The Beat April 2022 by The Beat

EDITORS’ NOTE Dear Readers, Here is the second edition of The Beat 2022. The journey of women’s empowerment has seen quite a trajectory but always seems to stumble upon a toed line. As we are moving towards gender equality, patriarchy seems to diminish but its effect can still be felt in all walks of life. Here we bring an interesting collection of stories that capture the lives of women, their struggles and their coexistence in a patriarchal world. All the stories have attempted to bring one’s attention to a societal line that bounds a woman’s potential and freedom to live and express her life to the fullest. Bank accounts and a steady income have not been enough to make women financially independent. Financial decisions still remain out of the realm for many women who have no say in matters of spending their own money. While education is a symbol of empowerment, for many women it has become a qualification for achieving good matrimony. From surgeons to legal experts, from pilots to housewives, women across the globe fall victim to ‘mansplaining’ that comes in the garb of men explaining things to women, discounting their experiences and expertise in the same. With the safety of women is still being a national concern, no initiatives have been taken to inculcate gender sensitivity among boys at a foundational stage. Why do always male journalists sing of politics and play? The story explores gender inequality in a newsroom. In the arts and culture section, the focus is all that revolves around the contemporary surroundings. We begin with a look into our internet language, and how the emojis and abbreviations might be dampening the ability to express human emotions in reality. A picture essay takes you on a meditative walk into the Turhalli forest. Moving on to the largest pop culture influence in our lives-movies, we have three articles discussing multiple aspects; one about queer representation in movies, the rise in preference for regional cinema as well as a review of a coming of age film. And finally, a glimpse into the enchanting Beatles Ashram, rife with its murals and history. We hope you have a nice read! Kashish and Shristi Editors

CONTENTS

IN FOCUS Maitri Seth

FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE Ayndrila Banerjee

EMPLOYMENT Shristi Achar

GENDER BIAS Simran Sharma

SCHOOLS Arshreet Singh

NEWSROOM Kashish Sharma

POLITICS Shubham Chohan

INTERNET LANGUAGE Simran Sharma

MEDITATION Arshreet Singh

CINEMA Kashish Sharma

MOVIE REVIEW Shristi Achar

QUEER

REPRESENTATION

Ayndrila Banerjee

PHOTO ESSAY Tina Freese 3

Displaced from their homeland, these women migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have been living near Golhalli village in Bengaluru for more than a decade. 4

Credit: Maitri Seth

Working under BBMP, they segregate waste without any gloves, exposed to health hazards, only to earn Rs 300 per day. With a smile on their face they have accpeted it as their fate.

MONEY

Financial independence = Right to earn + Right to spend Most women feel it’s pertinent to seek the man’s approval before making financial decisions, writes Ayndrila Banerjee

Many Indian women tend to keep their money in steel containers in a hope to save them for posterity | Credit: Ayndrila Banerjee

here was a time not so long ago when the idea of working women was taboo. Women are now allowed to have jobs but the money they earn is more often managed either by their husbands or by a male member of the family. Not having a say in how their hard-earned money is spent hardly qualifies to be called financial independence. According to a survey conducted by DSP Winvestor Pulse in 2019, only 33% of women in India take investment decisions independent of their male counterparts. The study also found that in a household, men usually make decisions such as buying a car or a house. Women only make smaller financial decisions like buying household consumables or

groceries. While women from upper income groups have at least some say in financial decisions, the scenario for women from lower income groups is different. Rubya Khatun, who works as a domestic help in Chandigarh, earns around Rs 2000 from each household, but cannot spend the money she earns. “Whenever I’d like to buy something for myself, I have to do so secretly,” she said. Many women like Rubya set money aside secretly, usually to ensure that their children are fed and schooled. On the other hand, employed women do take their husband’s opinion into consideration before they make any financial decisions. Preeti Bodas, an employee in Life Insurance Corpo-

ration (LIC) in Mumbai said: “When I feel like investing in a banking scheme or something else, I will consult my husband, but I’d be the one to take the final call. However, when I want to buy something which is expensive and over our budget, I would definitely ask him.”

