchett says that “Pai and his staff [created] each issue in a field of tensions: sales versus educational values; scholarly accuracy versus the need to appease particular interest groups; a commitment to Indian history versus a commitment to national integration.” (1998 : 4) From our survey of the non-mythical editions of ACK it is evident that there is a subtle political agenda at work in the selection and grouping of titles.

THE HUNK Salman Khan after his smooth-chested shirtless display in ‘O O Jaane Jaana’ fuels a 6-pack craze that changes the ideal body of the Bollywood hero forever. In the 2000s, even established superstars like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are forced to get ‘abs’ to do well at the Box Office.

Additionally , there were until 1998 “no women on the “Makers of Modern India” list--no Sarojini Naidu (surely the obvious first choice), no Kasturba Gandhi, no Kamala Nehru, no Durgabai Deshmukh, no Anasuyabehn Sarabhai, no Vijayalakshmi Pandit. Moreover, even outside the “Makers of Modern India” category, there are no educated, urban, twentieth-century women in the Amar Chitra Katha series at all--no women who have lived in the kind of world for which Pai is preparing his young readers. In fact “Scientists and Doctors” seems to be the only post-Independence category of honored activity.” (Pritchett 12) This series too was filled with men until the publication of Kalpana Chawla in 2005. Thus, the cultural ethic of Amar Chitra Katha selectively represents the value systems of the most conservative (but slowly modernizing) segments of middle class Hindu India over the history of it’s publication. Every story is located in an “ideal” past and communal tensions have been ignored. Bose writes that : “even subversive folk movements like Bhakti are represented as symbols of liberal reformative Hinduism ... The illustrations are used to draw a recognizable visual link between

2009 : Salman Khan starts a new trend yet again. The return of the indomitable rascally South Indian style hero. 39

2010 : After the runaway success of Dabangg the path to the box office in the 2000s becomes clear.

2011 : Ajay Devgan follows Salman’s lead with Singham.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [36] Lagaan (2001). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [37] Om Shanti Om (2007). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [38] Ghajini (2008). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [39] Wanted (2009). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [40] Dabangg (2010). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [41] Singham (2011). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [42] Rowdy Rathore says Happy Holi!. Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013. [43] Dabangg 2 (2013). Digital image n.d. Web. Aug 2013.

upper caste Brahmins, gods, and finally, Ram.” She writes that Nandini Chandra in The Classic Popular has traced the ACK editorial committee’s links with the Hindu Nationalist Rashtriya Syamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party (offspring of the BJS, which itself was founded by Hindu Mahasabha members when the Mahasabha and the RSS came under pressure over the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi). Their admiration was won through the promotion of a common ideal of Indian-ness and tradition. (Bose 33-34)

the rise of the middle class & a consumerist masculinity In the 1990’s with economic liberalization, “the primary audience for comics [was] no longer middle class, English-speaking children. Rather, they [were constituted by] Hindi-speaking older children and young adults from a working class background. The new comics [were] cheaper, less concerned with education and more with entertainment. These comics borrow heavily from the urban film culture that Hindi movie-going audiences are familiar with...” (Rao 41) At the same time, a curious reversal occurred with Hindi film theatre audiences - the largely male, working class audience began to include a mix of the middle class Indian family. This was because, the movies of the 90s, “celebrated a consumerist, transnational society, where love, romance, fashion and fun were the goals of the young wealthy Indians who, even if resident outside India, demonstrated to their

2013 : “Salman Khan represents a super heroic unreconstructed Indian male – the romantic and monogamous, duty-bound and dutiful, fearless and brave, old-fashioned yet forward-looking man” : Nandini Ramnath (film journalist at Mint).

2012 : Akshay Kumar’s Rowdy Rathore is not far behind.

2013 : Chulbul Pandey is back with a superhit.

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S. Iqbal | ‘14 | NMD | Diploma Project

A QUESTION FOR CHULBUL PANDEY The background : On July 18,1988, Rupan Deol Bajaj (a senior IAS officer) accused the DG of Punjab Police, K.P.S. Gill (hero of the war on terror in the Punjab) of sexually harassing her at an official dinner party. This sparked a fierce national debate between the ‘feminists’ on one side and ‘patriots’ on the other. The question : “How does one separate Gill the police officer, saviour of Punjab, supercop, national hero, crusher of terrorism, the image of virility and power from the man who uses that virility and power to grab the nearest available part of a woman’s anatomy. {Should she] melt into his arms, thrilled that a hero has actually laid his hand upon her”? Kannabiran and Kannabiran (2224)

parents true Indian, family values” (Dwyer 179) Following the release of Hum Aapke Hai Koun in 1994, box office earnings reflect the addition of this new demographic to cinema hall audiences. Hum Aapke Hai Koun became the highest grossing Bollywood film in the 20th century earning more than the highest earners of 1990-94 - Aankhen (1993), Beta (1992), Khalnayak (1993), Dil (1990), Mohra (1994) – combined! In the early 90s, a new trend called the ‘item number’ - a raunchy song and dance scene featuring sexually suggestive dance steps, lyrics with double meanings - entrenched itself as a necessity in popular film regardless of it’s relation to the story. Prior to it’s release in 1993, the makers of the film Khalnayak released the song ‘Choli ke peeche kya hai?’ (What is behind the blouse?) to an intense media and public debate on the vulgarity of the lyrics. One concerned citizen even filed a case against the audio cassette distributor, the film certification board, the producers and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The gist of the argument from the concerned parties was that the song was being sung by ‘anti-social elements’ to harass single women in public and that it was against Indian culture and harmful to impressionable children. However, those who felt it was all much ado about nothing argued that these lyrics belong to a folk song that had traditionally been sung by women in festivals. (Mehta) In an article published in India Today, Arun Katiyar argues that this inconsistency is explained by the decontextualization of the song. “This is simply because folk traditions, especially in Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, have spawned wicked lyrics. Only, when women sing what is commonly called ladies sangeet [, a prewedding celebration] in Punjab, it is done more in fun [as gentle

ribbing,] than as a come-on.” Pauwels (3) writes about the theme of the woman waylaid at the well or the panaghata lila, featuring “an encounter with a male, who harasses the water-fetcher” circulating “ par excellence in the domain of women’s songs. These songs are restricted along gender lines: though they may be overheard by males, still, the performers are mainly women, and so is the assumed audience... When it appears in film, the context is secular and the audience overwhelmingly male. ” Katiyar goes on to quote music director Kalyanji : “Now every producer believes that without a toofani song, folk or otherwise, his film will not sell.” He quotes lyricist Indivar as saying, “But what’s wrong? ... I hear kids nowadays talk like this...”” (Katiyar) The song launched the career of Ila Arun, and it was around this time that strong, husky voiced female playback singers like Shubha Mudgal began to find themselves welcomed into the playback singing industry. Mudgal significantly, lent her voice to the strong women characters portrayed in Breakthrough TV’s early 1990 music video campaigns against domestic violence (Mann Ke Manjeere and Babul). Lata Mangeshkar had all but disappeared, however, hegemony was and is maintained by voices that evoke the “heterosexual male fantasy of a Hindu adolescent girl, both controllable and ever-ready to please”. (Srivastava 2024) Pauwels is surprised that the only film in which the eve-teaser is punished in a way that discourages such activity was released in 1957! In Mother India, Radha warns her son Birju after she has received complaints from the girls of the village – “I will not forgive you as long as I live if you stain the honor of any girl of our village. I will kill myself and you”. And when he transgresses in spite of her warnings, she carries out her threat, shooting him. Virdi argues that such a “loss of family values” were projected by the Hindu Right as being the cause of the social turmoil in the West.

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“Respect for authority” becomes the only issue that is projected as a serious one in the popular films of the 1990s. (Virdi 192 & boxofficeindia.com/) This repeated challenge of the father’s authority (always shown as unreasonably conservative) by the always bourgeois cinematic couples of the 90s romance represented the internal conflict of the rapidly expanding middle class. Successful challenges of this authority provided gentle affirming nudges toward the new culture of consumption. The popular cinematic woman of the 90s chooses & pursues her own man but in the end the couple’s union is dependant on the father’s authority. This inherent challenge to patriarchy is always nullified by ensuring that the couple manages to respect ‘tradition’ and its accompanying notions of chastity. Additionally, the patriarch always ends up seeing the error of his ‘dated’ ways and welcoming the couple into the family. “The NRI [becomes] Hindi cinema’s new aristocrat”, and the rich characters no longer only use their wealth for evil. Heros begin to show unnatural attachments to material objects such as cars, bikes etc, and in many cases, their entire claim to masculinity is embodied by the bike/car they can afford to ride, the clothes they wear etc. All major issues other than economic strife and success are forgotten. (Virdi 199 – 204) M.K. Raghavendra says that : “With there being no possibility of social conflict between classes in film narrative, conflict was pushed to the boundaries of the Nation. This registered as ‘patriotism’ in films like Border (1998) and Lagaan (2001).” The major successes of this decade were Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Raja Hindustani (1996), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Border (1997), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Pardes (1997). Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is still running in the Maratha Theater in Mumbai.

The smooth chested (read waxed), ripped Salman Khan in the hit song O O Jaane Jaana from the film Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (1998), sparked off an ‘ab’ or 6-pack craze that changed the way popular audiences looked at their film heroes. With the introduction of an equally smooth and ripped Hrithik Roshan in Kaho Naa Pyar Hai (2000), the 2000s saw the rise of the bare-chested ‘hunk’. In a quest to retain his hegemony, this decade saw even Shah Rukh, the King of Bollywood and romance in the 90s beef up and display his new waxed, toned body in Om Shanti Om (2007). The change in attitude as to what was required of a popular Bollywood hero is perfectly reflected in Aamir Khan’s transition from his earthy musculature and shirtlessness in Lagaan (2001) to his immense sculpted bulk in Ghajini (2008). Any new male entrant to acting in popular cinema had to have his body sculpted regardless of his acting chops to get his foot in the door. Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya (2007), John Abraham in Jism (2003), Shahid Kapoor in Ishq Vishk (2003 – he had only done minor roles until then) are prominent examples. To the urbanite male in this decade, a gym membership became a part of necessary expenses. The general attitude among young men on the street was that ‘body banane se girlfriend milti hai’ (if you build your body, you will get a girlfriend). “In the earlier phase [of the 2000s,] globalization was viewed ... as something attractive but also threatening because of what it might do to [traditional gender boundaries]. One way in which this was manifested was in the noir thrillers involving adulterous women as in Jism (2002) and Murder (2004).” M.K. Raghavendra (cite) With Wanted (2009), and Dabangg (2010), Salman Khan once again seems to have not only re-established his popularity as the original ‘hunk’ but also started another trend in Hindi film masculinity – the rise of the rascally South Indian style hero – capable of fighting off 20 goons single-handedly and pelvic thrusting his way into next Tuesday to a furious beat. This brand of film also makes a place in popular cinema of the 21st century for the obligatory ‘item number’ and valourizes the appropriation of panaghata lila by ‘heroes’. Through a masculinist lens, over the

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past two decades (1990-2010), Salman Khan has been arguably the most important force in popular Indian cinema.

armed resistances & masculinity And last, but not the least, what of the poorest of the poor who far outnumber the middle class and possibly even the working class? In the late 1960s, communist revolutionaries from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPM - attempted to take power by organizing peasant guerrilla forces. These forces consisted of “landless scheduled castes and tribes who worked for a pittance in the lands of the upper-caste landowners.“ (Rammohan) The retaliatory attack on the uprising was led by the CPM itself. This led to a split in the party with the first revolutionary (non-parliamentary) arm calling itself the CPI (Marxist-Leninist). The uprising which continues today, is spread out over a bumpy, forested belt of land that runs from Bihar in the north-east to Andhra Pradesh in the south, through Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa along a strip called the Red Corridor. Nirmalangshu Mukherji (13-38) cautions against equating the Naxal movement with the Maoist movement active today - what had started out as a peasant uprising has morphed, through a repeated splintering and reconsolidation of leadership, into the “playing out of vicarious revolutionary fantasies [of some intelligentsia] through the lives of adivasis” (translated as ‘ancient inhabitants’) (see Mukherji 2013 for details) The adivasis are caught in the cross-fire between realpolitik of the political Right and the machinations of the Left in India to stay politically relevant. “Although GDP growth ... increased to about 6.7 percent ... during the 1990s, employment growth rate has actually fallen from 2 percent in the mid-eighties to 0.98 percent in 2000... While per capita income, boosted by rising GDP, showed substantial growth by Indian standards, massive poverty in rural India culminated in largescale suicide of farmers across the country (Sainath, 2009) ... except

for occasional harassment by police and forest officials, adivasis were completely ignored by the state before Maoists moved in ... the Maoists brought some measure of relief and dignity to [the] people â&#x20AC;? Mukherji (2013 : 30) The adivasis who have been treated as second class citizens, are simply fighting for their Constitutional rights. Namely those granted them by the Fifth Schedule and the Ninth Schedule. The Ninth Schedule had directed the government to acquire land which the wealthy upper castes held beyond a fixed ceiling, and redistribute it among the landless peasantry. This was seen as a state matter and left to the discretion of the state governments. However land redistribution has only been carried out to a satisfactory extent in Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir. Repeated frustration of attempts to enact this schedule in West Bengal led to the first Naxalbari Uprising in 1967. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Fifth Schedule states briefly that all scheduled areas of the country which are forest reserves and inhabited by scheduled tribes are to be administered by the governors of the states by appointing tribal advisory councils from among the tribals ... Regrettably, no governor of any state in India has ever constituted [such a] tribal advisory council...â&#x20AC;? Backed by backed by the iron fist of state law enforcement, members of state & local administrations have profited handsomely from leasing this reserved forest land to private mining companies. (Rammohan) Between July 18 and August 19, 2013, landmark referendums were held in 12 tiny hamlets in the Niyamgiri hills. These villages, inhabited by the Dongria Kondh and Kutia Kondh tribes, lie directly on a sizeable Bauxite reserve that the state Government had apparently promised to Vedanta Resources Plc (in a joint venture with Orissa Mining Corporation Ltd. - OMC) .

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“The genesis of the landmark referendums lies in a directive of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in August 2010 rejecting forest clearance to the bauxite mining project. OMC later challenged the ministry’s denial in the Supreme Court. In April, the Supreme Court ordered the state government to organise gram sabhas under the Forest Rights Act of 2006 to determine the views of forest dwellers on whether mining should be allowed or not. “ (Arunima Mishra 2013, BUSINESS TODAY) Every single adivasi voted against mining of the land. However, Vedanta Resources has made it clear that it expects the decision to be reversed in the near future. It remains to be seen whether this small victory born out of non-violent struggle will be snatched away from these people.

WHO WILL WASH THE DISHES ? “There are those who genuinely believe that without a rigid separation of gender roles, societies will fall into disorder and anarchy. This what used to be said against the abolition of slavery and untouchability.” (Bhasin 25)

At it’s heart, this is the poorest of the poor, the destitute, standing up for their rights as equal citizens. Men using might to reclaim their rights. In such a conflict, the women involved become masculinized as well. They take up arms, sneak into high security areas in disguise to carry out surprise attacks etc. However, since they operate within the masculine traditions we observe in India, the prevailing conceptualization of women as cultural symbols of honour often leads to their violent subjugation at the hands of men on the other side. The state’s view of the situation is clear from the Jharkhand state Government’s announcement in 2006 “that women cadres would be rehabilitated through the Kanyadan scheme (a grant for their marriage)”. Husband them, domesticate them, control them. (Chenoy 202) On the other hand, Nirmalangshu Mukherji (28) provides us with a list of organized revolutionary actions under the Maoist movement : “hijacking, derailment and burning of trains; blowing up railway stations, school buildings, and police stations; killing and occasional beheading of suspected informers; attacks on police armouries to

loot hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition as in Nayagarh; looting of banks and treasuries; mass killing of security personnel in their camps..; ambush and killing of security personnel..; recruiting children as young as twelve years old for indoctrination and guerrilla training; amassing thousands of guerrillas ... armed to the teeth with AK series rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades and other explosives; recruiting several thousand village level militias who wield anything from bows and arrows to guns: colluding with varieties of mafia and private contractors to raise funds for arms; and killing of political opponents...â&#x20AC;? The adivasis find themselves trapped between the modernizing business masculinity of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policies on the one hand and the aggressively masculine vigilantism of the Maoists on the other. Politically, there is a difference in the nature of each conflict with the state - whether it is the Maoist one or that of the Kashmiri freedom fighters in Jammu & Kashmir, or of the liberation armies of the North East that are fighting against the draconian atrocities perpetrated by State forces under the AFSPA. However, for the purposes of this study, it is sufficient to group them under umbrella of masculine expression - that of Militant Vigilantism.

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LOOKING INWARD : THE PSYCHE understood the public factors that During infancy influence and shape masculinities within the patriarchal order, this study will benefit from a look within the psyche (0-5) the Indian of the average individual. The following interview with Dr. Maitreya Parikh (Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, referred to as boy is treated Dr. P below) at his clinic was conducted in Ahmedabad on Sunday, 18th August 2013 following a full reading of Sudhir Kakar’s book, like a prince The Inner World: A Psycho-analytic Study of Childhood and Society and grows up in India. believing he is Q. Can you comment on Sudhir Kakar’s claim that it “is [traditionally] that women not only renounce their erotic impulses and primary generally lov- insisted loyalties to their parents ... but also sever their attachments ... to all the other boys and men they have known during their early lives” once they are marable, for his ried? every act has Dr. P : I speak from my clinical experience which includes a wide range of people across classes but restricted to the urban setup. been loved More than 2000 years ago we used to have a tradition called the Swayamvar (which existed for long), where the woman would, in thus far. This effect, choose her husband to be. Later, with the impurities that the Indian psyche in the medieval years, only the male drive creates the po- entered was legitimately recognized. Expressions of female eroticism were suppressed. However, the 90s generation has come out of these tential for a “unconscious inhibitions”. In the urban population the female child strong narcis- is also representing herself with more autonomy. Q. How verifiable is Sudhir Kakar’s claim that “in India ... the psychosocial sistic vulnerquality of infancy extends through the first four or five years of life”? ability. Dr. P : From clinical evidence this is seen to be more or less true. This deeply af- Q. How about Sudhir Kakar’s claim that “ the latent sexual dread of the mature female is also the main psychological reason for the unusual fects young disparity in age between men and women at the time of marriage in India” ? Indian males in their relationships with people. They are intensely disappointed if affection / friendly overtures are not reciprocated. ow that we have

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P : Men prefer their wives to be less mature and more Following this Dr. submissive. See many men come to me with problems like erectile and premature ejaculation. Clinically we club these period, there is dysfunction problems under the term ‘performance anxiety’. What we see is that performance anxiety is less where the male perceives the female to the first narbe sexually immature & submissive. Most of these patients in such prefer not to bring their spouse. They tell me “they do not cissistic injury cases want their sexuality to be insulted in front of that girl”. If I ask them, they were able to satisfy the spouse, the answer I get is, when the child whether “Where is the need?” is separated Q. This is a question about two related claims : first, that “the ambiguous of the father in Indian childhood is yet another factor that contributes from the moth- role to the narcissistic vulnerability of Indian men. For the narcissistic injury in the abrupt dissolution of the mother-son bond can be tempered er. At this time, inherent through the reinforcement provided by the boy’s identification with his father... The principles of Indian family life demand that a father be the female restrained in the presence of his own son and divide his interest and support among his own and his brothers’ sons ... [secondly that,] Carrying child begins her equally the weight of a strong pre-oedipal feminine identification and lacking a vivid, partisan father with whom to identify... [it generates] a passivetraining with receptive attitude towards authority figures of all kinds” house chores Dr. P : Clinically what we see is that the child is looking for some role model to restore narcissism. It is very easy at this time for wrong (she is after role models such as movie heroes or anti-social elements to get in the child’s mind. Parents typically come to me with all only a tem- established problems such as, “the child is not studying properly”. In the joint family system, because there are several role models with whom to porary guest establish identification, there is no need to look outside the family for role models. You do come across some adults, where you say, in the house). “how come this person at this age is unable to make individual and decisions?” It happens to an extent. However it gives Now that the choices rise to pathology in a very few cases only. boy is looking Q. From her research, Leena Abraham claims that “accounts of any resistance on the part of girls/women towards such acts (touching and for affection toward an absent/restrained father (in the joint family system, the men were supposed to divide their attention equally amongst all the children) he learns the value of non-partisan ‘feminine’ submission to all elder men.

girls in crowded places) were completely absent in the boys’ The pubescent pushing narratives, although some of them found themselves in embarrassing further, boys did not consider their behaviour ‘offensive’ or boy then seeks situations... ‘indecent’ in any way, rather they described it as ‘normal male behaviour’ and a part of growing up.” How do you explain this? out characDr. P : Essentially that is pathological. Any form of sexual coercion, ters who are starting from making comments to intercourse needs to be paid to. I would like to explain such pathological behaviours as knowledgeable attention follows : and willing to 1. A pseudo omnipotence has been created to offset the narcissistic injury. They have identified with someone to revive this confidence. share infor2. The culturally sanctioned belief that the female is an object of An unconscious notion that this is not a person, for me mation about gratification. it’s just a toy. 3. Thirdly, among male peers, such behaviour – eve teasing – is sex and the applauded. Indirectly that is a support to my masculinity. One way cycle continues is through movies like Ranjhana that valourize opposite gen- this such behaviour. Cinema essentially reflects the present psyche. It also manifests an der. This tenunconscious wish in the audience to become a hero like this guy. dency to find This behaviour while in a group is seen even if the men are married. a guru who is Q. Then what about Indian vs. Western, what is ‘traditional’? Dr. P : If you speak about the male ego in our culture, there is a ‘perfect’, and concept of maleness that one is not supposed to do certain tasks activities that are effeminate. It is a strong narcissistic injury to through close- and elements of one's psyche that have been constituted in childhood if washes plates for instance. Take the case of my cook. He says ness to whom one that when he is home, his wife is supposed to cook for him. When I the subject can ask him why can't you cook for her, he is offended. Q. Can you speak a little on how much Religion affects masculinity? feel similarly Dr. P : Except for certain castes and specific subcultures where there perfect becomes a very important need for some through every stage of life.