Only 33% of women in India take investment decisions independent of their male counterparts When asked about what financial independence means to Rekha Jagdish, a non-working homemaker from Mumbai, she said: “If I were to give an example, I feel that if I was earning during the coronavirus pandemic, which gave us all a hard time, I would

Courtesy: Shutterstock.com

time, I would have done my part to support my husband during the crisis. Since I was not working, I wasn’t able to contribute at all, which kind of made me feel guilty for not working at all.” While the concept of ‘joint decisions’ exists theoretically, homemakers often feel that they themselves have little or no say when it comes to finances. Rekha added: “My husband and I often sit down to discuss how to run the household, but the final call is taken by him only.” It is entirely possible that at least part of a woman’s dependency as far as finances are concerned, stems from financial illiteracy. Women like Rubya, who never had formal education, are not well-versed with banking terms and schemes. So, the scope of investing her money or even saving it

narrows down. Since a lot of women, regardless of their income levels, have little experience in investment, they are forced to take assistance from their husbands or fathers, which in turn gives men an upper hand in dictating financial decisions. The concept of ‘joint decisions’ exists theoretically, homemakers often feel that they themselves have little or no say when it comes to finances. There are a number of platforms that assist women to get financially literate. Priti Rathi Gupta, founder of one such platform called ‘LXME’ had to say this : “Women have different financial needs, different earning potential, career peaks and breaks, longer life expectancy, and a different approach and mindset towards financial planning. It is thus impera-

tive for women to take charge of their money.” The platform creates a space for women to discuss money and suggests ways as to how they should manage their own money in order to gain financial freedom. Mansi Malhotra, a fellow at The Ideosync-UNESCO Information Fellowship feels that in order to promote financial independence, efforts should be taken right from the school level itself. “Everyone should be taught how to manage their finances at an early age. We often leave such things to the last minute. But if a woman is taught about the various banking schemes and terms related to it as well as how to manage their taxes at a very fundamental stage of her life, she will feel more independent when she actually has to manage her finances at some point in her life,” said she.

EMPLOYMENT

Is her degree more for a marriage than a job resume? More families educate their daughters today, but it is often aimed at making them better wives and mothers, writes Shristi Achar

Ambitions of women tend to get thwarted, mainly due to entrey barriers for women in the workforce. While the industry problems were always known, the issues have their roots right at people’s homes | Credit: Shristi Achar

shwini Hampi from Bengaluru, an engineer by qualification, spends her days looking after her husband, son and her in-laws. She says that while being educated does help in managing the household better, the real value comes when the qualification is turned into a career. “People in the family expected me to manage everything alone. There wasn’t a specific restriction on going to work, but I also had to do everything else around the house along with my job, which did not seem feasible after a point. The family support was non-existent,” she said. The trajectory of Ashwini’s life is testimony to how the Indian Government’s much talked-about “Beti

Padao, Beti Bachao” (Educate a girl, save a girl) campaign has not exactly achieved the intended goal. While there have been strides in getting the girl educated, the intention behind it has not been as progressive as one would expect. Today, education often seems to be another bullet point in a woman’s marital resume than something that can bring her a stable career. According to World Bank’s data, India’s female labour force participation rate (FLPR) in 2020 stood at a paltry 18 percent. This is much lower than that of 1990, almost two decades ago, when 30 percent of women were employed. However, according to the All India Higher Education Survey (2019-20), 49 percent of tertiary ed-

ucation graduates are women. Thus, there is a large potential workforce which does not translate into employed women. What Ashwini encountered when she tried kick-starting her career perhaps explains at least one of the reasons for this yawning gap. “My problem was that I wasn’t already employed when I was married. But considering the family I was going into was educated, I thought that finding a job post marriage wouldn’t be met with any resistance. What I did not anticipate was the lack of support and high expectations on the home front. It already takes a lot of preparation and studies to attend interviews. But I couldn’t do that while I was made to prioritise the household chores.”