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is a bit of female dominance, religion dictates that the women are When the subservient. Impurities – in the name of religion, traditions have specified that the male is a superior gender, and the woman is to mother first worship that masculinity. refuses to feed Q. How do you speak with men about their masculinity? Can you give me some pointers? him, signalP : Males suffering from strong narcissistic injury and offended ling his second Dr. masculinity approach me (for eg. loss of erection), so I’m not in a situation where I have to begin the conversation. In birth, the boy usually general though, men are always talking about their masculinity. They are talking about culturally sanctioned myths of masculinity. recognizes in The question becomes how can they extricate themselves from such myths and think of the self beyond gender discrimination? her “the bad mother”. He experiences her as a female with superior capacity to act by virtue of her age. This along with myths of the sexually demanding woman create a firm preference among Indian men for marrying immature girls. Some however prefer to try ‘affairs’ with older women who they feel are more experienced and likely to be sexually active.

the way forward hen critical theory is articulated in the sense of a theory that provides a critique of social systems (different from Critical Theory in Literature) this definition can be traced, to something Karl Marx wrote in a letter in 1843. Marx defined it as “the self-clarification of the struggles and wishes of the age” (Marx as cited by Fraser 1985).

In formalizing this expression of Critical Theory in the twentieth century – thus having to explain why Marx's social revolution had not come to pass and capitalism continued to thrive – the Frankfurt School theorists simply elaborated on the failsafe that the clever Marx had built into his argument. Marx had defined commodity fetishism as “the way in which the labor process is mystified, appearing not to be a purposeful construction of willful human beings” or the way that the development & proliferation of capitalism appears to be an inevitable and unchallengable fact. Using this concept of commodity fetishism as a starting point, members of the Frankfurt School said that people in the capitalist system eventually experience something called domination which escalates to surplus repression and this keeps them from being able to imagine new social facts - for e.g., the end of patriarchy, the end of poverty and so on - and their lethargy renders them impotent to challenge the status quo. Domination was defined as, “... a combination of external exploitation (e.g. the extraction of workers' surplus value...) ... and internal self-disciplining that allows [this] external exploitation to go unchecked.” (Agger 108) i.e. The public's imagination becomes clouded with complacency and they can no longer imagine that there can be any system in which they will be freer, as domination escalates, minimizing the possibility of social revolution. Surplus repression is a way of saying that in this system “people are taught to fulfill their needs .. [by] exchanging substantive

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PATRIARCHY IS NOT JUST TRADITIONAL

The core values of the capitalist consumer economy are patriarchal as well. It’s valuation of what constitutes a successful life forces us into gender straitjackets; of objectification, of gender role demarcation.

sociopolitical and economic liberties for the “freedoms” of consumer choice”.(Agger 108) Within this system, which does not have an autonomous operator, outside of human beings, “[all humans] are equal, but some ... are more equal than others.” (Orwell 90) Or in other words, the power over women that men receive as a patriarchal dividend can be read as an expression of domination. It appears a natural fact that women must be limited to domestic production and men to wealth production. Thus, it is the duty of the Critical Theorist to challenge the accepted wisdom of an age, if, through critical reasoning and research it becomes evident to him / her that by simply accepting things as they are, the community is compromising on important freedoms. Using this reading of Critical Theory as the start this project is developing a Critique of Masculinity in the current Indian context. Indeed the model of a Transnational Business Masculinity (as described by RW Connell (Bhasin 44) and elaborated below) seems to have surplus repression at it's foundation. After determining through a gender aware re-reading of late nineteenth and twentieth-century Indian history and confirming from psychoanalytic sources and ethnographic research that there are significant other contextual masculinities which, in expressing themselves restrict human potential and retard the prospect of true gender equality, we are in a position to seek expressions of the learnings from this research that will allow other men to increase their awareness so that they might join hands in the effort to “to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them.” (Horkheimer cited by "Critical Theory")

category one : the traditional class/casteist It is crucial to realize that when we say patriarchal traditions, because we are operating in the Indian context, there will be a

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MASCULINITY IS EVERYDAY, MUNDANE

The acts that constitute any form of masculinity are so mundane, they are easily missed by those embedded within the patriarchal order.

tendency to infer a patriarchal ordering as that which afflicts only traditional systems. An example is the case of the Rajputs who violently reinstated sati in the Shekhawati region as an iconic symbol of traditional Rajput womanliness while fighting against the modernizing forces that robbed them of their zamindari/jagirdari powers. This is an extreme case. Traditional Classist Masculinity can operate in much subtler everyday ways. As such it constitutes only one side of the story, as demonstrated by Critical Theory.

category two : the transnational businessman I mean to warn that, a subject cannot escape patriarchy simply by casting off tradition and becoming a fully participatory member of the global media village. The patriarchal order in fact is entrenched very strongly in the free market organizational model of cutthroat competition. This - according to Kamla Bhasin’s (44) use of RW Connell's terminology - presents us with a “Transnational Business Masculinity”, where to succeed, the subject must distance him/ herself completely from the “feminine” emotional and domestic/ family sphere and devote her/his entire capacity toward pursuing economic success. Of so aggressively becoming the provider that they are unable to appreciate or acknowledge the role of the nurturer. This further reinforces the need for the other person (usually a woman) in a monogamous relationship to be restricted to the domestic/family sphere. Global popular media culture, with which India has been inundated since the 1990s makes it very difficult for any individual to escape the Transnational Business Masculinity within which it has now become an “Indian” value to work excessively hard and accumulate purchasing power through success in big business. Thus it is not just the Religious Nationalists who are subtly reworking histories; corporate/ corporatised histories are also popular publications today. The myths the corporate world propagates are in a way more difficult to uproot than Nationalist myths because of the belief in the reader’s mind that they are totally unbiased. This is demonstrated by certain agents in the documentary film Coding Culture, which tackles

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THE MASCULINE PSYCHE Boys and men learn to talk only in ways and about things that reinforce their masculine identity. They are always talking about their masculinity.

the culturing of the new Indian in the MNC environment. “The Silicon Valley Culture is the most effective in bringing out the full potential of a human being” (cite) Here the successful participant in the world of corporate consumer culture is equated with a complete human being. “A good butler is one who knows his master’s need before his master knows he has the need.” ("Coding Culture") Here, the colonial master-slave rhetoric is reinstated through an economic model and aggressive competition to attain this masculinity becomes the life goal of the subject.

category three : the COMMUNAL nationalist Additionally over the course of this investigation, we have uncovered the persistence of a strong strand of Nationalist Religious Masculinity through the past century with it’s roots in colonial subjugation and reorganization. What all these three kinds of masculinity do is that they put enormous pressure on the male psyche within each, to “man up” to protect class/caste honour (a return to traditional ways of controlling the woman, the seat of honour), to be the sole provider (to never waver from the hunter ethic), to protect the honour of the Nation from demonic forces of modernization (to deeply identify with projected injustices done to your people by the Other and through the forces of modernity). The individual becomes susceptible to the power of Nationalist Religious Masculinity through the phenomenon where the Indian male is always seeking the ideal guru (because of the absence of the father / father figure following traumatic separation from the mother around age 5, and the search for a stand-in idol which begins then). However it is likely that an individual will subscribe at different instances to more than one of the above 3 versions.

category four : the militant vigilante A fourth masculinity that has been underrepresented in this work

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WE NEED TO DESCHOOL SOCIETY There is not one accepted cultural system within the civilised world that valourizes masculinity and femininity equally. We need to raise boys who can think critically through their own institutional gendering.

is that of the organized political Vigilante as seen in the Maoist movement across the Red-corridor or in areas where militant Separatist groups operate. This Masculinity has (in most cases) arisen in direct opposition to Transnational Business Masculinity (backed by the iron fist of state law enforcement) and seeks to assure equal rights (mostly regardless of caste) to those voiceless folks who are unable to become participants/have been dispossessed as a result of opportunistic globalizing business forces.

distilling intervention approaches from research And because any masculinity is able to fall within one or more of these four “heroic” masculine ideals, it becomes easier to repeat, “in jest”, objectionable actions such as sexist jokes and at the same time to absolve onself of the sin of chauvinism by virtue of belonging to a particular heroic masculine class. Thus, a drunk army officer at a ball may make sexist passes at fellow officer’s wives while never conceiving that his actions are comparable to those of the eve-teaser on the street, simply because he belongs to a “heroic” masculine class. He believes (usually unconsciously) that by upholding a certain masculine ideal (and by dealing with all the stress this puts on him - economic, emotional, violent & physical etc.), he has earned himself the right to the woman as an object of gratification, or his subordinate as an object of entertainment. Within all of these spheres of masculinity, there is no gender equality; only hegemonic gender subjugation, of women and womanly subjects. Interviews in Kerala and U.P echoed the findings from secondary research. Where one was home to a matrilineal community only in name, the other betrayed phallic power in action. (see Appendix 2 collecting stories : Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, for details) From research interviews in Ahmedabad (focus group interviews conducted through the organs of the Saath foundation), it has emerged that there is usually an archetypal “Vivek bhaiyya” who takes on the role of the father figure to a group of pubescent/ pre-pubescent young boys looking for a role model. Prior to this, subtle cues on gender roles and patriarchal heirarchy are picked by the boy through observation of the mother - father relationship at

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MEN ALSO HAVE ISSUES Because “impotence in a man is not just a shortcoming, it’s a disgrace”, there is simply no field known as men’s issues. (Bhasin 35)

home. This is also the time when the child’s sense of morality (superego) is formed. This backs up what Dr. Maitreya Parekh had spoken about: “...men are always talking about their masculinity. They are talking about culturally sanctioned myths of masculinity. The question becomes how can they extricate themselves from such myths and think of the self beyond gender discrimination?” And thus, the most crucial word when Butler says “gender is understood as the mundane way in which bodily gestures ... [etc] constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self”, is mundane. I had been looking for a series of traditional imperatives from an older generation to point out as the source of this injustice. The truth was that, certain actions that constituted a part of my “liberal” make up were as critical in propagating the patriarchal order, as outright misogyny. In fact this kind of unthinking, uncritical person is the ideal vector for language and actions that propagate the patriarchal order. When talking to subjects of their masculinity, it has proved easier to engage them critically with a one on one extended discussion that relates to their personal experiences. However it is true that this process has been easier with subjects who are already engaged in some form of critical thinking. When speaking to subjects between 18 - 35 years of age located in economically low powered urban strata, there was a constant urge inculcated within them, an urban culturing - the need to get ahead was what drove their every action. Every acceptance of modern principles such as Muslim communities allowing their daughters out in public attend occupational training was driven by this imperative. This is indicative of people with one foot in Transnational Busines Masculinity and the other in Traditional Classist Masculinity. The action approaches that suggest themselves now are :

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1. Tackle the culturing of young children at home by targeting mothers with infants. 2. Tackle the culturing of pre-teens/teens by targeting the media they consume / coming up with a substitute “Vivek bhaiyya”. 3. Since contemporary movies and popular culture valourise consumerist middle class values, engage the middle class family to think critically about gendering of their children. These will eventually become acceptable to the lower economic classes. 4. Valourise critical thinking to urban youth as a useful means of “getting ahead” and equip them to tackle gender issues at their own speed. Create something that allows them to speak of, discuss and remedy the unequal weight of expectation on their shoulders. 5. Set up a detailed course at an institute with a history of critical scholarship such as NID to encourage students to take up projects tackling masculinity and femininity. These last 3 approaches (#3,#4,#5) take a slow awakening/trickling down of awareness approach. 6. Contact women’s issues activists/scholars/lecturs to discuss what mode of representation of content and course of action/ implementation could complement the programmes already in place. From research into the work of activists working with women’s issues it has become clear that issues of masculinity and feminity are so deeply tied in with one another that any approach that takes only one side can only provide momentary bandaids for injuries caused by the patriarchal order. Both sexes are being affected. Women have had a history of being approached smpathetically with regard to “women’s issues”. Thus the only tenable approach, suggests itself : to approach men sympathetically about the issues that they face because they have to live up to the Indian ideal of manliness and then perhaps, they can be led into how it the masculine role is tied up with the patriarchal order and how they can work with women and their issues to solve each others’ problems.

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [44] Iqbal, Shiraz. How Many of These Real Men Have You Been Today? 1. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014. [45] Iqbal, Shiraz. How Many of These Real Men Have You Been Today? 2. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014. [46] Iqbal, Shiraz. How Many of These Real Men Have You Been Today? 3. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014. [47] Iqbal, Shiraz. How Many of These Real Men Have You Been Today? 3. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014.

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With this in mind, here is a graphical recap of types of masculine roles in the Indian context. Every man raised in India, is likel over the course of every day to slip in and out of two or more of these.

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INITIAL PRECEDENT STUDY n this section, we investigate what if any impactful campaigns / projects / social interventions have tackled the 6 approaches we had arrived at by the end of the previous section. The focus here is on projects that have been tried and tested in a social scenario, to see under what conditions and to what extent, they have created space for reform in men's behaviour vis-Ă -vis gender equality and acknowledging patriarchy.

EXISTING social INTERVENTION 1 First on the list is MenCare, a global fatherhood campaign that works to teach fathers that caregiving can be a rewarding part of fatherhood. Local campaigns work to educate fathers around 10 themes : being involved with raising their children from the start, sharing the care work, being proud of their children and showing it, prioritizing their health care, playing with them, educating them, being brave: showing affection, raising children without violence, teach them by example about equality & respect and supporting the mother of their children. This is a revolutionary take on the first approach that we had arrived at, viz. : Tackling the culturing of young children at home by targeting mothers with infants. There is more good news: MenCare is active in India through FEM (Forum to Engage Men).

EXISTING social INTERVENTION 2 Next is the Know Your Body, Know Your Rights Campaign, a youthled campaign supported by the YP foundation that brings young people along with parents and teachers together to allow them to engage in a discussion about getting meaningful sex education back into Indian classrooms. Significantly it give students a platform to provide inputs to the official Adolescence Education Program curriculum, that many State Governments across the country have banned.â&#x20AC;? As recently as December 2013, newspapers quoted a judge from Hyderabad as saying : "Introduction of sex education in high schools

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(AEP), launched in 2005-06, has only spoiled the minds of children in the impressionable age. Parents have responsibility to bring children on the right track" (quoted from the Hindustan Times) When the Central Govt is ready to tackle the culturing of pre-teens/ teens by targeting the media they consume , by providing them with the right information on a public platform that detaches it from shame, they are confronted with the deep rooted traditional imperative.

EXISTING social INTERVENTION 3 Since contemporary movies and popular culture valourize consumerist middle class values, we need to engage the middle class family to think critically about gendering of their children. These will eventually become acceptable to the lower economic classes. Hindi film director and writer Onir has in recent years produced two movies: My brother ... Nikhil, and I Am that depict middle class youth and their families dealing with issues of gender identity, in an attempt to foreground the culturally programmed impulse to conform to the normative. I Am features four short stories, two of which deal with gender identity, while My brother ... Nikhil is a feature length production that looks at the stigma attached with AIDS in India. However, acceptance for stepping outside of traditional gender roles continues to be generally low in middle class India as such cinema continues to exist on the fringes of the mainstream industry. Within the mainstream, clichĂŠs that maintain the patriarchal status quo continue to form the basis for stories and characters, with makers citing the market as the prime driver of it's intent - i.e., traditional models of masculinity continue to be circulated because the makers of these movies find themselves inextricably tangled within a culture of transnational business masculinity.

EXISTING social INTERVENTIONs 4 & 5 Set up a detailed course at an institute with a history of critical scholarship such as NID to encourage students to take up projects

tackling masculinity. Teaching For Change is an American organization that provides training and full set of tools that allow educators to reform school curricula in order to produce students who are able to critically think through serious sociological issues (and use math and science as tools to tackle problems). Specifically, their Anti-Bias education program refines curriculum so that students are able to perceive the biases inherent in society and work towards using their education to build a more equitable world.

EXISTING social INTERVENTION 6 Contact womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issues activists/scholars/lecturers to discuss what mode of representation of content and course of action/ implementation could complement the programmes already in place. FEM, the Forum to Engage Men discussed in point 1, is housed in the Center for Health and Social Justice. CHSJ has responded positively toward the AwdS~ pu{â&#x20AC; undertaking, and are interested in seeing the final outcome. They are currently working at full capacity on other projects for which they welcome support. Their current projects include : Enhancing Male Participation in Maharashtra, Family Health Campaign, Fathers Care, Eliminate Violence Against Women in UP, Mobilizing Men against Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Naya Mard Nayee Soch - DSR, Male Migration and HIV, Men and Gender Equality Policy. The Men and Gender Equality Policy project is conducted with another organization, Sahayog to research the impact of policies on men who are active in alternative caregiving roles. Sangat South Asia, one of the major organizations supporting the One Billion Rising campaign that provided a mass forum for engagement with violence against women is also receptive to support from parties interested in working with their existing programs.

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3. exploring gender through visual media

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did I come from? he “ where asks, for what will not be the first time. out of me, the bulgy one says fondly, as if he should be pleased. out of where? out of what? he covers his ear, shutting out the untruth, the shame, the pulpy horror. it is not to be thought, it is not to be borne! no wonder that at the first opportunity he climbs out the window and joins a gang of other explorers, each one of them an exile ... together they set out on their solitary journeys. Margaret Atwood in Alien Territory, 1993

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a graphical brief that allows the user to discover the concepts of masculinity, patriarchy, women's issues etc. and their inter-connectedness to the depth which he/she wishes to pursue them to seems to be an obvious way forward. This section presents the initial graphic explorations that were made. n interactive graphic narrative

ONE : DEVELOPING THE RESEARCH AS A GRAPHIC NOVEL While exploring, I quickly realized that any sociological New Media project has to be both communicative and contextual, and so I began with an attempt to graphically visualize Masculinity in the Indian context through a pictorial essay. However this feels too impersonal. How can the same effort be framed to prevent the narrative from pushing men further into their "alien territories", i.e., without feeling further alienated from the feminine? So we have compiled a revisionist version of the last century of Indian history. So what? How do you persuade Indian men that it is in their interest to navigate their own way through a gender-aware history of India? Thinking about how calendar art, beginning with the influence of Ravi Varma at the turn of the 19th century, has had a significant influence on image making vis a vis embodiments of the ideal masculine or feminine, a more refined approach suggests itself. Can we constructively jog childhood memories by appropriating images from charts used to school children such as ‘the Ideal Boy’ and ‘Bad Manners’? This sits within the ambit of a graphic narrative but opens up new possibilities, interactivity wise. Is it possible to flesh out systemic connections between notions of masculinity and femininity within the patriarchal order? What is the best way to package these connections in a graphic narrative for effective re-discovery by the user? What was needed were living, breathing stories, an interesting, plausible, even man-friendly narration.