“People like the money that comes in as a result of the work we do, but the part where one needs assistance to do that work, and freedom to make decisions is where society takes a backseat,” Ashwini adds. Ashwini’s is not a rare case. Several reports have highlighted the mammoth share of unpaid, domestic work that women do, preventing them from participating in formal employment. According to Oxfam India’s ‘The state of employment in India’ report, if the definition of labour includes such unpaid, care work, the male labour force participation increases from 76.4 percent to just 76.7 percent. However for women, it jumps from 20.5 percent to a whopping 81.7 percent. The report attributes this to the fact that 99.4 percent of the domestic work done is done by women alone. Fathima, a B.Sc. graduate from Bengaluru, attests to this phenomenon. “When I was in my maiden home, whether I wanted to study or work went unquestioned. I could do what I wanted. But after a point, everything in life was geared towards getting

me married. When that topic came up, there was very little room to say anything else. And post marriage, everything regarding my career took a backseat, because family was seen as more important,” she says. “Statistics point out that more than 90 percent of the unpaid care work is done by women.But since simultaneously women do get educated as well, it comes as a result of wanting to maintain a social status. Being an educated wife or a mother benefits the quality of household chores as well as helps in displaying a degree of modernity” —Dr. Shiney Chakraborty, Institute of Social Studies Trust Fathima points out that having a career and family is made out to be mutually exclusive for women. “It isn’t that women can’t still pursue what they want, but it takes more effort from them personally to make it happen because of the societal hurdles. If there are career-oriented women, their very desire to have a full life also with family and children is questioned,” she says.

Dr. Shiney Chakraborty, a research analyst from Institute of Social Studies Trust, says that the decline in FLPR can be attributed to the greater emphasis on quality child rearing. “In the recent past, we have seen a greater investment in the education of children, contributing to the increase in unpaid care work done by women. Statistics point out that more than 90 percent of the unpaid care work is done by women,” she says. But since simultaneously women do get educated as well, Dr. Shiney thinks that it comes as a result of wanting to maintain a social status. Being an educated wife or a mother benefits the quality of household chores as well as helps in displaying a degree of modernity. Ashwini, however, expresses hope about the future. “The future generation will hopefully break through this. There is no field, despite having families, where women haven’t been successful. I see girls getting ahead with their goals despite the hurdles. So it is only a matter of time when families realise that their support is only going to make things easier for us.”

The graph displays the steady decline in the female labour force participation in India. It can be seen that the peak of female employment was in the year 2005, at 32 per cent. Post 2005, there has been a steady decline in the rate at which women can be found in the workforce, declining by approximately 1 per cent each year. Data source: World Bank, based on International Labour Organisation estimates

GENDER BIAS

Sister, are you being mansplained? From driving a car to filing an RTI, women are still sized up into stereotypical gender bias, writes Simran Sharma

ne of the men in a party tried to tell Rebecca Solnit, an activist, journalist and writer, about a photography book that she should see, without giving her the chance to tell him that she was the author of the same book. Solnit wrote in her book, “Most women fight wars on two fronts. One for whatever the putative topic is and one simply for the right to speak, to have ideas, to be acknowledged to be in possession of facts and truths, to

have value, to be a human being.” Mansplaining might be a new term, but the concept is as old as time and is based on the presumption that women are uninformed or less knowledgeable on everything. Sallie Krawcheck, a former CEO of wealth management at CitiBank, told Inc.com, a business magazine that she was mansplained financial advising by some venture capitalist. Supriya Prasad, a documentary filmmaker, narrated another instance

where a husband sitting at the back of the car kept on directing her wife, who was driving despite her saying that she knew the directions. Mansplaining is not exclusive to certain professions, it is a gender bias in every walk of life. Not all men do it, nor have all women faced it, but the phenomenon has passed the test of time and society.Women from different professions have been given unsolicited advice from men under the garb of ‘explaining’ things.