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A study of the entire catalogue of pedagogical posters released by IBD reveals that the girl finds very little mention as an agent. Where is the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ideal girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? Through these familiar ideal boys and girls, can we touch a nerve with those who are struggling to be the ideal man? Can we create curiosity that will fuel social critique? But in a society where so many "awakened" women choose to look the other way, to silence their inner critic (indeed this is part of the training of becoming a woman for young girls) when faced with outright chauvinism, thereby rejoining the pride that they have been privileged to step out of momentarily, how can we expect men to engage in social critique? What is needed are living, breathing stories, an interesting, plausible, even man-friendly narration. The man engaging with the graphic narrative will need to feel like yes this is my story; what can this teach me about living that will make life better in some way? To enable them to question current role models and step out of their rigid masculine roles, can radical role models who have not seemed to compromise on quality of life be presented?

LEARNINGS FROM USER ENGAGEMENT Clues gathered from interviews are: 1. Men prefer to be interrogated in groups. When in unfamiliar territory, they would like the safety of the herd. Can we make it desirable to learn from women, to connect with women over things they are uncertain about? 2. Men, especially working class men, have a deathly fear of being ostracized by other men, because contrary to the self-reliant image of the ideal man (which they all subscribe to with little exception), they have developed a reliance on the community of men. 3. Most men think they are working hard enough trying to get by without the cognitive load of critical reflection on society. Can we make them feel it would make it easier to get by if they did engage in such reflection?

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Both the ideal boy and the (invisible) ideal girl grow up to be ideal men and women in our society. These ideal men and women then instruct the next generation of boys and girls on the appropriate ideals to live up to.

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The girl receives a set of prescribed restrictions to her behaviour around puberty while the boy becomes aware of certain nebulous societal expectations focused on him.

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As a first step toward creating the equal world we dream of, it is important to understand this difference in the culturing of boys and girls ...

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... boys begin to pour themselves into becoming man enough while girls begin to remold themselves into more accomodating, appropriate feminine selves.

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Humans have lived within this system for thousands of years. And now that we are in a position to see how much harm it is doing, we must demand change. It is the least we can do as civilized creatures. But how will we reassure the power wielders in this system?

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“My grandmother and grandfather lived this way. Why should I let my wife tell me that we don't need to have any more children when we haven't had any boys yet? Don't I spend the entire day travelling and working to earn for this family?” 121

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A GAMEâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;PLAY BASED BRIEF hile developing a digital graphic narrative with sociological reform as the intent, the need to deliver relevant content will compete with the need to keep the user interested. Overcoming this tension was the primary design challenge. To combat this, a slightly modified brief was investigated.

brief two : A SUBVERSIVE GAMEPLAY BASED NARRATIVE The biggest problem with choosing a downloadable, interactive digital format is that it is up to the user whether he / she chooses to download and experiment with your app. If your goal is to reach the general public, this doesn't work very well for you. Even a cursory survey of both the Google Play store as well as the iTunes Store reveals that the success of an out-and-out educational app is limited, unless it has some element of play that is engaging and tricky enough to be rewarding. Users of apps like to know that they are getting better at whatever the app is getting them to do / allowing them to do. Thus, rather than making the disproportionate time investment that it will take to craft a winning app from scratch, with the sociological intent embedded within, it makes sense to adopt a tactic from a 1970 Conceptual Art project by Cildo Meireles. In Insertions into Ideological Circuits: Coca-Cola Project, the artist procured empty coke bottles, printed subversive messages on the glass such that these would be properly visible only when the bottle was full and allowed them to be reinserted into the assembly line. ("Cildo Meireles") A disarmingly simple strategy : If your goal is to reach someone who drinks coke but you don't know if they will be willing receivers of the message, then print it on the coke bottle.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT METAPHOR However if you want the user to remain satisfied, and see the message as constructive, then it is best to leave the coke itself untouched. This means that if we would like to insert a masculinity

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IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] Pics to Pin. Temple Run High Score Screenshot Picture. Digital image n.d. Web. Jan 2014.

curriculum for men "into the ideological circuit", we need to piggyback it on an app that is : a. So popular, that other apps have been imitating it since it's release b. So popular, that it has been released in several incarnations, some of which are free for download (to reach the maximum number of users) c. Third and most importantly, the game play that is existing needs to provide the ideal metaphor or mode, so that we can embed our subversive content with minimum modification to the game play. ie, Can we find a game where the game play can remain almost the same as before, and just as enjoyable; a game where the new content is complemented by the user's normal gameplay actions; a game that is known for being addictive? After all, our concern here is that we wouldn't want the user to feel that he / she has downloaded a deficient version of the game and go back to the app store to re-download a different version.

The element of masculinity that was the single biggest cause of stress in blue collar males who were interviewed in Gujarat and in Kerala was : earning enough money to meet the needs of their families. An endless pursuit for which literature has provided us with the perfect metaphor, the rat race. And what game is there whose gameplay better approximates an endless pursuit than Temple Run? The goal is the same. Keep running to earn more money; earn a higher score to feel good about yourself. It is simply masculine strife, gamified.

THE PATH TO THE USER Thus, it is proposed to subvert the ideological circuitry of masculinity by uploading a hacked version of Temple Run to the Google Play store. (This is easier than placing a subversive app on the App Store, plus there are many more Android users in India tha there are Apple users). To the left is a typical screenshot that greets the user at the end of every run. What if at the end of every run, instead of being

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IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) How to get 1,000,000,000 Coins in Temple Run for Android. Digital image 2012. Web. Jan 2014.

confronted with such a triumphant achievements screen, you were confronted with witty sarcasm that allowed the user over time to perceive and delight in the use of the metaphor? These messages would have the same tone of phrasing as the congratulatory message the game currently uses, i.e. sarcastic to keep the user chuckling, and to prevent him/her from downloading a different un-hacked version of the game. This is because the required effect of the experience would be of the same kind of perceptive shift that comes through counseling in the MenCare movement (for details see the section titled Initial Precedent Study in the Chapter preceding this one.). However, in the absence of a counselor we need the user to start piecing the puzzle together themselves. They need to develop strategies that enable them to see themselves as trapped within the ideological circuit. It is only then that they can think of stepping outside of it.

By only modifying the elements that are not in gameplay, we are recontextualizing the experience. And in this different context, to be an effective player, the user would have to develop a contextual strategy.

HOW IT WORKS Currently, at the end of every run, in addition to the message received, the user also has the choice of going to the store to buy powerups that help him run better. Now if our intervention is trying to say that the rat race (which you run for your own survival) is pushing you further into a role that slowly erodes your full human potential, then we need to redesign the store so the user has different kinds and categories of options to choose from than those which currently exist. The current set of powerups could be kept in the store but revalued relative to the new additions so that the implications of competing for power in the gender relations equation can be puzzled out by perceptive users with repeated gameplay.

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Thus, the experience begins for the user with the sense that something is not quite right, when after his / her first Temple Run, the following kind of screen appears :

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ICONS USED IN SCREEN PROTOTYPE (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] Arloff, Dillon. Running. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014. [2] Cameron, Andrew. Meditation. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014. [3] Keuning, James. Strength. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014. [4] Prado, Luis. Prostitute. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014.

Now if he / she chooses to go to the man store, they are confronted with a range of options of the following kind :

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ICONS USED IN SCREEN PROTOTYPE (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] Smit, Ruud. Speedometer. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014. [2] Bravo, Juan Pablo. Meditation. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014. [3] Gray, Ed. Love. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014. [4] Keunig, James. Kick. Icon. The Noun Project. Jan 2014.

This is the crucial point where the user will realize that the strategic choices he/she is used to making for this game now have to be altered drastically to continue feeling rewarded. If he/she now goes back to the previous screen and selects the Go Home option, he/ she is confronted with a new category of purchase options as in the screen shown below.

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Thus over time, with repeated gameplay, the user earns the ability to learn more about how he/she can overcome the effects of the masculine straitjacket, practically. An effective player in the subverted game becomes one who balances the run length with enough care items purchased, not one who simply runs the longest. However after some basic testing of the concept, the flaws that were exposed in the design required it to be abandoned and for the project to proceed in a new direction. The following section discusses the shortcomings of this approach.

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problems faced he biggest problem with the previous approach is that it reduces masculinity to a one-dimensional concept, whereas we have seen through our research that it is a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon with several seemingly contradictory impulses. The apprach elaborates a metaphor for Transnational Business Masculinity as though it is the sum of all problematic aspects of masculinity. However this manner of coming up with a solution that allows the subject to become an interested participant in his/her own deschooling is a good start. The other major flaw in this approach is that it excludes those smartphone users who cannot read english fluently, but like to play games all the same. This limits the target audience and excludes a large number of people we would like to design for. A third issue is that of legality. The success of the project requires that the fact of the existence of this altered version is not public knowledge, at least at first. However in order to legitimately register it as a course of implementation for a Diploma project at a public Institute might be problematic. The fourth issue is that the testing and refinment of the app can only happen within a very insular environment - most probably restricted within the student community at NID - because of the need for secrecy. The users will also have no channel to communicate their experience to the designer. And since what is required is an experience in Design Learning, this project cannot be pursued at this time. Thus we are forced to go back to the drawing board and try a new approach.

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DETAILED PRECEDENT STUDY camera / dialogue

Hannah C. Price CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE

“Once a guy catcalls me, depending on the situation, I would either candidly take their photograph or walk up to them and ask if I can take their photograph. They usually agree and we talk about our lives as I make their portrait.”

n this section, where we take a more art based approach to studying precedents (departing from the earlier approach of researching social impact projects), it makes sense to begin with a project that is strongly aware of the target demographic and critically exposes it's vulnerability.

With Ms. Price's project, a primary concern would be that there is no record of arguably the strongest part of the project, i.e., the conversation that the artist engages in (or tries to initiate) with her cat caller following the act of photography. Some thought could be given on providing viewers of the exhibit with the means to develop and share their own stories that they might think up, after viewing the series. The acknowledgement that the manly man is also just a human being with all the vulnerabilities that the use of this term implies is laid before the viewer. However the men in question also end up being alienated from the viewer as beaing simply cat caller #1, #2 or #3. This shortcoming needs to be better addressed through the design of the exhibit. ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Price, Hannah. “My Harassers”. Interview by Rosecrans Baldwin. The Morning News. The Morning News LLC, 2013. Web. Oct. 2013. <http://www.themorningnews.org/gallery/my-harassers>

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video installation

B.V. Suresh RETAKES OF THE SHADOW

“‘Retakes of the Shadows’ reflects on the constant threat of violence inherent in institutions of patriarchy. His critique of maleness and masculinity includes the institution of art and its practice. “

a deep anguish at communal violence. Through clever layering of audio, video and found images, it allows the viewer to contemplate whether virility and violence (both communal and against the opposite sex) are connected. his work evokes

Although meaningful, the work requires a sympathetic element to avoid alienating the uncritical/off-the-street male audience because of it’s unsettling nature. However, the use of sound as a stimulus to the observer has been both well timed and implemented. ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Loggerhead, B. “Masculinities in the space of art”. Relocating Masculinities. Nov 2007. Web. Oct 2013. <http://relocatingm.blogspot.in/2007/11/masculinities-in-space-of-art.html> Suresh, BV. 4. Retakes of the shadow. Digital Video 2010. Web. Sep 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q051twC4uTg>

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installation w cameras / projectors / computer

Kiran Subbaiah BACKWARDS AHEAD

“2 cameras and 2 projectors [use] 2 computers that capture and edit video footage algorithmically before playback. This creates an instant fiction of real occurrences shot by the two cameras. Viewers ... experience a temporal disorientation with their immediate presence and actions.

when your reflection, your just-past self no longer mirrors your just-past movements is startling and surreal. What happens when a mirror behaves in unexpected

he element of surprise

ways? It is almost definite that the person engaging with the exhibit will not be able to resist contemplating the meaning of a disjointed self. And by placing this work within an exhibition, relaxed and playful interaction has been encouraged.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Subbaiah, Kiran. “Kiran Subbaiah Backwards Ahead”, Kochi Muziris Biennale 2014. www.kochimuzirisbiennale.org. n.d. Web. Oct 2013. <http://kochimuzirisbiennale.org/kiran-subbaiah/>

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installation w chain link fence, plexiglass, dichroic film

Soo Sunny Park UNWOVEN LIGHT

“[It creates] a shimmering world of light, shadow, and brilliant color... Entering the gallery there is no set path to follow. Instead, we are invited to meander slowly as one might stroll along a river’s edge, stopping to admire the glints of light that dance on the water’s surface.”

ark creates what she calls a ‘liminal space’ where the light is always playing tricks with your eyes with every move you make. The abstract form is suspended from the walls and the ceiling, in a dreamlike flow. Each plexiglass unit is laminated with a dichroic film that appears to change colour as it’s angle of orientation changes with respect to the viewer’s eye. The space created is wonderfully introspective.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Shwachman, Greta. “Soo Sunny Park Unwoven Light”, Rice Gallery. n.p. 2013. Web. Oct 2013. <http://www.ricegallery.org/new/exhibition/unwovenlight.html>

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tables, chairs, chai, samosas, flowers

Yelahanka Action Heroes TALK TO ME

“They were asked to not talk about street sexual harassment . Being defensive, hyper alert to ‘making safe’ doesn’t ever lead to actually ‘feeling safe’. We tend to make ourselves feel safe by building defence. We need to make ourselves safe by making familiar instead.”

rained under an initiative by Blank Noise, these Srishti school of Art, Design and Technology students invited passers by on what is known as Rapist’s Lane in Bangalore to a roughly hour long casual chat. They were inspired by the thought that we tend to fear what we don’t understand. The reasoning was that the socio economic class distance between the men on the street and the women (mostly students) who felt harassed led to a mutual mistrust. They just got to know each other as fully formed social beings with occupations, family and aspirations. At the end of the conversation each Action Hero presented her/his new friend with a flower and posed for a photograph.

The strength here is that this conversation is unexpected and fleeting, possibly adding to it’s perceived value in the mind of the subject.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : “Photo Essay Talk To Me”, Blank Noise. 2013. Web. Oct 2013. <http://blog.blanknoise.org/2013/07/talk-to-me.html>

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hand drawn posters + wheat paste

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh STOP TELLING WOMEN TO SMILE

“It’s my hope that some women will walk pass these wheat pastes and feel empowered. That men will at least take notice and consider what the posters are saying. And that the conversation about street harassment will continue to be enlivened and hopefully produce some sort of solution. ”

Fazlalizadeh says she is hoping for her posters to change the mode of interaction between strangers of opposite sexes on the street to a “respectful and safe” one, the posters are clearly confrontational. On the other hand, they lend agency and voice to those who might otherwise be cowed and/or silent. Without mutual understanding as human beings - for which a dialogue is necessary - there will appear to be only the less-thanhuman, always-perplexing Other. lthough

This kind of polarizing, parental attitude, I argue, detracts from the kind of affect it is necessary to have on the subject, as per the motivations of the project.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Fazlalideh, Tatyana. “Stop Telling Women To Smile”, Tatyana Fazlalideh. n.p. 2013. Web. Oct 2013 <http:// www.tlynnfaz.com/ Stop-Telling-Women-to-Smile>

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camera + cut out photographs

Bathsheba Okwenje, Nupur Mathur ADDA BAAZI

“The project did provoke some thought and a lot of dialogue. Many said that we were commenting on something that they hadn’t really noticed before. One comment however was that occupation of the public spaces was more of a segregation of class than of gender.”

RISD Maharam Fellowship in 2013, Bathsheba Okwenje and Nupur Mathur photographed women being social and relaxed. They had spent time observing crowds and had noticed that women in public spaces tended to be always wary and/or in transit. They then made cut outs of these and pasted them on the walls in male dominated spaces in one part of Delhi with the intention of sparking introspection and dialogue. s part of the

By not pressuring the males into a dialogue but allowing them to consider these images and the meaning of their dislocation or why they seem odd, this project provides the perfect affect.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Okwenje, Bathsheba. “Adda Baazi, Public Art Project”, Maharam Steam Fellows. RISD Maharam Fellows. n.d. Web. Oct 2013. <http://risdmaharamfellows.com/2013/08/27/adda-baazi/>

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poster + drawings

Roshan Chhabria IDEAL BOY + MOTHER SERIES

“[In] my childhood i saw the charts of ideal boy in the school! which created a lot question in me on how to become ideal... ”

search for the ideal,

both as physical image and as abstract self is revealed. The connection is strongly visible between how abstract ideals coerce bodies to manifest themselves within physical, representational selves. The Ideal Boy posters provide a strong artefact that begs to be appropriated vis-à-vis masculinity. It allows us to reflect on the relation between behavioral instruction and the construction of identity.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Chhabria, Roshan. bestcollegeart.com. bestcollegeart.com. n.d. Web. Oct 2013 <http://www.bestcollegeart.com/an-ideal-boy.html>

“In [the second] work i am talking about todays mothers...actually with studies i am doing part time teaching drawing, there i have seen these mothers. “

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digital poster

Meera Sethi AN DEAL BOY

“My take on the chart uses irony to draw attention to the normative heterosexual agenda of the original and playfully suggests a re-education: one can be gay and be “An Ideal Boy” at the same time. Borrowing the hand-painted, mis-registered aesthetic quality of the original version, my poster is a double-take that suggests the unexpected.”

a clever use of mnemonics, to allow connections to form between an idea that may be unpalatable and a remembered ideal that played a role in shaping the current self. his work displays

The question also now arises, where is the ideal girl? More than what is being shown, what is absent?

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : “An Ideal Boy”, Meera Sethi Creative. Meera Sethi Sethi. 2013. Web. Oct 2013. <http://www.meerasethi.com/projects/posters-an-ideal-boy>

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acrylic + varnish w gold powder on a metal roller blind shutter + canvas with iron hooks

Atul Dodiya MAHALAXMI

“Anything having to do with mythology or religious scriptures, people become too sensitive about these issues. They feel that one should not touch these subjects that are sacred and they're fine the way they are its especially [unwelcome] if [the artwork] confronts the female body. “

goddess Mahalaxmi on a shutter that can be rolled up to expose the painting of “three young girls who hanged themselves from the ceiling because their family could not afford paying dowry”. The Ravi Varma style painting is inviting to the viewer, evoking familiarity. It also “sets up” her/him up for an uncomfortable confrontation with the symbolic as well as succesfully exposing the segregation between the public image and stark personal reality. kitschy calendar art style

The conflicting dichotomy between the inner and the outer realm of the woman in Indian society, has been masterfully embodied in an artwork.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Rousseau, Bryant. “Atul Dodiya”, Blouin Artinfo. Louise Blouin Foundation, Dec 2007. Web Oct 2010 <http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/22615/atul-dodiya/>

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drawing + collage

Sarnath Banerjee CHE IN AFRICA + CORRIDOR

“sheds light on that fetishisation of the idle, “stable” society. There’s a Punjabi word which means “to go looking for trouble just to make your life more exciting”...So you travel to experience the world, and end up reinforcing your middle-class prejudices. Like Che going to Africa. It’s a phantom link; but then links of that nature are always inside the head. ”

hrough the stylistic use of found images with supporting text in a narrative format – narrated by a protagonist who is himself knee deep in the system that is being criticized, Banerjee provides ample room for reflection. This approach of providing static content with layers of familiarity allows the content to be read multiple times.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Smyth, ASH. “theartsdesk Q&A: Sarnath Banerjee”, theArtsDesk.com. The Arts Desk Ltd., Mar 2010. Web Oct 2010. <http://www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/theartsdesk-qa-sarnath-banerjee>

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carpentry + coding

Jon Stam CABINET OF THE (MATERIAL & VIRTUAL) WORLD

“Throughout the Renaissance, objects representative of god (naturalia) and man (artificialia) were displayed in cabinets as an index of their proprietors’ world view. Since ... we are no longer concerned with [this] dichotomy ... but with the duality of the material and the virtual, these cabinets brings together both ... in one archival system.”

of an array of physical drawers on one face and a corresponding array of engravings akin to QR codes on it’s reverse. Each side then is capable of acting as a storage space for one of either material or physical artifacts. The engraved codes can be scanned by a smartphone to access the content stored at a particular cloud storage location. he cabinet consists

This study of dualities shows potential to be developed vis-a-vis the duality of the hot or cold nature of media content and of static vs dynamic (as elaborated in Summersett 2013) media experience.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Stam, Jon. “Cabinet of the (Material & Virtual) World”, Commonplace Studio. n.p. n.d. Web. Oct 2013. <http://www.commonplace.nl/CABINET-OF-THE-MATERIAL-VIRTUAL-WORLD>

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video

Rohit Dubey MEN, MUSCLES & MASCULINITY

“A humorous take on gym going men, in a 12 minute short documentary.”

ith it’s humorous, personal, chit-chatty approach this short film is engaging. Where it succeeds is that it shows men literally “working” to become men and falling short. However, it is guilty of romanticizing this violence men do to themselves to an extent.

The film serves as pure commentary and does not afford much room or provide “eureka!” moments for enlightening reflections on masculinity within patriarchy, the connection between violence and virility etc.

ALL IMAGES AND QUOTES IN THIS SPREAD WERE SOURCED FROM : Men, Muscles & Masculinity. Dir: Rohit Dubey. NID, 2002. Film. <http://www.coroflot.com/rohit_dubey/profile>

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4. developing the installation

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“ IF RELIGION IS THE OPIUM

OF THE PEOPLE, TRADITION IS AN EVEN MORE SINISTER ANALGESIC, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT RARELY APPEARS SINISTER. ...TO [HIM], TRADITION WAS CULTURE AND CULTURE LED TO ROOTS, AND THESE WERE GOOD, THESE WERE UNTAINTED PRINCIPLES. ” Zadie Smith in White Teeth, 2000

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FINALIZING THE BRIEF ccording to Judith Butler (521), â&#x20AC;?The body is understood to be an active process of embodying certain cultural and historical possibilities, a complicated process of appropriation ... In order to describe the gendered body, a phenomenological theory of constitution requires an expansion of the conventional view of acts to mean both that which constitutes meaning and that through which meaning is performed or enacted. In other words, the acts by which gender is constituted bear similarities to performative acts within theatrical contexts.â&#x20AC;? Since it is in exposing (allowing the viewer to lay bare) the performative nature of (his own) masculinity that this project is concerned with, the logical form of expression must be one that strongly links masculinity with performance. The act of examining oneself in a mirror, trying on different expressions as an adolescent before going out for the night, comes to mind. This is similar to the actions of a performer applying his make-up before going on stage. To render the connection explicit, the storytelling will have to take place in a setting reminiscent of theatrical dressing rooms as they are portrayed in movies. There will have to be a mirror and light bulbs within a closed, tight, warmly lit space. But how can the metaphor be rendered readable for the target demographic - the working class Indian male? How can the viewer be made to perform and reflect upon the different aspects that have been layered upon the blank human slate to constitute his masculinity?

instructional charts Since the constitution of gender identity takes the form of strategic responses to social and cultural educating influences over a lifetime,

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a useful starting point would be to expose, to highlight the direct link between the "ideal" as expressed to the boy, and his embodied performance of manliness. The Ideal Boy charts, with their ubiquity beg to be appropriated, or at least referenced in the interface. With this as the starting point, it is possible to conceive of an Ideal Man poster - divided into aspects for easy instruction. Now since we have already determined that the necessary form requires both a mirror and a dressing room style setting, how can we appropriate the language of the Ideal Boy posters without it feeling disruptive or misplaced? The answer lies in taking inspiration from yet another conceptual source : the Cabinet of Curiosities.

cabinet of curiosities About his project (Cabinet Of The (Material & Virtual) World), Jon Stam writes, “Throughout the Renaissance, objects representative of god (naturalia) and man (artificialia) were displayed in cabinets as an index of their proprietors’ world view. Since today we are no longer concerned with the dichotomy of nature and art, but with the duality of the material and the virtual, these cabinets brings together both physical and digital space in one archival system.” (Stam) The dichotomy that we are interested in is the artificial one between the masculine and the feminine. If we can give the dressing cabinet a face (by placing drawers in some arrangement around the mirror) that is reminiscent of the Ideal Boy charts, we are in a position to spatially reinforce the dichotomy in question. IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] Kochi Muziris Biennale. Kiran Subbaiah Backwards Ahead. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014. [2] Stam, Jon. “Cabinet of the (Material & Virtual) World”, Digital image n.d. Web. Jan 2014. [3] Barthelemy, Franck. Atul Dodiya's Mahalaxmi. Digital image 2011. Web. Nov 2013. [4] Arora, Kangan. Ideal Boy Good Habits Chart. Digital image 2011. Web. Sep 2013.

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If aspects of the masculine are represented on the drawers' face, then corresponding aspects of the feminine could be stored within the drawers. However, to add a sense of wonder (that the original cabinets of curiosities infused in their viewers because of which they were given the name Wunderkammer), what if the feminine content mimicked the way the feminine appears to a male growing up in a patriarchal society? Through fleeting glimpses of skin. Unpredictable snatches of understanding. And now taking a hint from Kiran Subbaiah's Backward's Ahead (see the previous chapter for details), we are in a position to suggest a reinforcement of the masculine/feminine dichotomy by rigging the feminine aspects to be available to the viewer only in fleeting doses. This is in contrast to the restive (images on the drawer face and corresponding objects placed within) masculine content.

revised brief The brief is to now construct a gender cabinet of curiosities that is composed like a dressing table, with two grids of drawers (3X2) flanking a mirror (see photograph below). Each drawer will sport on it's face, a painting/collage in The Ideal Boy poster style, but relating to some aspect of The Ideal Man or AwdS~ pu{â&#x20AC; . This specific grid arrangement and spacing are planned to enhance the mnemonic connect with the Ideal Boy posters that many people have (see photograph of paper prototype below). The viewer will feel invited to engage with the content, transforming himself from viewer to user.

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When he sits down and opens a drawer, it will be found to contain an artefact that provides a further, more explicit clue that will help him decode/interpret according to his life experience (this means that the categories have to be generic, open, relatable and readable) one aspect of the pressure of striving to be The Ideal Man. When the artefact is picked up, the mirror remains no longer a mirror but it plays a tableau of scenes from popular cinema, tv serials, advertising etc that are connected to what that particular pressure on the man means for the woman in the same society. The message to the man is that yes, there are pressures on you, but you are not alone: maybe you can see yourself as part of a system with the female gender where each can make some concessions that IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [5] Harmonious Living by Tish Mills. Portfolio Image. Digital image 2012. Web. Dec 2013. [6] Vintage Painted Cottage Aqua Chic Triple Mirror Vanity. Digital image 2013. Web. Nov 2013.

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improve the overall quality of life for both man and woman. IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)

As the first step towards prototyping, a small scale paper mock-up was constructed. This made it clear that the initial proportions of the mirror to the drawers, the elevation of the drawers w.r.t. eye level etc will have to be reworked for optimum effect. Research was then directed toward vintage dresser styles to assess what design revisions could be made.

[7] Park, Soo Sunny. Unwoven Light Rice Gallery. Digital image 2013. Web. Oct 2013. [8] Jay, Rosen. Mary-Goldthwaite-at-de-Cordova Unwoven Light. Digital image 2013. Web. Nov 2013.

Since the installation aims to promote introspection and contemplation within a liminal space, a cue will be taken from Soo Sunny Park's Unwoven Light. In an attempt to recreate that feeling of a liminal space, it is initially proposed that the full scale prototype be set outdoors in the shade of a large tree in late afternoon.

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EXPERIENCE & AESTHETICS ince we are forced to categorize and classify our work, I will concede that the work “appears” to be a work of art. It is not a prototype for a product that may be adapted to the production line and monetized. The arrangement has a considered aesthetic to it and it's set up appears to mimic that of an art piece in a gallery. In fact it shares many characteristics with works of conceptual art. The most obvious of these is that the objects presented belong to a mundane category.

NOT READYMADES Although presenting mundane objects in a gallery-esque setting would appear to be a nod to Marcel Duchamp's readymades, the aim here is different. As I shall explain a few paragraphs hence, the readymades depart from the AwdS~ pur uS piece in that, they pose a question central to formalist conceptual art: ie, what can be called art? As a consequence, Duchamp knew that “the more objects we view as "readymades," the less we view as "art"” and thus even the interval at which the readymades were produced were very significant (Russell). These are not our core concerns with AwdS~ pur uS . Neither do our main concerns lie with refining the aesthetic beauty of the installation, although care has been devoted to presenting the content (objects, illustrations, video and audio clips) to ensure an aesthetically familiar experience. In this sense it even has some characteristics of a puritanically aesthetic art installation. In Duchamp's case, the point was for the viewer to engage directly with the presence of a selected mass produced object in a gallery, ie What is this doing here? Is this art? In this case, however, I have extracted these objects from their everyday contexts and presented them before the viewer in a way that encourages her/him to try and string them together conceptually. This deeply meditative personal investigation creates an "aesthetic experience" (to use Duchamp's words). It is this aesthetics of cognition that we are concerned with and not an aesthetics of experience.

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“The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative art… ” Marcel Duchamp

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is it CONCEPTUAL ART? Let us consider what conceptual art may be from some eminent practitioners. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “.. although the work created during [1966-1972] might generally be conceived as more directly anti-establishment and anti-consumerist than later conceptual art, the spirit of early conceptual art seems to have carried on relatively undiluted into the very late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as witnessed by pieces such as Tracey Emin's Unmade Bed, Damian Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, and The Chapman Brothers' My Family." (Schellekens)” Before reading ahead, consider the work on the facing page. Give yourself a moment with it. Now picture yourself in the image. Just you and the shark in a tank. Re-consider it along with it's title : The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. As the slow blush of realization warms your cheeks are you also aware that suddenly there are no longer three entities (viz. The artwork, it's title and you) but merely one experience? This is an entirely different kind of aesthetics; it is an aesthetics of cognition.

WHERE IT STANDS WITHIN COGNITIVE AESTHETICS According to Hadravová, there have been two approaches to cognitive aesthetics in the twentieth century: 1.The first approach has been to treat cognition as perceiving a proposition that was encoded by the artist (an Aha! moment on the part of the viewer, followed by a : That's interesting.) The Physical Impossibility ... is one such work. 2. The second one approaches cognition as a process where the focus is on triggering cognitive events such as "thought, perception,

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The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living A WORK BY DAMIEN HIRST 1991

IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [9] Sonmereyn, Pauline. Damien Hirst: The Physical Impossibility of Death. Digital image 2012. Web. Nov 2013 [10] 9, Chris. Damien Hirst: The Physical Impossibility of Death. Digital image 2009. Web. Nov 2013 [11] Terrafiniti. Damien Hirst: The Physical Impossibility of Death. Digital image 2012. Web. Nov 2013

attention, remembering, emotion" etc. and not on the content of the knowledge delivered. She then goes on to interpret passages from Nelson Goodman's Languages of Art to propose that when the second approach (which is traditionally scientific, but in recent times, also appropriated by conceptual artists) is used in an artwork, it creates an infinite loop of meaning making in the viewer's mind : “...determining a symbol system the work belongs to leads us to grasp its cognitive content; grasping its cognitive content influences our cognitive abilities and provokes to search a symbol system again; re-identification of symbol system changes (or clarifies) interpretation of cognitive content of the artwork...” (Hadravová) And thus the aesthetics at play in this project may be interpreted as an aesthetics of cognition as a recursive process.

working to the ORIGINAL AIM The AwdS~ pur uS installation aims to re-familiarize the user with the real-world connotations in which the objects, situations depicted in the illustrations and the video and audio clips are/were encountered; to invoke a curiosity as to whether the there is any connection between these separate aspects of the installation. After all, one of the motivators behind my undertaking of this project was that I had to understand how I could have gone through an entire undergraduate university education and allowed the entire corpus of sociological inquiry and theory to quietly pass me by. I had asked myself how I could hope to get other men to invest themselves in a critical dialogue about femininity (and masculinity) when I had let feminism pass me by even when the resources to learn more about were at hand? I had pooh poohed “concepts” and “theory” as high intellectual (read useless and non-practical) thinking. However I opened up to reading about and discussing these very “concepts” when I realized how personally their manifestations affected my life and that of those around me. Thus, since the starting point was a critical examination of myself as a subject embedded in a patriarchal

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order, it made sense to create an installation that allows the common man to find food for thought to get him started on a similar meaning making journey. I am very deeply aware of how “preaching” to an audience can alienate them. Accuse a man or make him think you are doing so, and he will immediately become defensive and unresponsive. Allow him to make meaning out of the pieces himself and he will value this more. "The most fundamentally revisionary feature of conceptual art is the way in which it proclaims itself to be an art of the mind rather than the senses" proclaims the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Schellekens 2009). At face value, this informs us that one leg of this installation falls within the domain of conceptual art. And thus, when considering this project it is important to realize that a crucial aspect is invisible : i.e., the conversations I will have with the user/men after they have had some time to consider their experience with the installation. These are my personal barometer for the degree of success of this installation. “People said : Oh who's interested in how many people she's shagged? ... ... Good Point. No one should be, but the tent wasn't about that. It was about how many people I'd slept with or been intimate with, whether it was sexually or just sleep wise. People went inside the tent; by the time they'd come out, they were thinking of all the people they'd slept with, the people they'd been close to, and that's how the tent worked.” (Emin on her Art piece : Everyone I have ever slept with) And that is precisely where I would like to locate this work - as a conceptual work which does not conform to the formal model, where it embraces "both aesthetic and cognitive value", with the aesthetic value (in the sense that it is rejected in formal conceptual art) facilitating the process of cognition of the sign system that has been composed. (Goldie and Schellekens 73)

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A word of warning It would be reckless to conclude this section at this point without recalling that this non formalist Conceptual Art approach was born out of a need for Design for Change intervention. And thus, considerations of the contextual cognitive capacity of the target demographic subsume all conceptual as well as personal aesthetic considerations of the artist when it comes to implementation. This means that what the artist thinks is a suitable style of representation or composition of referents is secondary to what can reasonably be comprehended by the average working class Indian male. In the end the installation remains a bastard child of non formal conceptual art and a design intervention for social change. Only the modalities of representation (and their sequence), to some extent can be independent of such empirical scrutiny. We will turn to the medium of expression in the next section and then discuss the composition of referents and how they were arrived at, in the one following it.

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medium, form, Material he overall aesthetic experience that had been decided upon, narrowed the scope of what material could be used. The main structure necessarily had to be constructed out of wood, to allow the user to relate properly to the structure as a dressing table. As is the case with any design, we begin with a drawing on paper that was translated into a digital isometric illustration (see facing page) after several iterations keeping in mind the following challenges.

DESIGN CHALLENGES within the form The biggest challenge was to keep the drawer faces at a minimum size of 6 X 6 " while placing the 2 X 3 grid of drawers at a height where the contents could easily be examined by a user seated in front of the cabinet. Additionally the height of the mirror also presented a challenge as it had to be at a level where the user would be able to see his face reflected while he mulls over the content and it's meaning. The drawing seen here was made after measuring the height of the torso and seat of pants above ground level of multiple seated users. This in itself did not yield perfect results and had to be refined as the installation was being completed. With the design drawing in place, the next step was to prototype the first interface of the structure: the drawers.

PROTOTYPING : MECHANICS & ELECTRONICS For speedy prototyping, it was decided to laser cut a drawer. to scale from 3 mm thick MDF that was available on-hand for re-use. What had to be determined was the mechanism of opening as well as methods of embedding circuitry that would enable the system to recognize when an object is lifted out of the drawer. The drawer prototype was mounted on a Telescopic Ball Bearing Roller Slide attached to a fixed base.

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IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [12] Amazon.co.uk. Drawer Door Touch Press Single Magnetic Catch. Digital image n.d. Web. Dec 2013 [13] Directindustry.com. Telescopic Slides. Digital

Behind the drawer, again on the fixed base, a Magnetic Cabinet

Touch Press Catch (of the kind so often found in glass cabinets, see above) was mounted to create a smooth push-pop-slide mechanism for opening the drawers (see diagram on facing page). It was observed that when the drawer was mounted on the Telescopic

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Slider, it hovered at a height that made it difficult for the Magnetic Latch to function. To overcome this issue, it was decided that the Magnetic Latch would be mounted on the ceiling immediately behind the drawer :

The next issue that needed to be resolved before full-scale prototyping was to come up with a simple and effective way to

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* Prices listed as of Jan 6 2014, from SparkFun and converted from US dollars to Indian rupees (INR) using XE.com online currency converter. ** Retail price at Krishna Electronics, located in Sector 24, Gandhinagar City.

allow a user to interact with objects placed in the drawer. Since the planned interaction is based on the contingency that the drawer will send a signal to the microcontroller when the object within is lifted, there are two ways to do this : 1. Install one Pressure sensor per drawer with a false bottom on top. The relatively economic option (since this project is self-sponsored) based on a study of the available options was to use one Force Sensitive Resistor in each drawer. However, according to online retailers: "These sensors are simple to set up and great for sensing pressure, but they aren't incredibly accurate. Use them to sense if it's being squeezed, but you may not want to use it as a scale.." Also, each sensor is priced at (INR) 475*, placing the total cost of sensors in an unreliable prototype at roughly (INR) 6000. The second type of pressure sensor that could be used is a Flexiforce Pressure Sensor. However each one is priced at a prohibitively high price of (INR) 1575*. 2. Use one/multiple cleverly installed Lever Microswitch(es) in the false bottom of each drawer. This is more feasible for prototyping since each costs only around (INR) 10** and are readily available at the local electronics retailer. Also in it's favour is the fact that we only need to receive a signal at the microcontroller if the object is lifted, ie we only require an on/off functionality. The drawer bottom can be physically calibrated to different weights of objects that will be placed in them once the objects themselves have been finalized. Proceeding with the second option, a circuit was set up according to the following diagram :

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* Nafees bhai at Sahil Handicrafts located directly across the road from the temple tower at the entrance of Gita Mandir. in Ahmedabad. **Kutti bhai from Lifestyle Accessory Design. Foam was obtained from the scrap available at M.A. Rassiwala located immediately inside the Teen Darwaza, Ahmedabad. +

++ The cushion was cut and stitched from khadi wool sourced from Rajasthan. Expert assistance was provided by Bharat bhai from the Apparel Design Workshop. The cover was made by stitching two circular pieces of the wool along the edges with a liner strip of the same material. # Nirmal bhai at the Paint Lab along with his assistant was responsible for completely painting the structure white and filling any imperfections with putty in between coats.

FULL SCALE PROTOTYPING : MECHANICS, ELECTRONICS, WOODWORK & SOURCING MATERIAL Once the drawers had been prototyped, it was time to move on to the full scale physical form. Since we would like to maintain a 2 X 3 grid of drawers on each side with a 2 inch gap between each drawer due to aesthetic and cognitive considerations, the amount of wood we have to use is larger than if the drawers were only separated by a 0.5 " sheet of plywood. Conferring with the NID wood workshop assistants, it was discovered that there were several sheets of scrap ply scrounged from packing crates that could be made into 2" thick hollow boxes to create the required 2" separations. The parts of the cabinet that were directly visible to the viewer would be cut from fresh plywood sheets as would the drawer faces while the interior facing bits would be made from scrap. The drawer legs were proposed to be carved out on the lathe from blocks of soft Chill Pine wood. As this work commenced in the wood workshop, the services of a carver of devotional shrines* was enlisted to fabricate the stool from scrap wood. He also agreed to carve the engraved headboard out of a sheet of MDF. His services were enlisted after a survey of furniture shops and fabricators in the city as his prices were the most reasonable. As we worked in the wood workshop to build the two cabinets, the carving of both the three legged stool as well as the headboard for mounting the mirror was completed as per the designer's sketches within 8 working days. Experts at the Leather workshop** provided assistance in cutting sofa foam (sourced from various kinds of scrap foam+) to match the size of the stool head. Following this, a cover was stitched++ for the prepared foam to create a cushion for the stool. Following this, the completed pieces were handed over to the NID Paint Lab#.

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* Chamunda Glass Traders located along the main road in front of Krishna Electronics in Sector 24.

Meanwhile, a piece of reflective glass was sourced from a glass trader* similar to the kind of two way glass used in windows. It was determined that a green tinted version was the most effective at mimicking a mirror - other shades were either too dark or too light, reflecting too little light or transmitting too much. Basically the glass had to mimic a mirror when an LCD screen placed behind it was in the off state, and when the screen was switched on, it needed to be visible through the glass. This would allow us to create an effect

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* All work in the Wood and Metal Workshops were conducted under the expert guidance of, and with the assistance of Hiren bhai, Siva bhai, Rahul bhai and Chirag bhai.

similar to that which Kiran Subbaiah has used in his installation titled Backwards Ahead (see the Detailed Precedent Study section within Chapter 3 for details of his project). An old LCD monitor (14") that was about to be scrapped for unknown reasons was found to be functional and appropriated for use as the display that would be fitted behind the reflective glass. The carved headboard was mounted on another sheet of MDF that was cut with a jigsaw to the same outer shape. A hole was then made in this sheet into which the screen was fitted. The screen was locked in place with custom fabricated clamps from the metal workshop* (see facing page).

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* All work in the Mechatronics lab, including design of circuits was carried out with expert assistance from Arshad Pathan bhai.

8 bulbs were then mounted, 4 on each side of the mirror (as seen from both the photo on the previous page and the final circuit diagram on the opposite page). Once this setup was functional, the screen was also connected to the Arduino microcontroller in the following way : Circuits and all electronics and wiring were developed using the facilities provided at the Mechatronics Lab*.

laptop screen arduino

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5V GND

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crafting readable CONTENT n sync with Rahul Roy's idea that masculinity (aspects of) places certain societal pressures on the man, we had identified 12 key aspects of masculinity. This idea of 'aspects of masculinity' emerged from the earlier explorations (see the Initial Approach chapter) that came out of researching the style of representation of the Ideal Boy charts.

These were drawn from pedagogy portrayed in posters across the IBD range (Pictorial Charts for Budding Kids) such as The Ideal Boy, Bad Habits, Junior Red Cross : Rules of the Good Health, Family Chart, Home Science: Cooking & Utensils, Children of India, Festivals of India, People of India: Dresses, Our Helpers, Women on Work and Our School (please refer to Appendix 1: Charts for reproductions of these charts)

further RESEARCH & BRAINSTORMING In particular, 12 aspects of masculinity were identified within Indian society which put pressure indirectly/directly on men as well as on women within the patriarchal order. In the initial form, these emerged as :

IDEAL BOY : Goes to school and reads attentively (shown standing up and reading aloud in a class of attentive children).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : Her work is unpaid or underpaid, never done, boring. She has to stay at home to keep the house in order and reduce the man's tension

AwdS~ pu{† :

Works so hard to earn so little, good career; is he successful? He is expected to leave the house at a certain age and work for a few hours everyday.

IDEAL BOY : Salutes / Greets his parents (shown folding hands in namaste to his seated parents).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : She nurtures her family. She is also expected to be emotionally available all the time

AwdS~ pu{† : Provides for his family;

“i'm doing all this for you”, “how will i pay for the house?”, Traditionally he is expected to be emotionally detached

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IDEAL BOY : Prays to God. (shown praying to an idol of Lord Krishna).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : A good woman prays that she will be a good wife, keeps fast for her husband etc, she is expected to worship him, Pati Parmeswar.

AwdS~ pu{† :

The ideal man worships his idol (Ram, Amitabh etc) and prays for strength, money, good sex, tasty home cooked food and biceps.

IDEAL BOY : Protects his sister (shown having a Rakhi tied on his hand by a girl).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : For her punishment and sacrifice is a part of life. She may be beaten by her relatives but she has always provoked it.

AwdS~ pu{† :

Disciplines his women, be they his sister or his wife. Their behaviour reflects upon his authority and standing.

IDEAL BOY : Gets up early in the morning (shown exercising).

AwdS~ pu{† : He is expected to be physically strong, if not outright fit and muscular, there is pressure to work out and not look like a weakling.

IDEAL BOY : Avoids quarreling (shown holding another boy by his collar).

AwdS~ pu{† : He is expected to be able

to defend a good woman's honour by standing up to other men, he is expected to paste on a moustache and be Farhan Akhtar's MARD.

IDEAL BOY : Weighs his body and measures his height from time to time (shown in a clinic lined up by the weighing scale with other boys).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : A woman is weak and helpless, she must wake up early and complete her ablutions before the men wake up, dress modestly.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : A good woman does not draw attention to herself even if her “modesty is outraged”, she walks away or waits for her man to fight on her behalf.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : Is expected to be fair and slim, less educated and shorter than her man, has perfect skin and teeth.

AwdS~ pu{† : The complete man is tall, attractive, confident, wears a suit!

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IDEAL BOY : Is from an ideal family (which is shown to be a close-knit nuclear family).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : Respects tradition, – how it says she must behave - her husband and her duties. “Shaadi dharam hain”.

AwdS~ pu{† :

Keeps his family under control, teaches them discipline and tradition.

IDEAL BOY : Is chaste and focused, while there is peer pressure to have a girlfriend. (this point came out of conversations with youth).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : Must not have “affairs”, be a virgin, pure and chaste. Must satisfy her husband so he doesn't go elsewhere.

AwdS~ pu{† :

Is virile, does well with women, is not a virgin / has “experience”, many girlfriends.

IDEAL BOY : Behaves in a manner that illuminates his fathers/family name. (this point also came out of conversations with youth).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : Is a childbearing machine, who will bear as many children as it takes to have a boy child.

AwdS~ pu{† : Sires male children to

carry forward his name. Otherwise he is not a real man.

IDEAL BOY : Helps others (is shown about to help an elderly gentleman across the street) In addition, he Learns about sex and sexual hygiene from other men, does not ask elders, women about such things (this point also came out of conversations with youth).

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : Accepts her monthly impurity and quietly maintains hygiene and respects traditional restrictions – passed down from her mother.

AwdS~ pu{† : He is expected to be emotionally strong and self-reliant.

IDEAL BOY : Joins the NCC (shown in a uniform with a rifle, standing proudly)

AwdS~ pu{† : Is always under pressure to show how masculine he is, like Salman Khan

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WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FEMALE : Is constantly bombarded with images of the ideal feminine character and reminded how she must be by the males in her life.

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These broad categories had emerged from my months of research. It is important to remember that these were things that I myself had been blind to earlier as a male embedded in a patriarchal society. Therefore it was necessary to simplify these phrases into much more essential 'aspects' that would be less pedagogical. Since we are now clued into the fact that preaching puts men generally on the defensive we do not want to be instructional and say this means this. Definitely. The connections have to be made on the part of the part of the user/viewer. These aspects are expected to provide points of departure (things which most Indian men would find are part of their lives) which each viewer/user of the work can use to unravel the particular sexism that clouds his life.

SOCIAL MIND MAPPING Keeping this in mind, a brainstorming session was undertaken with fellow NID students to reduce these 12 points to essential aspects (turn over for the resulting chart).

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“She complains. I do not give time for marriages, meetings etc... My father stopped my sports at a certain age... Professional life mein genuine peers are difficult to find... You can't be yourself with family members...” P.D.PATEL REAL ESTATE BROKER

Twelve aspects that emerged from this process were : 1. Success - sPl, kwMXwb 2. Strength - qwkq 3. Wealth / provider - DnI, p õdwqw 4. Knows what is right / wise & an expert like his hero - ivDwqw, B^vwn 5. Gentleman / suave / cultured - inm~l 6. Popular with the ladies / Casanova - eÜkbwjŒ / Romeo (it's more colloquial) 7. Defends the weak - r@k 8. Controls women (fatherly) 9. Honours tradition - pwr<pirk 10. Virile (sires male children) - md~ 11. Independent / knowledgeable - AwËminB~r, ^Xwin 12. Heroic / Ideal - bhwd ur, vIr / Salman

FURTHER PRIMARY RESEARCH FOR VERIFICATION Since it is evident that these needed further refinement, these "aspects" were taken as the starting points for a survey directed at blue-collar workers such as security guards, auto rickshaw drivers, catering workers and small businessmen. The interviews attempted to determine how meaningful each of the above twelve "aspects" were to these men. The questions were also framed in a such a way that the person being interviewed would find it easy to talk at length about each one of the twelve phenomena or at least suggest a replacement. Terms familiar to the target audience could then be extracted. The interviewees were allowed to meander at will and spend more time talking about any tangential points they may have been enthusiastic about. Independence and competitive success (Awg y bFnw) along with the burden of providing for the family were the main concerns of the majority interviewed. All of them professed to feeling "free-er" before they had been married. The burden of tradition translated into an obligation to enter into marriage at the right age. There was no question of personal choice in this matter.

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“Self control honw bh uq jr rIU h Y] ... A person only wants one thing : attention; love.”

When interviewed in groups of 2 or more, the answers were liberally peppered with swear words. (for details see Appendix 3 - validating concepts : what defines masculinity?) The associative trends were as follows : #1. Preferred Term : sPØqw What this implies / stands for : Large salary, CEO, progress, Amitabh,

Businessman, Lakshmi Mittal. Awg y nikl jw‚> . #2. Preferred Term : qwkq What this implies / stands for : Ladaai Jhagada. Wife. Hanumaan.

Bodybuilding. Money. Paisa. Undertaker. Money. Salman Khan. #3. Preferred Term : Wealth / provider - DnI, p õdwqw kmwn v y wlw What this implies / stands for : Friends. Bread Earner. Mother, father.

Family. ARAVIND PARIHAR, SECURITY GUARD

#4. Preferred Term : piq prmyÜvr - ivDwqw, B^vwn What this implies / stands for : Understanding wife, ego clash #5. Preferred Term : Gentleman / suave / cultured - inm~l, s tU b Ut What this implies / stands for : Suit. Fancy coffee shops. Proudly

Indian? Amitabh Bachchan. It's what's inside that counts (shows on the outside?). Suit+shoes. Charming. #6. Preferred Term : Popular with the ladies / Casanova - eÜkbwjŒ /

Romeo / roimXo

What this implies / stands for : lPfw, rose. #7. Preferred Term : r@k What this implies / stands for : Army. Jawaan. Bulletproof vest.

Defender. Bahadur. #8. Preferred Term : Expert authority, superior / bhy qr What this implies / stands for : Office, father, teacher, boss. #9. Preferred Term : pwr<pirk What this implies / stands for : Marriage. Shaadi. Habits. Fatherly

figure. We don't allow above the knees clothing. #10. Preferred Term : Virile (sires male children) - md~

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What this implies / stands for : Asli mard. Myself. Lion #11. Preferred Term : Independent / knowledgeable - AwĂ&#x2039;miB~r, ^Xwin What this implies / stands for : Freedom to roam and romance. Self.

Nobody to respond to. Balloon. Kite. What I'm giving my daughter #12. Preferred Term : Heroic / Ideal - bhwd ur, vIr / Salman / hIro What this implies / stands for : Clinton. Bachchan. Modi. Someone to

look up to because of his ability to overcome. Movies. Smart. These 12 'aspects' now become the subject of our interface. They had to be depicted in recognizable forms for this purpose. Styles identified in this regard were those of Amar Chitra Katha comics, Handpainted Bollywood posters, the Ideal Boy posters as well as a more realistic collage style. Sample illustrations were prepared in these different styles and the common man was again consulted by means of a survey. This time the survey consisted of flash cards of each illustration (for details see Appendix 4 - refining the interface : image and meaning). of these different forms of representation.

exploring ILLUSTRATION styles 1. Amar Chitra Katha Style

q sy

qwkq

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2. Handpainted bollywood poster style

q sy

qwkq

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3. Ideal Boy poster style

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4. Realistic Collage Style

s sy

s tu but

In terms of ease of reading the image, respondents found it simplest to recognise forms rendered in the Ideal Boy poster stye. Following this, they preferred the realistic collage style.

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The added advantage to the realistic collage style was that it allows the incorporation of faces of popular personalities with little room for mis-recognition. These celebrities have strong associative connotations and can be confidently used to elicit predictable reactions. Thus the preferred style was narrowed down to the Realistic Collage Style depicted on the facing page. For the full set of images that were surveyed and to understand the required changes to image composition that emerged, please refer to Appendix 4 - refinfing the interface : image and meaning. It was decided that the images would be reworked so that colour would only be used in one small portion of the image. For example in the image on the facing page, the walking gentleman's clothes, tie and hands would be made black and white, leaving only the gold rim of the table and the marble top in colour to emphasize luxury.

WHY HAVE LETTER HINTS AT ALL? The letter hints (s, m etc.) are there to lend a lingering sense of familiarity to the whole exercise of puzzling out the meaning behind the pictures. Long after he has retreated from the installation space, they provide markers that allow the subject to index the meanings he is uncovering. What I am trying to say is that if the subject is to realize that he is being invited to participate in "deschooling" himself, he requires a hint that is not obtuse, that serves as a mnemonic anchor. Thus, in addition to yielding a clue to what the image might be trying to say, the letters are there to remind him of his earliest institutional lessons (the equivalent of A for Apple, B for Ball). This in turn is food for thought as to how immutable some of these so-called facts of life may be (facts such as the measure of a man lies in how much money he earns etc.). The 12 aspects are to be arranged in front of the viewer as follows:

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guiding meaning making using everyday objects Once the user opens a drawer and finds an object, there is a temptation - a natural curiosity that is activated - to see what, if anything is in the other drawers. This is then, the point where the user makes a semiotic connection (a cognitive function that transforms a sign into a symbol) between the object in front of them and what it might represent, given that it has been indexed with a particular image and that it is presented under the title of AwdS~ pu{â&#x20AC; . He is being invited to recognize that a. He is multimodally literate : "Multimodal literacy [is] the ability to create meaning with and from texts that operate in print form and in some combination of visual, audio, and spatial forms as well." (Jacobs 2007) b. It was a multimodal form of obfuscation that was at work while he was being sold on the "facts" of masculinity. Here, "Multimodality ... is used to describe the different texts of meaning, or rather the convergence of these texts, where different forms of communication work both together and in contrast in order to convey meaning." (Paziuk 2013) In such a context of multimodal functionality, each form of communication performs (or in this case, is being designed to perform) some semiotic work, so that overall the required meaning is communicated. And thus the subject is confronted with either a lighter or a heavier semiotic load at each step of interacting with the installation. This is the step where he is reassured of the mental connections he has made, or perhaps where he is able to assuredly make the semiotic connection. Thus, opening the drawer to reveal the object within is expected to lighten the semiotic load momentarily and set the subject up for the heavier semiotic load that follows in the next step.

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Keeping this in mind, the following list of objects was prepared for each drawer : #1. sPØqw Smart phone Fancy watch Dollar #2. qwkq

Dumbells Gym membership card Protein powder/ muscle growth powder Hand grip

#3. kmwn v y wlw

Rupee notes Credit card Wallet Car keys

#4. piq prmyÜvr

Mangalsutra Sindoor ina box Wedding rings

#5. s tU b Ut

Tie Cufflinks Polished shoes Socks

#6. roimXo Love letter Perfume Vest with lipstick stain

#7. r@k

Rakhi Veil

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Barbed wire #8. bhy qr #9. pwr<pirk

House keys Car keys Maruti 800 model Jewellery Family photo in a frame

#10. md~

Condoms Wwe cards Moustache

#11. AwËmiB~r #12. hIro

Film poster Ray bans Cigarette Rupa vest Using the insights from the recent primary research, these were then shortlisted to :

#1. sPØqw Smart phone Fancy watch presented very obviously like a competition prize Dollar #2. qwkq

Dumbells Gym membership card Protein powder/ muscle growth powder Hand grip #3. kmwn v y wlw

Rupee notes Credit card Wallet

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Car keys #4. piq prmyÜvr

Mangalsutra in a jewellery box Sindoor in a box Wedding rings #5. s tU b Ut

Tie Cufflinks Polished shoes Socks #6. roimXo Love letter Perfume Vest with lipstick stain

#7. r@k

Rakhi Veil Barbed wire #8. bhy qr

Self-help book in Hindi

#9. pwr<pirk

House keys Car keys Maruti 800 model Jewellery Family photo in a frame (a famous bollywood family like K3G or hum saath saath hain) #10. md~

A pack of condoms that are easily recognizable as condoms Wwe cards Moustache #11. AwËmiB~r

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A mirror #12. hIro

Film poster Ray bans Cigarette Rupa vest

the final modalities in the sequence With the user now more or less well located in semiotic space (the object and image have now fused into a new symbol, the objectimage), it is time to raise a definite question in his mind. That question is : what is the connection between this video that plays upon picking up the object within the drawer, and the preceding object-image? However, it must be stated that there is an uncertainty here. Having considered the image, what if the user immediately picks up the object for a close examination? This will trigger the video and the user will be considering the video without an understanding of the object-image relationship. The semiotic load is intensified. To the rescue at this point comes the fact that the video is not infinitely prolonged. It comes to an end after running through what is needed to be shown. Significant also is the fact, that the height of the mirror is such that the subject is able to see his face hovering over the video as he watches it. Once the video has stopped, he is again left with his reflection, and the object in his hand. Now it is up to the cognitive function of each subject what symbols crystallize: ie, whether he perceives objectself, video-self, image-self, image-video, object-video and so on. Thus video and reflection form the interim final modes in the process. In the interim that is, between the end of the video activated from within this drawer and the pondering of yet another image. Since each of the twelve aspects were chosen to overlap significantly with at least one other aspect, it is expected that the semiotic load will fluctuate unpredictably as new and unexpected connections are forged in the mind of the user.

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Let us consider what the videos need to be relative to each corresponding object-image : #1. sPĂ&#x2DC;qw If the man is expected to wear himself out constantly striving for success, a woman is taught to always undervalue her potential. She has to stay at home to keep the house in order and reduce the man's tension. But can the man's tension be reduced in a different way? In the movie "Pran Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye" the woman is shown coming home from a full day's work and having to take care of her children, and satisfy her husbands mental as well as sexual needs. Scene occurs at the 46 min mark.

#2. qwkq

He is expected to be physically strong. If not not outright fit and muscular, there is pressure to work out and not look like a weakling. The supposedly weak half is supposed to accept her emotional load with fortitude and strict discipline.

Scene from Hindi daily TV show, "Pavithra Rishta". The first episode of this season gives us an introduction to this "perfect girl" who wakes up early, takes care of her parents, siblings and is a loving daughter. Scene occurs at the 1 min mark.

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#3. kmwn v y wlw

If the man is given the freedom to be emotionally detached because he has enough tension providing for his family, what if the wife contributes significantly. What if he is able to use this time to take the stress off her of having to always be emotionally available? What does it do for their relationship? In the hugely popular movie "Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiya", the women of the house express the need for them to take up a job to run the household better, the husbands turn them down by saying that their place is in the kitchen. Scene occurs at the 38 min mark.

#4. piq prmyĂ&#x153;vr

If a good woman is expected to worship her husband, she cannot be his friend. Since no man is infallible, and cannot reasonably expect unfailing support from his fellow comrades wouldn't it be in their favour if they didn't have to adopt airs in front of each other?

Bhala Hai Bura Hai Jaisa Bhi Hai - In this song from the movie "Naseeb Apna Apna", a woman finds out that her husband has married another, more beautiful woman. Despite the treachery, she sings that she does not want to hear anything bad about her husband, because whatever wrong he may do, he is her god.

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#5. s tU b Ut

If the complete man is expected to be spiffily dressed, tall and handsome, he expects his partner to be fair and slim, less educated and shorter than her man, with perfect skin and teeth.

In this scene from the serial Saat Phere (episode 1), a rich and influential lady and indirectly puts forth Saloni's proposal for her son after she gets impressed with Saloni when she sees her dancing, with her face covered, in the function. However, she gets shocked when she sees Saloni's dark complexion. Her mother scolds her for not taking care of her complexion. Scene occurs at the 13 min mark. #6. roimXo

As the ideal man is virile and does well with women, so too his ideal woman is expected to be chaste until marriage and immediately thereafter satisfy all her husband's fantasies. Can it be okay for one or both to inexperienced, no matter which gender? Can they learn from each other?

A scene from the movie "Lajja", where a bride's purity is questioned when it is found out that a thief was hiding in her bedroom for an hour. Scene occurs at the X min mark.

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#7. r@k

A good woman does not draw attention to herself even if her â&#x20AC;&#x153;modesty is outragedâ&#x20AC;?, she walks away or waits for her man to fight on her behalf. What if she can stand up for herself?

In this scene from the movie "Insaaf Ka Taraazu", the female lead takes justice into her own hands when she finds out that her sister has been sexually abused by the same man who raped her earlier in the film. Scene occurs at the 1 hr 53 min mark.

#8. bhy qr

The man is constantly striving to be better than other men. God forbid he falls behind a woman. Can a man and a woman be happy with each other and with a total lack of ego? Can a man work with others, taking the back seat even, and enjoying the stress relief that comes his way?

In this scene from the blockbuster movie, "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", the female lead is about to beat the male lead in a game of basketball and he cheats to win. Scene occurs at the 20 min mark.

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#9. pwr<pirk

The ideal man keeps his family under control, teaches them discipline and tradition. Tells them what to wear and what not to. Can he let his wife teach him how to love his children? Can he gain the immense happiness that comes from emotionally connecting and feeling fulfilled with his family?

In this scene from the movie Ghar ho to Aisa, it is shown how cruel measures are taken against the "bahu" of the house to keep her disciplined. Scene occurs at the 1 hr mark.

#10. md~

He must at all cost, sire male children to carry forward his name. But what if the woman refuses to be a childbearing machine, giving birth as many times as it takes to have a boy child? Can he love and value children of both sexes equally?

A public service announcement about female foeticide, a girl child talks to her mother from the womb and begs for her life to be saved. The entire video is relevant.

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#11. AwĂ&#x2039;miB~r

He is self-reliant and does not ask for help or support. He does not understand his wife's emotionality. He does not feel he can talk to her about sex. Can men and women benefit from an open dialogue with each other about each other's ways of being and feeling?

This ad for a popular sanitary napkin (Stayfree Secure) shows 2 women quietly discussing their period problems and the most effective way to hide any "leakage". The entire video is relevant.

#12. hIro

If the man is constantly being bombarded with images and symbols of masculinity and inadequacy, so is the woman.

In this scene from the blockbuster movie, "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", the female lead makes a bungling attempt to feminize herself, modeling her outfit and make-up on the sexy supporting actress to comedic effect. Scene occurs at the 1 hr and 14 min mark.

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the setting he setting for AwdS~ pu{† has to be intimate: a space where the viewer can feel enough at-ease to consider sitting down and indulging his curiosity without feeling watched or judged. It must be, to quote Margaret Atwood ("When Privacy is Theft"): ”[a] green room in which the mascara can be removed, [a] cluttered, imperfect back stage where we can be ‘“ourselves”“. The mirror must reflect a cozy clutter. It must be filled with things that hide the wall opposite it, from any angle within the room. The ambience must be cozy but not claustrophobic.

LIGHTING There will be a single source of light that illuminates the installation, preferably from far above head height of a standing human. This may be a high window or skylight that affords a focused beam of diffused light, if indeed there is any outside light source at all. This opening will be covered with a static film to enable a dappling and diffusion of light (as shown at the bottom of this page). As an alternative, the space has to be completely closed, accessible by way of a single door with a light fixture that achieves the same effects described above.

LOCATION IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [14] Doris Day Dressing Room. Digital image 2010. Web. Jan 2014 [15] Kate+J, Halloween365. Backstage at the Blackstone Theater-Dressing Rooms-Halloween 2011. Digital image 2013. Web. Jan 2014 [16] Devereaux, Cat. Naomi Watts King Kong. Digital image 2005. Web. Jan 2014 [17] Audrey Hepburn. Digital image 2011. Web. Jan 2014 [18] Performer backstage, 1928. Digital image 2011. Web. Jan 2014 [19] OhNoTheyDIdn't!. Jane Fonda. Digital image 2009. Web. Jan 2014 [20] thestar.com. Canadian National Ballet guest artist Evan McKie stretches. Digital image 2011. Web. Jan 2014

Scouting probable locations around the National Institute of Design Gandhinagar campus reveals some encouraging locations that nevertheless will require elaborate set design before being ready to seat the installation. An attempt to re-create the setting as described here will follow after the submission of this document to the institution and will be added to the appendix. The lighting and atmospherics to be recreated will follow the mood board on the facing page. Photographs of shortlisted locations are shown overleaf.

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Two categories of spaces are being investigated for the next setup and continued testing of the installation. These are : a. Tucked away nooks (A & B). b. Passageways with light wells (C & D). What these spaces have in common, is the property of being located in zones that one would pass through on the way to somewhere else.

If, as you pass by, you happen to be looking ahead, and are not staring down at a phone as is quite common these days, the play of light within the space has the property of making you want to stop for a minute. If an enclosure is rigged in these spaces, they would provide great zones for introspection.

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how it works IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (CONTINUED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [21] Bishwas, Saurabh. Push. Digital photograph 2014. Gandhinagar. [22] Bishwas, Saurabh. Reach. Digital photograph 2014. Gandhinagar. [23] Bishwas, Saurabh. Be Curious. Digital image 2014. Gandhinagar. [24] Bishwas, Saurabh. Watch. Digital image 2014. Gandhinagar. [25] Bishwas, Saurabh. Immerse. Digital image 2014. Gandhinagar. [26] Bishwas, Saurabh. Reflect. Digital image 2014. Gandhinagar.

PUSH

t is like something he has seen in a movie. Didn't that actress study herself in a mirror that looked like this? He raises his chin, and checks himself. Hmm, light bulbs and all, I wonder how it turns on? He looks around. It is intimate. There is no one else around. So he takes a seat and examines the cabinet. What are these pictures on the drawers? Something to do with AwdS~ pu{â&#x20AC; ... I don't need any pictures baby! Admires himself one last time in the mirror before pushing at one of the drawers ...

REACH

BE curious

WATCH

IMMERSE

REFLECT

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5. conclusion

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“

Understanding is but the sum of misunderstandings.

” Haruki Murakami in Sputnik Sweetheart, 2001

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more design directions Can we make the semiotic load lighter and increase the aesthetic value of the installation as a by-product?

ith a project like this one, there is a lot of room for experimentation and refinement. Although this experiment is being wrapped up due to institutional timeline restrictions, we have by no means exhausted all interesting questions that fall within the ambit of the refined brief.

PUSHING THE LIMITS OF THE CURRENT APPROACH The first question worth asking is : What happens when we tweak the aesthetic-content balance in favour of stripping away the first layer of content? i.e., What if we were to remove the image modality? What if the objects themselves were visible through transparent drawer faces? How does it affect the experience? Does it remain relevant to the user group still? Is the semiotic load now heavier or lighter? And the second is : What if the objects themselves are within boxes all of the same size and appearance? What if the shape of the box demanded that the user would have to extract the box from the drawer in order to open it and examine the object within? These questions are open to those having the motivation and the resources to pursue this project to a better defined conclusion.

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summary of learnings hat we have learned over the course of this project indicates that Design for Social Change (DSC) may be read as a contemporary, easily digestible, applied articulation of Critical Theory. Thus it makes sense that the DSC principles - where the designer is expected to immerse himself, prioritize process, and engage personally with the community where change is being sought to create a solution that is sympathetic to their fears and embodied experience (Shea 12, 54, 82, 110, 124) - naturally became an integral part of this project.

THE REWARDS OF A PROCESS-CENTRIC APPROACH Through the emphasis on process, and as a result of engagement with members of the target group across three Indian states, it became evident that the solution articulated could not be overtly didactic, since this added the risk of alienating the intended user. The real change that could be initiated in the short time span that was available for this project logically followed the route of Conceptual Art, which facilitates the use of an aesthetics of cognition as a recursive process. This is advantageous because it equips the viewer/user to perform political critique (which could lead to reform) at a personal and familial level at his own pace*. Precisely because the discipline of New Media Design aims to be severely trans-disciplinary, I was able to follow a rewarding process that some may construe as unconventional. It is unusual within the discipline to work on projects that do not assume the user to be proficient to a certain level in the use of technologies that are easily available to the middle class. Learning the process-centric, phenomenological approach to New Media development through trial and error has been a demanding, and consequently rewarding experience. * To access a quantified, empirical research study that is also a critique of Indian Masculinity, readers may please consult the study titled Masculinity, Son Preference, and Intimate Partner Violence â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a joint effort between the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and UNFPA that was released in December 2013. (For Critiques proper, you may refer to the Initial Precedent Study section under the chapter entitled, Grappling With Gender.)

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The limits of what constitutes Conceptual Art were also explored as a natural outcome of this process-centric approach. And so seeking out materials, artisans and investigating and implementing various fabrication techniques became an essential part of the project and served to balance the intellectual stress.

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IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] Bishwas, Saurabh. Aadarsh Purush 2. Digital photograph 2014. Gandhinagar. [2] Bishwas, Saurabh. Aadarsh Purush 1. Digital photograph 2014. Gandhinagar.

Although the amount of preparatory information to be sifted through in order to gain enough familiarity with basic concepts in Feminist Theory was monumental, daunting and also misdirected the formulation of the initial brief, being given the freedom to explore was satisfying and prevented the frustration that would have resulted had there been no choice but to adhere rigidly to that brief.

DESIGN LEARNING ONE : BE reflexivE This project also afforded the opportunity to engage with Critical Gender Theory in a context that is personally significant, though theoretically nascent. This provided me with significant insights into the processes and impulses that guide my cognitive responses during everyday social interactions. I came to realize that within a patriarchal society, even men who are gender aware display a tendency - attributable to years of social conditioning but certainly not pardonable- to dismiss problematic aspects of their behaviour as unnecessary of scrutiny or reform. Thus, the project undertaking in reality is one that is expected to continue for a lifetime, as slippages back to a gender unaware, or patriarchally immersed state from time to time are expected to occur, and will have to be painfully conditioned out of the subject. Even if he feels that he has no recourse but to continue to subscribe to certain patriarchal institutions in his lifetime, the male Indian must carry this awareness forward to the next generation where it can, and will take root even more firmly. Translating this to the overall project : It is important to always reflect on one's own biases at every stage of the design, research and evaluation process.

DESIGN LEARNING TWO : SCHEDULe CAREFULLY Working on this project has been intensely educational. I have learned the importance of careful scheduling of tasks during the planning stage to ease delays in prototyping. This included having to co-ordinate between the sourcing of so many different kinds of material, assigning tasks to skilled workers and working with

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available resources in the time available in between.

DESIGN LEARNING THREE : BE PATIENT + PERSISTENT Since this project required me to meet and work with so many different kinds of people, I learnt that the most desirable quality a designer can possess is to remain calm, no matter what crisis presents itself. People responded favourably to stressful situations when the person to whom the project mattered the most refused to be ruffled. I also learnt that no matter how large and overwhelming a project may seem, once you have sat down and made a schedule, it is just a matter of focusing on one thing at a time and doing it well before moving on to the next task. With persistence, small delays and setbacks cease to matter.

DESIGN LEARNING FOUR : MAINTAIN A DESIGN DIARY Another highly important lesson I learnt was the importance of a clear initial brief. Not only must the area to be investigated be clearly marked out, but a designer must ensure that these are in agreement with the initial motivation behind pursuing the design area. When designing an intervention for a research area that is new to the designer, there is a chance that the designer will be overwhelmed by a flood of new information and unwittingly deviate from the initial requirement. To negate such a possibility it is crucial that the designer maintain a daily diary of work completed where each day's findings/work can be related back to the original problem area. This also helps immensely with the final documentation of the project.

DESIGN LEARNING FIVE : LET THE USER SURPRISE YOU I learnt that the user will always surprise you with his/her expectations, proficiencies and interpretations. It is in both the design and the designer's best interests to spend time defining, engaging with and understanding the social group that is chosen. A design that comes out of iteration, especially when it is intended

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to serve a specific purpose, is always better than a design chock full of assumptions about the user. This was only the second time in my education as a designer that I followed this process and it was essential to crafting an accessible intervention. I only wish that I had had more time and funding to work on the project, making further iteration and refinement possible.

DESIGN LEARNING SIX : NEVER STOP LEARNING Even after the initial secondary research was deemed complete, inspiration continued to arrive from unexpected sources. The fact that I kept coming across conversations, videos, books, images and artworks that refined my understanding of the complex phenomena I was studying kept my interest high and drove me to work hard. I realized that every design project, no matter how difficult/ overwhelming, will daily afford the possibility to explore and to learn something unexpected. It is up to the designer to be receptive to these experiences and maintain his/her motivation during a challenging project. Thus over the duration of this project, I have taught myself how to get the best out of myself over the duration of a long design project while working effectively with a team that may have other tasks to prioritize. To recap, this can be achieved by being reflexive, scheduling work carefully, being patient and persistent under stress, maintaining a design diary for clarity, allowing the user to surprise you and always being open to learning, no matter how much you may think you already know. The time invested in this project has been invaluable to my growth, both as a design student at NID and as a human being.

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6. references and appendices

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“

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone ” else is thinking

Haruki Murakami in Norwegian Wood, 1987

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references Artist Abstracts

Chhabria, Roshan. bestcollegeart.com. bestcollegeart.com. n.d. Web. Oct 2013 “An Ideal Boy”, Meera Sethi Creative. Meera Sethi Sethi. 2013. Web. Oct 2013. “Cildo Meireles Insertions into Indeological Circuits: Coca-Coal Project 1970”, Tate. Tate, n.d. Web. Jun 2013. Fazlalideh, Tatyana. “Stop Telling Women To Smile”, Tatyana Fazlalideh. Philadelphia: self. 2013. Web. Oct 2013 Loggerhead, B. “Masculinities in the space of art”. Relocating Masculinities. Nov 2007. Web. Oct 2013. Okwenje, Bathsheba. “Adda Baazi, Public Art Project”, Maharam Steam Fellows. RISD Maharam Fellows. n.d. Web. Oct 2013. “Photo Essay Talk To Me”, Blank Noise Blog. Blank Noise. 2013. Web. Oct 2013. “Rohit Dubey”, Coroflot. Core77Inc. 2014. Web. Oct 2013. Shwachman, Greta. “Soo Sunny Park Unwoven Light”, Rice Gallery. n.p. 2013. Web. Oct 2013. Stam, Jon. “Cabinet of the (Material & Virtual) World”, Commonplace Studio. n.p. n.d. Web. Oct 2013. Subbaiah, Kiran. “Kiran Subbaiah Backwards Ahead”, Kochi Muziris Biennale 2014. Kochi Muziris Biennale. n.d. Web. Oct 2013.

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Artist & Other Interviews

Bhasin, Kamla. Interview by unknown. YouTube. FUCCHA and Respect Women, 2013. Web. Nov. 2013. Emin, Tracey. Interview by unknown. YouTube. Illuminations Media, 2003. Web. Dec. 2013. Price, Hannah. “My Harassers”. Interview by Rosecrans Baldwin. The Morning News. The Morning News LLC, 2013. Web. Oct. 2013. Rousseau, Bryant. “Atul Dodiya”, Blouin Artinfo. Louise Blouin Foundation, Dec 2007. Web Oct 2010 Smyth, ASH. “theartsdesk Q&A: Sarnath Banerjee”, theArtsDesk. com. The Arts Desk Ltd., Mar 2010. Web Oct 2010.

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Books & Pamphlets

Album of Cut and Paste: Pictorial Charts for Budding Kids. Delhi: Indian Book Depot MapHouse), Year Unknown. Print. Alam, Arshad. Inside a Madrasa: Knowledge, Power, and Islamic Identity in India. 2011. Alter, Joseph S. Moral Materialism: Sex and Masculinity in Modern India. Penguin UK, 2011. Bhasin, Kamla. Exploring Masculinity. Women Unlimited, 2003. Print. Buchbinder, David. Studying Men and Masculinities. Routledge, 2012. Print. Chenoy, Anuradha M., and Kamal Mitra Chenoy. "Gender and Armed Conflicts". Maoist and other armed conflicts. Penguin Books India, 2010. 180-213. Print. Goldie, Peter, and Elisabeth Schellekens, Eds. Philosophy and Conceptual Art. Oxford University Press, 2007. PDF. Kakar, Sudhir. The Inner World: A Psycho-analytic Study of Childhood and Society in India. Fourth Edition. Oxford University Press. (2012). Print. Khilnani, Sunil. The idea of India. Penguin Books India, 1999. Print. Kumar, Radha. The history of doing: an illustrated account of movements for women's rights and feminism in India 1800-1990. Zubaan, 1997. PDF. Mukherji, Nirmalangshu. The Maoists in India: Tribals Under Siege. New Delhi: Amaryllis. (2013). Print. Nandy, Ashis. The intimate enemy. Oxford University Press, 1989. Print.

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Orwell, George. Animal farm: A Fairy Story. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2011. Print. Roy, Rahul. A Little Book on Men. New Delhi: Yoda Press, 2007. Print. Roy, Rammohun. Translation of an Abridgment of the Vedant. (1817): iii. PDF. Shea, Andrew. Designing For Social Change: Strategies for Community-Based Graphic Design (Design Briefs). New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. Print. Virdi, Jyotika. The Cinematic ImagiNation [sic]: Indian Popular Films as Social History. Rutgers University Press, 2003. Print.

Documentary Films

Coding Culture. Dir.Gautam Sonti and Carol Upadhya. DER, 2006. Film. Father, son and holy war. Dir. Anand Patwardhan. First Run/Icarus Films, 1994. Film. Majma. Dir. Rahul Roy. Magic Lantern Movies LLP, 2001. Film. Men, Muscles & Masculinity. Dir. Rohit Dubey. NID, 2002. Film. Red Ant Dream. Dir. Sanjay Kak. n.p., 2013. Film. When Four Friends Meet. Dir. Rahul Roy. Magic Lantern Movies LLP, 2000. Film.

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Online Encyclopedia Entries

Allen, Amy, "Feminist Perspectives on Power", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.): n. pag. Web. Nov 2013. Bohman, James, "Critical Theory", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.): n. pag. Web. Nov 2013. “Critical Theory.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 9 January 2014. Web: Nov 2013. "gender." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 03 Apr. 2013. Web. Schellekens, Elisabeth, "Conceptual Art", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) : n. Pag. Web. Nov 2013.

Websites

“Anti-Bias Education”. Teaching For Change. Teaching For Change. 2014. Web. Dec 2013. BoxOfficeIndia.com. BoxOfficeIndia.com. 2011. Web. Sep 2013 Center for Health and Social Justice. CHSJ, 2013. Web. Nov 2013. Forum to Engage Men (FEM). CHSJ, 2013. Web. Nov 2013. Know Your Body, Know Your Rights. The YP Foundation, n.d. Web. Dec 2013. MenCare: A Global Fatherhood Campaign. MenCare, 2014. Web. Oct 2013. Sangat A South Asian Feminist Network. Sangat. n.d. Web. Nov 2013. SparkFun. SparkFun Electronics, n.d. Web. Nov 2013.

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Articles in Journals, Magazines & Other Publications

Agger, Ben. "Critical theory, poststructuralism, postmodernism: Their sociological relevance." Annual review of sociology (1991): 105131. Web. Nov 2013. Atwood, Margaret. Alien territory. Ann Arbor,: University of Michigan., 1993. Atwood, Margaret. “When Privacy is Theft”. The New York Review of Books. NYREV Inc. Nov. (2013). Web: Jan 2014. Banerjee, Sikata. "Gender and nationalism: the masculinization of Hinduism and female political participation in India." Women's Studies International Forum. Vol. 26. No. 2. Pergamon, 2003. Baxi, Pratiksha. "Rape, retribution, state: on whose bodies?." Economic and Political Weekly (2000): 1196-1200. Bose, Rupleena. "Amar Chitra Katha and Its Cultural Ideology." Economic and Political Weekly (2009): 33-35. Bhatt, Gauri Shankar. "Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, and the Church-Sect Typology." Review of Religious Research 10.1 (1968): 23-32. Bhagavan, Manu. "The Hindutva underground: Hindu nationalism and the Indian National Congress in late colonial and early postcolonial India." Economic and political weekly (2008): 39-48. Bharucha, Rustom. "Dismantling Men: Crisis of Male Identity in 'Father, Son and Holy War'." Economic and Political Weekly (1995): 1610-1616. Broome, Sarah K. "Stri-Dharma: Voice of the Indian Women's Rights Movement 1928-1936." (2012). Butler, Judith. "Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory." Theatre journal 40.4 (1988): 519-531. Deosthalee, Deepa. "Chetna and the Awakening that Wasn't." Film Impressions Oct. 2013: n. pag. Web. 8 Oct 2013.

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Dhondy, Farrukh. "Keeping Faith: Indian Film and Its World." Daedalus 114.4 (1985): 125-140. Dwyer, Rachel. "Real and Imagined Audiences:" Lagaan" and the Hindi Film after the 1990s." Etnofoor (2002): 177-193. Engineer, Asghar Ali. “Muslims and Indian Nationalism by Uma Kaura” Economic and Political Weekly 12.23 ( 1977): 919-920 Fraser, Nancy. "What's critical about critical theory? The case of Habermas and gender." New German Critique 35 (1985): 97-131. Hadravova, Tereza: "Approaching Cognitive Aesthetics", Proceedings to XIX Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Avignon: August 2006. Hanisch, Carol. "The Personal Is Political." 2006. Jain, Kajri. "Muscularity and its ramifications: Mimetic male bodies in Indian mass culture." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 24.s1 (2001): 197-224. Jacobs, Dale. "Marveling at" The Man Called Nova": Comics as Sponsors of Multimodal Literacy." College Composition and Communication (2007): 180-205. Kannabiran, Kalpana, and Vasanth Kannabiran. "Gendering Justice." Economic and Political Weekly (1996): 2223-2225. Katiyar, Arun. "Obscene Overtures: Khalnayak's 'Choli' song fuels race for folk smut." indiatoday.in. (1994): Web. Sep 2013. Kohli, Suresh. "Friday Review : Saudagar(1973)" The Hindu 11 Jan .2013. Web. Lateef, Shahida. "Whither the Indian Women's Movement?." Economic and Political Weekly (1977): 1948-1951. Liddle, Joanna, and Shirin Rai. "Feminism, imperialism and orientalism: the challenge of the ‘Indian Woman’." Women's History Review

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7.4 (1998): 495-520. Mehta, Mehta. “What Is Behind Film Censorship? The Khalnayak Debates.” University of Minnesota, 2001: Web. Sep 2013. Mishra, Arunima. “Rule of Thumb : Tribals in Orissa's Niyamgiri hills reject Vedanta's bauxite mining project in a landmark referendum. ” Businesstoday. (2013): Web. Sep 2013 Nanda, Priya et al. “Masculinity, Son Preference and Intimate Violence.” ICRW, 2013. Web PDF. Nandy, Ashis. "Woman versus Womanliness in India: An Essay in Cultural and Political Psychology." Ashis Nandy, At the Edge of Psychology: Essays in Politics and Culture (1980): 32-46. "Not For Lack of Powers." Economic and Political Weekly 13.35 (1977): 1487-1488 Pandey, Gyanendra. "Hindus and others: The militant Hindu construction." Economic and political weekly (1991): 2997-3009. Pauwels, Heidi. "The Woman Waylaid at the Well or Panaghata-lila. An Indian Folk Theme Appropriated in Myth and Movies." Asian ethnology 69.1 (2010): 1-33. Paziuk, Greg. "Communicating with Multimodalities and Multiliteracies." Teaching Innovation Projects 3.1 (2013): 10. Ram in an angry mood. Laminated chromolithograph. n.d. n.p. Pinney, Christopher. "The nation (un) pictured? Chromolithography and'popular'politics in India, 1878-1995." Critical inquiry 23.4 (1997): 837. FIG 1. PDF Pinney, Christopher. "The nation (un) pictured? Chromolithography and'popular'politics in India, 1878-1995." Critical inquiry 23.4 (1997): 834-867. Pritchett, Frances W. "4. The World of Amar Chitra Katha." Media and the transformation of religion in South Asia (1998): 76.

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Rao, Aruna. "Nymphs, nawabs, and nationalism: Myth and history in Indian comics." Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 7.1 (1996): 31-44. Rammohan, E.N. “Unleash the Good Force.” outlookindia.com. (2012): Web. Sep 2013. Raghavendra, M.K. “Melodrama, ‘Loyalty’ and the Nation. The Trajectory of Hindi Cinema ” Phalanx.in : A Quarterly Review for Coninuing Debate. (2001): Web. Sep 2013. Russell, Jay D. “Marcel Duchamp's Readymades: Walking on Infrathin Ice”, 2003. Web PDF. Dec 2013. Sarkar, Tanika. "Birth of a Goddess:'Vande Mataram'," Anandamath", and Hindu Nationhood." Economic and Political Weekly (2006): 3959-3969. Sen, Geeti. "Iconising The Nation: political agendas." India International Centre Quarterly 29.3/4 (2002): 154-175. Shedde, Meenakshi. "Men Are Fixed Deposits, Women Are Small Change." Tehelka.Com 5. (2008): 5. : Web. Apr 2013. Simpson, Mark. "Meet the metrosexual." Salon.Com 22 (2002): 1-6. : Web. Apr 2013. Sinha, Mrinalini. "Refashioning mother India: Feminism and nationalism in late-colonial India." Feminist Studies 26.3 (2000): 623-644. Web. Sep 2013. Sreenivas, Deepa. Sculpting the Middle Class: History, Masculinity and the Amar Chitra Katha. Routledge, 2012. Print. Srivastava, Sanjay. "Voice, Gender and Space in Time of Five-Year Plans: The Idea of Lata Mangeshkar." Economic and Political Weekly (2004): 2019-2028. Zastoupil, Lynn. "" Notorious and Convicted Mutilators": Rammohun Roy, Thomas Jefferson, and the Bible." Journal of World History 20.3 (2009): 399-434.

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APPENDIX 1 : charts

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APPENDIX 2 : interviews collecting stories : Kerala, Uttar Pradesh The conversations that make up the data within this section were either had at a nascent stage in the project, or were undertaken to clarify local issues pertaining to gender and patriarchy or gender and violence, and tend to be rambling and often unfocused. This section thus only provides a synthesis of important issues that came up while chatting with both men and women from Kerala, Gujarat and U.P. for the benefit of the reader. Study in Kerala was conducted from late April 2013 to mid-May 2013 in and around the cities of Cochin and Trivandrum. The women interviewed were all housewives over 35 years of age, while the men ranged in age from 25 to 55. Data was gathered primarily through 25 Long Interviews. Interviews in U.P. were specifically conducted on a visit to Muzaffarnagar following a series of bloody riots, which for the first time across India brought communal pogroms out from the Indian city to the villages in late September to early October. The persons interviewed were male, in the age group 25-35, and were either inhabitants of Basi Kala or Tavli villages, or refugees who had sought shelter in these villages. Data was gathered using a mix of Participant Observation (1) and Long Interviews (6), while the researcher stayed for a period of two days with the refugees at Basi Kala and visited Tavli on both days.

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IMAGES IN THIS CHAPTER (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) [1] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 70) [2] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 8) [3] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 25) [4] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 27) [5] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 52) [6] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 110) [7] ("Album of Cut and Paste" 100)

kerala & Matriarchy Conversations in Kerala concerning the fabled matrilineal inheritance system, a supposed indicator of a matriarchal social system, reveal that roughly prior to the early 20th century, property rights and subsequently lineage were both traced through the mother in families of the dominant Hindu castes (especially true of the Nairs - pronounced as Naayars). Although this has legally changed, many families continue to trace their lineage this way. Under this system, all descendants of the oldest common female ancestor would live under one roof - the ancestral home or tharavadu which has now become a commonly used term. However it must be noted that several prominent caste groups such as the Namboothiris (the Brahmin castes) did not practice a matrilineal system. The term used to describe this system was Marumakkathayam. The etymology of this can be traced to from the word Marumakkal, or sister's children. This brings back memories of Malayalam movies set in older times: in the tharavadu, there was always an uncle on the mother's side who would take charge of the household affairs for all practical affairs. Under this system, the matriarchal figurehead (much like the President of India) had to be consulted before any actions were taken, but it was this uncle who "took the burden of making difficult decisions" off her shoulders. To complicate this intrigue, there exists still in Kerala today the concept of murapennu and muracherkkan. These were terms for betrothal. Every girl child grew up betrothed to her male cousin. This was an effective system that ensured that property disputes arising after marriage remained within the family, making the system one of a hooded patriarchy. Indeed many popular Malayalam films reflect this reality, such as M.T. Vasudevan Nair's Murapennu. After the Hindus, the mostly Sunni Muslim Mappilas of Malabar (Malappuram district) form the second major religious demographic within the state and they have a very interesting history of conflict with the Nairs and the Namboothiris (these include Mysore state's invasion of Kerala, The Moplah Rebellion etc.) This eventually led to the creation of the separate Malappuram district. They follow a strictly patriarchal system of community organization.

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uttar pradesh & power-over The situation remained highly volatile with the Muslims who had been driven out of their homes by the Hindu Jats (riled up by unknown forces who were behind the organization of Mahapanchayats that created an atmosphere of communal siege rumours were rife about Hindu Nationalist political intentions in the state with an eye on the 2014 National elections) The main intention here was to understand the nuances of the relation between gender and communal violence, which repeatedly came up in the extensive secondary research conducted at the beginning of this project. It must be noted that this account is likely to be biased since the researcher is a Muslim by birth and, to ensure safe passage at this volatile time, only made contact with the embattled Muslim community. This one-sidedness must be kept in mind while reading this account. Apparently, in villages where the Muslims were in a majority, the rioters marched on, only sporadically attacking individuals. However, in the remaining villages, they were free to attack the minority (note that it is impossible for the researcher in this circumstance to be impartial). Female children remained missing. Stories of rape, used explicitly as a tool of subjugation were recounted. Significantly though, very few of these crimes were officially reported with no arrests at the time of the interviews. The media did not deem it worthy of full coverage and so these particular rapes never received National attention. The refugees have been put up in camps within, and on the grounds of madrassas in the Muslim majority villages that lie closer to Muzaffarnagar city, to which they have fled. There was a clear play of power relations at work, of the powerover kind (see the Motivation section within Chapter 1 for an explanation). And what was significant was that this relationship had both a trickle down effect in the hierarchy, as well as radiating outward. As unknown political forces organized Mahapanchayats to exercise their power-over these (predominantly) sugarcane farmers, these men in turn began to exercise their power-over men who were

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perceived to be weaker (Muslim men living in Hindu dominated areas) and the woman who is traditionally dictated as the weaker gender. The absence of the state, and thin media presence on the ground was the most telling feature (it was expected that there would be roadblocks, police patrols, identity checks, but the only state presence was in the urban center of Muzaffarnagar and personal protection to village headmen), that again spoke of power-over radiating outward from a political center. The following significant dialogue speaks for itself : "Abhi wait and watch chal raha hai. Mussalmaano ke saath zulm hua hai yahaan. Mussalman abhi intezaar kar raha hai ki koun hamaari party humhare liye koun sahi kaam kar rahi hai, koun sahi kaam karegi. Jo in Muslimon ki fayda karegi, jo inki riyaaz ka intezaam karegi, aaj pachaas, saat hazaar Muslim begaar hai, jiski acche achhe achche makaan hai, ek ek manzile ke building hain, wo campon mein jeevan guzaar kar rahe hai, ek ek kambal ke liya haath phailaa rahe hain ... To ye dekhenge hum ki koun inlogon ki benefit kar raha hai, koun in logon ki fayda kar raha hai .. Jo party ye sab karegi, usko vote karenge." The feeling of powerlessness reinforced the patriarchal mind-set in other ways, such as when a Muslim man, in a moment of solitude, reflected that now more than ever, it was critical for Muslims families to have as many children as possible.

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APPENDIX 3 : interviews validating concepts : what constitutes masculinity?

The following interviews were conducted targeting working class men in the age group 20-35 employed in various professions within the city of Gandhinagar. 12 respondents were interviewed, out of which 9 were analyzed to refine the terminology that could be used to target this social group. The following set of questions were posed to a number of working class males from the lower to middle economic stratum : 1. What are the pressures of being a man in Indian society? 2. What are the qualities of the ideal man? 3. Word Association. What comes to your mind when I say the following : 1. sPl 2. qwkq 3. Provider - DnI, p õdwqw 4. Knows what is right / wise & an expert- ivDwqw, B^vwn 5. Gentleman / refined / cultured - inm~l 6. Romeo 7. r@k 8. pr<prw 9. md~ 10. AwËminB~r, ^Xwin 11. Hero 12. piq prmyÜvr. The interviews were kept open-ended. Subjects were allowed to speak as much as they felt was necessary on tangents from the main line of questioning. The purpose of this exercise was to extract a more refined (ie contextual) understanding of how the working class perceives aspects of masculinity.

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RESPONDENT 1 OCCUPATION : AUTO DRIVER

Gave up onion farming 5-6 years back since the water in our part of the river dried up, been driving auto since 8 years. The pressures of being a man in Indian society

Shaadi, bachche, pressure, tension. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dhandha, kismat, kamaana, wife saath dethi hain. Makaan ka kaam karti hain. Savings Zyaada kamao to zyada nahin rahta. Abhi bachhon ki padhai, shaadi etc tension. 4 children : 2 girls and 2 boys, the two boys are the youngest. Mard

Jo mehnath karta hai. sPl Main kuch karoon, aage nikal jaoon. Kabhi kabhi zameen dikha dete hain aur commission milta hain (6-7 saal se). Raymonds. Suit boot, khaane peene, mouj, masti, apne hisaab se thoda shouk kar lete hain. Gaadi ho, Coffee Day mein coffee peena...

qwkq Ladaai Jhagada nahin karte r@k Khud ki raksha sambhaalna wife and kids Provider. We help each other. Auto driver community, if someone has to repair a tyre, we all put in money and help him. Rupees 200/300 in a day. Gas ka ho gaya 200 now I need 200, today I make 150, eat and sleep. Romeo. Some girl is with you I do'nt judge. These are students. See

when we were students also we used to do mouj masti, khaate peete. 10-15 ladke we used to say let's go here, let's see this. Ladki ka lafda. Used to go out after papa sleeps.

RESPONDENT 2 OCCUPATION : REAL ESTATE BROKER

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The pressures of being a man in Indian society

Being a man in Indian society is easier than in any western society. Mainly the pressures are on a social front. More than 90% females are housewives. You are tired at the end of the day and you go home and she has expectations because she has been at home all day. Because they are not so much out .... if she has not been a working lady, she will not understand. She complains. I do not give time for marriages, meetings etc. Financial burden. We need to share the load. Share house work. To maintain the standard of living. Small families are sustainable. Ghar, kaam, EMI, one salary is not enough. Whatever 15 – 20000 whatever the wife can earn, becomes pure savings. Here in India we need to pay medical bills. We have to worry about the present and the future: LIC, mediclaim etc. In US, govt takes care of you. Future mein aage badhne ke liye wife ki kamayi chahiye. Why

Females are brought up knowing that they will spend 25 years in their birth place, 25 years at her husband's place, then serve him as a God; Indian men do not have to come across over ambitious females. Women here are ready to play second fiddle. Films & Heroes & Society

Young generation is more mature at a younger age. When i was in college I never knew what I wanted to do. These days they have a better idea, still consciously they deviate. It's not like they get in the flow and stay in. They consume ganja etc. I understand there may be pressures. I can understand drinking, cigarettes etc. But I came out of ganja, drugs etc. Girl child – what are your concerns for her in future?

TV ne kaafi inko sikhaaya bhi hai. At 5 years old, the topics she talks on, even at 12-13 I have not spoken such things and in this manner with my parents. I never opened my mouth till college. Her generation, the best thing they'll get : Their decisions, their failures will be their own. They won't be able to blame anyone. We are a sandwich generation – b/w orthodox and modern. India has changed a lot in the last 10-15 years. Post economic globalization 92-93 Manmohan Singh .. it began to show 95-96 in the market.

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Old generation hasn't been able to keep pace. We are going to feel old after 60. We do not enforce our thought process on to anybody else, we are more liberal. The basic tendency is that no matter how much we get it's less. Challenges of being a parent. We have to learn from the mistakes of our parents. My father stopped my sports at a certain age – I had to go for job otherwise the house would crash down. If my girl wants to pursue her hobby power to her. So from now I have to be financially sound so i don't have such a compulsion. Statistics in graduation. Third year I got recruited on sports basis. Fizool ka kharch. How important is peer support (of the same gender)?

When you are sick or depressed, you need someone , someone to share with. Kaise dena seniors se sikha, kaise dena juniors ko sikhaya. When you come home at such long intervals, that experience of love reality se kareeeb nahin hota. Professional life mein genuine peers are difficult to find. Things which you cannot share with wife, family members etc... (you'll cause them stress) You can't be yourself with family members. Carefree attitude where har do baath har do shabd mein gaali aati hain. piq prmyÜvr. Hira Panna

Hero. Dad

qwkq Wife. pr<prw Friends. Romeo. Juliet. md~. Ramlila ka Ram. sPl PD (myself) Independence. What I'm giving to Keya. Authority. Letting people be what they are. Superior. Take care of the inferiors. Men should be liberal. Understand their female partners. Should not be possessive (in a true sense males are more possessive than females. Jalan ko dabaake hansi laate hain muh pe late hai. Girlfriends won't be as jealous. Hero / Aadarsh that everyone can relate to.

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Life of Bill Clinton – solved his personal turmoil and rose above. Amitabh Bachchan – for his human nature Our CM Mr Narendra Modi – for his administrative abilities whatever media has thrown at him he has never retaliated. He says he will show though his work over a long period of time that he is deserving of forgiveness from that community.

RESPONDENT 3 OCCUPATION : SECURITY GUARD

Abhi security nahin hain. Pehle girls were secure. Boy however small or big they used to know their limitations. No television. Western culture kya tha isko maaloom nahin hai. Woman was secure. Balatkaar kya hota hai kisi ko maloom nahin tha. These days you ask a 10 year old child, they know how women get pregnant. Rajput ladies get lot of respect. Western means what. Purity, loyalty. Go to Mathura, Dwaraka, foreigners wear sari, mangal sutra. That's not part of their culture. Why they wear and we don't wear? In school, kids know what is BF, GF. Cartoons teach them. 11 years old, my brother in law – he knows “cheers”. What is purity? Virginity... That old tradition, on the first night if there is no blood, on the second day they would give a divorce. This is a tradition still in parts of Rajasthan. My wife says : I am free since childhood – I am only here to prove myself. Who will compromise? Someone must. Otherwise the family will be destroyed.When a lady goes on the wrong track the khandaan gets destroyed. Aadmi goes on the wrong track only the parivaar gets destroyed (one ghar). Religion

Bachcha hoga eish karega budhaape mein why do you go on a pilgrimage? Allah maalik abh bachaa le. Wife is North Indian, I am Gujarati. She is ahead of me in education. The biggest thing is ego. Tension, fighting, husband should support. Joru ka ghulam bulathe hai. If you cannot do, then let her do. How important is the support of others for a man?

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Husband and wife relationship has to be transparent. Being a Rajput, I was lucky that my family supported my love marriage. I was close to my father. I never made friends. I used to tell him only. Mum used to object when i came home late. Dad and i used to sit and eat jalebi on the terrace. He was diabetic. I would give missed call from my bullet. After eating he would yell at me scold me. We had a deal. I wanted to go on a wrong track but I never went. All parents pressurize on career these days. Movies

Chulbul Pandey ko eemandar police officer batlaya gaya hai. Police force uniform wala if he continues on this path he will be ousted or fail. From top to bottom in India at any level there is no officer. Robin Hood . Chulbul Pandey – it's an imaginary story. Who is increasing this corruption? You and me ... How to be corrupt? The media teaches this. How to steal. Take for example : Jugnu (Dharmendra) people got inspired and done robbery. See the latest bike, good girl, it strikes your head suddenly – expensive stuff, sexy and they go to hotel. Mujhe paisa chaahiye. All these requirements fuel each other. Self control hona bahuth zaroori hain. We have to take charge and be responsible for change. Only in movies do kids of criminals become good men... Got selected for commando 6 month training. I was NCC senior under officer in Ahmedabad. He is not a man, Jallaad hai (executioner). Software engineer. In the crime branch, during training I saw lots of criminals. Other officers used to hit them a lot. I learnt a man's weakness is his family, be it wife or kids. Indian men do not compromise. Gaali

Khule in college. At home, respect is there... Some people who also are abusive language at home. Eating, ladkika figure discuss kar rahe hain. They are our friends.Can't discuss at home. “he is not of our type” : say people at the club. You don't keep shouk in ladki, daru. Kya aap mere jaisa ban sakte hain? In my circle, everyone smoked. I got a cold from one cigarette. A person only wants one thing – attention, love.

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Success. Lakshmi Mittal. Ratan Tata. Strong. Hanumaan Rakshak. Bulletproof jacket, defensive. Mard. Courages. Subhas Chandra Bose. Bhagat Singh. Guru Tej

Bahadur. Hero. Amitabh Bachchan. Father. Independent. Kati Patang. Balloon. Parampara. Rajput family. Authority. President, Asoka emblem. Romeo. Kashmir valleys. Rose. Superior. Laloo Prasad Yadav.

RESPONDENT 4 OCCUPATION : SECURITY GUARD

Life strategies are samaaj specific. Parivaar ke structure. Pitaji ka attitude – discipline – he was an eemandar policeman - “be honest”. Sadasya ke baatcheet, vichaar dhara open tha. Upto 10 years we couldn't distinguish boy and girl. We were playing together. Janmse chaddi pahante the upto 12. We don't think what is the sex? I belong to Lucknow. Body structure is separate. No badlaav b/w boys and girls we didn't experience in our sisters. In some states and places these things happen. We have lost a lot through media. Culture has been destroyed. We have forgotten mutual respect. People are money minded these days. They only think : how to earn? Aaj laagoo ho bhi nahin sakte hai. Ghulamiyat aa jaati hai. Loyalty, understanding, no one can come in b/w. These days there's no friend type of discussion no losing prem ka relation. Population se time se logon ke ichchayein badh gayi In life, satisfaction is first. Role models

Baaghban picture Amitabh, Hema Malini. Those times you could watch pictures with family. Mom, Dad why do we say these things these days? They are 'dead'. Inside him chaahath comes. You need to go on reality, not on dikhaava. Self confidence is impor-

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tant, character, education and family background all influence this. Son of a criminal will be a criminal. Laloo ki ladki doctor kyun nahin bani. It's in her blood. Bhinnatayein karodon milenge. Low, medium, high culture are the only three according to books. Mitra jo hai ey sale you have to mix up in society. Otherwise you will not find acceptance. Manushya paristhithiyon ka ghulam hota hai. Enjoy life characterfully, correctfully. Log apne bachaav ke liye bataate hai ki sangat ka avsar padta hain. Apne bachche koi dekhe to bole, yes Mr. Pandey ke bachche hai. Pahnaav we don't allow above the knees clothing. Expectations from a Mard in society.

We always need to be reliable, faithful, loyal, correctivity, charitra, cheerful. Charming, hansmukh, even in takleef no no don't think about it I am very comfortable.

RESPONDENT 5 OCCUPATION : SALES What makes a man?

Self respect. Nothing is impossible. Helpful. Respect others. Is not that if body is big you are a mard. Family javaabdaari. Shaadi, bachhe paida karna. Joint family â&#x20AC;&#x201C; papa, mummy, sister etc. They take care of the kids. I don't have to take any tension for my daughter. Success. Progress. Refined. Dimaag se saaf hone chaahiye. Strong. Money. Paisa. Protector. Bahaadur. Self-defence. Virile. Myself. Don't bow my head. Hero. Smart. Independent. Khud ka kaam. Parampara. Paan ka Panna. Personal tradition. Authority. Self. Mujhe ghar pe kuch karna hai to mai karta hoon.

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Romeo. Lafdein. Superior. Mann mein jo aaye vahi behtar.

RESPONDENT 6 OCCUPATION : SALES The pressures of being a man in Indian society

Have to be at home by 8, 8:30 because I am married. I have no other problems. Mard mard hota hain. Success. 1 lakh rupees monthly Refined. Indian people. Strong. Salman Khan. Protector. myself Virile. Real mard Hero. Fardeen Khan Independent. Poora din bahar ghoomna. Full freedom like dogs to

chedo any girl on the road. Provider. Friends Parampara. Marriage Authority. My office â&#x20AC;&#x201C; nothing without me.

Romeo. Juliet Superior. God. Modibhai.

RESPONDENT 7 OCCUPATION : BUSINESSMAN Mard

Jo aurat nahin hota hain. Jo sab responsibility le sake of business, house, families. The pressures of being a man in Indian society

I was free when I was in 20s, teens. Shaadi responsibility hain, nahin to mard ko saala mard koi nahin bolega. Success. Facebook (CEO) Refined. Gujarati Strong. Money

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Protector. Army Virile. Myself. Hero. Amitabh Bachchan. Independent. Self Dependant. Provider. Mother, father. Parampara. Shaadi Authority. My father. Romeo. Juliet Superior. God.

RESPONDENT 8 OCCUPATION : BUSINESSMAN The pressures of being a man in Indian society

Responsibility ghar ki, buying household things. Takes tough decisions and carry all responsibilities. Success. Amitabh Refined. Amitabh Bachchan Strong. Undertaker Protector. BSF jawan Virile. Lion. Hero. Myself. Independent. Self Reliant. Provider. Service Provider (on time). Parampara. Shaadi Byaah Romeo. Romeo Colimou (an old friend) Superior. God.

RESPONDENT 9 OCCUPATION : BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR

The pressures of being a man in Indian society

Family commitments, relationships with relative, keeping everyone happy, earning bread (economic).

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Why is there a disconnect, if family is supposed to be your relief?

Expectations. People want special treatment. You want to be the best. This is sometimes self imposed pressure of course. That I am somewhat significant in my social group. Give me this, give me that. Both are byond objective reality. Did you feel like it was easier to be a man in other countries where you lived?

In the rest of the world, this showing off business to friends, relatives is not there. We have to keep a tab on what they think and ego for these people. Men and talking about troubles.

These days its not happening so much. Within the boys group they discuss. Don't disclose. Where there is expectation. Mainstream cinema is far from reality. Rahul Bose, Naseeruddin Shah, Wake Up Sid etc are more accurate. A man is struggling with normal life. Kids idealize Hritik Roshan, not grownups. Heroes don't have that emotional level as Rajesh Khanna etc according to me. Balraj Sahani, Amitabh etc. Style statements only. You know the cliche that there is no substance. Heroes are not even consistent in their personality. Manoj Kumar is Mr Bharat â&#x20AC;&#x201C; desbhakt. You would not find him doing romantic roles. Success. Businessman. Refined. Suit + Shoes. Strong. Bodybuilding. Protector. Police, gun. Mard. Amitabh Bachchan. Hero. Movies. Independent. Nobody to respond to / commitments. Provider. Bread earner. Parampara. Fatherly figure. Authority. Teacher/boss. Romeo. Roadside Romeo, nothing to do in life but chase girls. Superior. Bigger achievers in other countries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NASA is superior to

ISRO. Someone who can manage to get something very very difficult who beyond the capability of a common man.

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APPENDIX 4 : interviews refining the interface : image and meaning

The following set of image cards were shown to 16 working class males (age group 20 - 35) and the respondents were asked to evaluate the meaning contained within each image. If they were not able to do this, they were asked to at least describe the image being shown. The purpose of this exercise was to determine the level of abstraction that could safely be adopted while creating / curating content for the target audience. The meaning that was intended to be conveyed through the image is denoted in grey text by the side as : qwkq etc.

sPĂ&#x2DC;qw This image holds much potential for open interpretation and will be retained as such.

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qwkq This image holds much potential for open interpretation and will be retained as such.

kmwn vy wlw This image may be overcrowded. All respondents were not immediately able to build the required story around it.

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piq prm Ă&#x153;y vr This image requires Ram to be holding a bow to distinguish him from Sri Krishna.

s Ut b Ut This image generally conveyed what it was intended to.

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roimXo This image requires one more clarifying element as sometimes, respondents believed it was referring to the ideal man's manner of speaking.

r@k This image can be slightly recomposed to make it easier to read.

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b hy qr This image needs a clarifying element to emphasize superiority. There is no comparison here. Only Milkha vs. Milkha.

AwĂ&#x2039;minB~r In this image, the charkha is such a strong symbol that it immediately turns respondents thoughts to Gandhiji. The arms have to be holding objects that are more directly symbolic. CHAPTER 6 : REFERENCES AND APPENDICES

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pwr<pirk This image could show Bachchan with his arm around a daughter like figure for clarity. It is generally readable.

md~ This image can be slightly recomposed to make it easier to read. However it is not too obtuse.

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hIro This image needs to be completely reworked. Perhaps multiple heros can be shown in recognizable poses.

SUBJECTS : MULTIPLE RESPONDENTS OCCUPATION : GARDENER / GROUNDSKEEPERS

This says congratulations. It looks like a good sign (considering the picture as a representation of something society wants from a man). In our society they say; they shake hands and say you are a good man, you have done good work. Hanumanji. He is a tremendous bhakt. This is saying become like Hanumanji. Taakatwala bano. Whatever comes in front of you, face

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it. Don't fall back. This is money. In front there is a TV. What is this... looks like a fridge. [In society a man should] buy like this. Make money and purchase such things for your home. TV for your kids and a fridge for your home are good. Earn less, what you need. Ram bhagvaan is there. He is a great god. Fall on his feet. Say to him, He Bhagvaan, give us memory and strength like you. This is an umbrella. Good clothes. Wear clothes like this. But simply wearing clothes like this is not enough. Work a little. Work hard and rest. At a dining table, eat, drink, make merry. These are lips. Looks like someone has been given a kiss. Some people roam with girls, make merry, kiss them. Raakhi is being tied. When marriages happen also, a similar raakhi is tied. (a similar bond?) When a marriage ends, the raakhi is removed. Bhaag Milka Bhaag! He is running a race. I can't understand more. Bachchan has come. This is saying become like Bachchan and wear a Tilak and roam around. If something comes beneath your feet, be attentive and walk. Look there's a cat below. Gandhiji's charkha. Work the charkha and come forward. Bachchan again. What is it saying. Don't smoke? Smoke? The hand is saying come...

SUBJECTS : MULTIPLE RESPONDENTS OCCUPATION : PAINT WORKSHOP HEAD

When one man meets another man... Woman is a strength to a man. So like they say, behind every success of a man, there is the hand of a woman. Just like that when a man and a man move to-

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gether, do some work, there is a chance that you will be achieve the greater success that you desire. There is a strength in a man. And Hanumanji is shown as an example of this strength. He's ripped his own chest and shown the superiority of Sri Ramji. We can see his image there. So a similar strength that comes from God is there in man also. From memory to the body, stamina. Only a man can say that I have such strength within me. Whatever the birth of a living creature, be it man or animal .. acording to me, the birth of a man is to earn money to meet household expenses. Making sure the household runs smoothly is the work of a woman. It is the duty of a man to earn money and run the entire house, family and give them sanskaar. He will do anything to earn money and keep his household running. This is Sri Krishna. So in Mahabharat when Draupadi's disrobing was happening, what Sri Krishna did for the truth, he gave a really good example of purush tatva, like on the part of a brother. Looking at this I feel a man can become a good brother, a good husband, a good father, he can become a good example within society. He can become like a God. It is not a huge deal. This is personality. The kind of clothes a man wears, it speaks about where he comes from. Personality of walking, talking, sitting. Only a man can be recognized from his personality for what he is. Now I see these clothes .. he is holding an umbrella, that guy is holding a cup, thse are signs of sukhi sampanna creatures. This reminds of a girl's lips. Lips are such a part of the face that if you smile, this is a good symbol. The meaning can be that the lips are aaeena (mirror) of the creature. With the same lips you can give a small child a kiss and make him/her happy. These days, there is a trend for 6-pocket, build your body, go to gym, only then some person is impressed with us. Fitness, our elders also used to give importance to it, to ways of eating, drinking. Today's young generation eats everything, drinks everything, when it comes to fitness, they get very serious, they diet, go to the gym 5 - 5 hours. If your body is fit, girls will be impressed. No matter how handsome you are but your body is not good, the person in front

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of you will understand that this man is useless. He keeps eating and roaming around. With body you can impress everybody. This is Milka Singh's photo. He is India's premier runner. The family that he comes from is a very poor one. The one who's intentions are strong ... Pakistan's Prime Minister had said that he had not run, he flew. According to me, he hadn't run, the voice inside him had run. His manliness had run, his intentions. This is why today he has become a name. Amitabh. A very well known and respected person. Even after becoming so old, even today he is trendy for the younger generation. He is Bollywoods mega-actor. If he wasn't there there would be a big hole in the industry. The tilak shows that he is a person who has a strong connection to Indian culture. Also he speaks mostly in Hindi. This shows his Indianness. This looks like something to do with sexual relations. A man to increase his vansh: a man and a woman come together to make a new man and a new woman. To make the world. To continue creation. I see this responsibilit of a man in this image. When a man couples with a woman, a child happens, this child only takes the lineage forward. Our world then moves forward. I see a lot of things here. Our Mahatma Gandhi's charkha and on the charkha, Vande Mataram's flag, Satyameva Jayate's big symbol. Mahatma Gandhi is also a man and a Mahaan Aatma (great soul), who is on every single note from 5 rupees to 500. The other thing here is Shah Rukh Khan, film industry's big name. At a small age he has achieved so much that the next 2 generations will also remember him, that there was such a man. I see a lot of man related symbols, oxygen symbol, a fire extinguisher in his hand so fire brigade. A woman can also work, but there are jobs only a man can do, a fireman needs stamina. One hand is holding a briefcase and going to work like a man. There is an axe in one hand, meaning labour which the man can do a woman can do less. It is a matter of stamina. Inside a man there are a lot of personas. If he wants he can become a Mahatma, he can become an architect also. This is talking about the kundalis. If the person can awaken the kundalis that man becomes a God. No ordinary person can do that.

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Amitabh Bachhan is a special person. Even after getting so old, he acts, works in advertisements, he does yoga. Takes care of his fitness, and that is why he is healthy.

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There are two hands meeting. Naukri ke liya he must have done good work, so he must have gotten a handshake. This is Hanumanji. Someone's doing gym. He can give you company. Did some work. This from hard work. Two people are going to do something together. They are thinking of making a building. Like Hanumanji, you must become strong. We will also stay like this in your heart. This is Ramji/Laxmanji. She is praying that my husband does good work. That he earns a name. Clothes. He did some work, because of that he's wearing those clothes. Lips .. Implies the way you speak. I see Rakhi, brother, sister, it has something to do with raksha bandhan. Boxer is also there. He is running. For hard work ... some work is there ... Amitabh Bachchan. His hair. He's made a name for himself that's why he's seen. Feet are seen. These feet must have done some hard work.

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Shahrukh Khan is seen. He's done a lot of hard work. After you see a little bit you get it. INTERVIEWER'S NOTE : Subjects claimed the Ideal Boy style was easiest to relate to followed by the Collage style.

MULTIPLE RESPONDENTS OCCUPATION : AUTORICKSHAW DRIVERS

Someone is thanking someone. Two people are going to do something together. They are thinking of making a building. Like Hanumanji, you must become strong. We will also stay like this in your heart. If we had money then all this would be with us. TV, bungalow, car. What he said is right. If you have money he can do anything. Without money he cannot go ahead. If you have money you can think of more things. Like if you have money you can get engine oil and come. WIthout money engine oil wouldn't come, he wouldn't change it also. Bhagvaan's photo. He's wearing a lot of ornaments. She is asking God to keep her bangles intact. Keep my suhaag intact. She's praying to God. Daya bhaavna rakhni chaahiye. Bhagvaan O mere par daya rakhiye. Aisa hum to prartana karte hai. Woh mere saamne bhi ehm nazar se dekh sake. You are studying so you will also understand this. You also show a certain something to the sir and he will also be good to you. There is some good man, a businessman he can stay like this, a normal man cannot stay like this. Suit-boot. Kiss wala. If you have a lot of love for someone, with them you kiss-

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wiss. If you have a child, you kiss it lovingly. Rakhi. Raksha bandhan ki scene hai. Bhai behen ka prem bhav ka rakhi Ek dono ka sneh hai. Comes once in a year. She ties rakhi for her brother, then she thinks that my brother should stay well and not come to any harm. So that in some time he may do something for her. Whatevermy brother has given me is right for me. Bhaag Milka bhaag. In life, there is running, running. Nothing comes from running. If you work hard you'll get something. If you sit at home no one's going to feed you. If you run, do some work, you'll get something. Amitabh Bachchan's hairstyle. A tilak is shown in this photo. It's right? He's that religious. Tilak says, you also become like me, so someone will also recognize you. That tilak is not a tilak, it means that woh tilak ka matlab aisa hota hai ki mujhe bhi logon duniya mein maante hai, mujhe bhi pahchaante hain, mujhe bhi bhagvaan ki tarah maante hain. So you also work hard and be the same. Mamta is there. Prem. This scene is a scene of sambhog. This happens when a man and a woman come together. This happens only with love. Otherwise if you catch someone who's walking by wouldn't they beat you? Charkha. Gandhi bapu's. Shahrukh khan. There are other people behind him. His hands are free. They are empty. There are other people behind him one with a bag. There should be 3 people. One is a labourer, one is a businessman, one fire brigade, one hero. Amitabh Bachchan. Deewar. If we also do something, you can see the photo on my hand. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Taala main band kara. Main hi kholoonga!â&#x20AC;? INTERVIEWER'S NOTE : Subjects claimed the Collage style was easiest to relate to followed by the Ideal Boy style.

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MULTIPLE RESPONDENTS OCCUPATION : BUSINESSMAN

This building is the Ideal Man. He will now go ahead and shake hands with the small man.That's how ideal people are - no matter how big they become, they always remember the small ones. If you go to the gym, and you look at Hanumanji, just like Arnold Schwarzenegger, so in Hindu's you must become like Hanumanji. Now money is everything. It can buy anything. Whatever is shown here. For Draupadi, Krishna is ideal, because he is like her brother. An ideal is one who saves you. No one is looking at your mouth and coming. Your personality. What you are wearing, corresponding to that, people are trying to contact you, or something. I have no idea. If there is a strong man, he can save his behalf from anything. He can help her with survival also ... Bhaag Milka Bhaag. People in sports, relay people. Milkha Singh is Ideal for them. He was nothing. Nothing. But it was there in him that he will run for the country, so he became ideal for runners no? You can achieve anything. If you keep running behind anything you can achieve it. He had a dream, that he wanted to wear his coat... Amitabh Bachchan. He is my own ideal. He looks like the head of some family. He is the head of everyone so he will be ideal for everyone. Scene from Mohabbatein. Gurukul ki parampara. Why are lions coming out? What should I think? If two good people meet, their offsrping are also perfect, like lions, rulers. Gandhi bapu, Swades. Ashok Chakra is in the center of the flag, earlier it was this charkha. Gandhi Bapu is ideal for everyone through satyagrah etc. And now in film line, ShahRukh is the ideal.

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Amitabh Bachchan ka physics dekhke chalna hain kya? Idea nahin hai ...

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It's telling you about moving ahead. Join hands and move ahead. Hanumanji. What was there in his mind. What is there in the man is it working or not. That was the time of truth, now is the dark age. What is happening in the mind of the man today? Nobody is able to know. The game of money. Money is nceessary for everyone in this time. Corruption. This is from the Satyug this mangalsutra. It's coming from Sri Krishna bhagvaan. Marriage is a centuries old institution. It's importance has not diminished. Faces are hidden. It's looking awkward. Disturb it's feeling. Everyone like this thing. With everyone ... prem ki abhivyakti bataati hai To protect one's sister's one must become strong. Bhaag Milka Bhaag. Which area do you come from? It doesn't matter. We all have to become like him. Amitabh Bachchan. Through his eyes you can understand. he's such a big celebrity, still he has maintained the responsibility of an ideal husband and ideal father Without this life is incomplete. Understand this. World is a rape only. Some is enjoyed, some is forced. We are all born from this thing.

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Gandhiji. Shahrukh Khan. Everyone wants peace, nonviolence. If you want to maintain your body, don't smoke.

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The main body text in this document has been set in Futura Bk BT. Image referencing has been captioned using Futura Md BT. Chapter and Section headlines, along with quotes at the beginning of each chapter make use of Blackout Midnight. The Aleo font family has been used to highlight points from within the main text or provide commentary alongside it in the margins. The font Handy George has also been used for this purpose within the section titled "The Way Forward" within Chapter 2. Additionally smaller headlines within sections make use of alternately either Carnivalee Freakshow, or Geared Slab. Unless referenced, all images within this document have been created by the author. This is a non-commercial and purely academic work.

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