10 Mansplaining has passed the test of time and society. Unde the garb of explaining things, men have crossed the line many times | Credit: Apeksha Priya

INTERVIEWS “It felt like he was talking me down just because I was a woman.”

Poornima Makaram, a photojournalist, started her career when the field had hardly a few practising women. From not being given good assignments to making her name in the journalism industry, she didn’t have it easy. She remembers an early winter morning when her camera batteries weren’t working. While she tried to fix it, a man walked up to her, took the batteries and rubbed them on the woollen sweater he was wearing. “It worked when I put them back. Then he said, ‘No amount of college will give you the experience needed. I don’t know whether he would have said this to a man or not, but it felt as if he was talking me down just because I was a woman.” She recalls another such instance where she was called for an interview, and the editor had not even seen her CV. He wanted her on his team to diversify his workforce. “He did not listen to me and seemed quite disinterested. It did not feel good.” She has observed in her workshops that most of the boys want to do better than the girls around them, whereas girls do not focus on these things. “In one of the workshops, this boy did not ask questions despite her teacher The footprints take us back to 2008 when Rebecca Solnit wrote an essay, ‘Men Explain Things To Me’ and narrated her personal experience of getting patronized by a male friend. However, it is believed that she never used the term in her essay. The site Know Your Meme traces back the

“

telling her to and switched off his camera. He was completely disinterested.”

“I have to put twice the effort in my work as I am a woman.”

Ankita Kumar, a coder, has faced and heard stories of casual sexism and mansplaining in the workplace. With coffee in one hand and with just one click, she solved a mistake in the code, her male colleague was stuck with, only to be looked at with surprise. “I remember that look in his eyes. He was confused and surprised about how I did it because I am a woman. I could see his male ego crashing right in front of me, and you know what, I was happy to see that. Many men feel that women are not logical enough to write good codes or have a lot of other distractions, which makes them unsuitable for this role, which triggers me. I have to put twice the effort in my work as I am a woman.” She added that she doesn’t want to leave any scope for some other woman to be stereotyped in this manner.

“Tumse hi ho payega… ladko ka kaam hai yeh” ( You cannot do it…it’s a man’s job) In the third year of her college, Ananya Singh is the only woman Civil Engineering student in her class.

”

first use of the word in the comment section of an article in the same year. Mansi Malhotra, a PHD student in gender studies said, ‘’Mansplaining happens because certain men are entrenched with the idea that they have some kind of authoritative

“In the first year of college, I was helping my senior in his project, and I was telling him about the quantity of all elements we need to prepare a mixture. He then told me that bookish knowledge is very different from practical knowledge. His words came from a place of authority, and it felt as if he assumed that I do not know anything because I am a girl.” She also added that she is not allowed to go for site work to avoid any kind of mishap. Once, her male professor also told her that software work is the best option for girls. Her work usually comprises calculations and writing reports rather than going on the field.

“Society has made women think they can be mansplained.”

Supriya Prasad, a documentary director, has been mansplained many times. She believes that society has conditioned men to think that they are in authority to mansplain and women to take it. “I was shooting in Meghalaya alone, and I needed assistance, so I contacted this photographer. He had a DSLR but had not done direction before. Despite that, he was governing me throughout the shoot, and whenever I tried to tell him that we should do it this way, he ignored it. I called him for helping me, but he ended up dominating me.” agency over women. In our society, men have more exposure than women. This increases their experiential knowledge and makes them feel entitled to authority. Deep rooted beliefs of patriarchy have left women questioning their own agency even when they are right.’’

SCHOOLS

Can gender sensitization uproot patriarchy? Gender sensitization from school years can help, but it will take more than a single generation, writes Arshreet Singh

Courtesy: Pexels.com

iscrimination based on gender can take many forms. It could manifest as eve-teasing on a street corner, or as lower remuneration for equal work; as politicians blaming the victim’s attire for rape, or as different curfew hours for women and men of the same house. It is well-known that the discrepancies in how women are treated in almost every aspect of life stems from patriarchy — a long-established tradition in society where men hold all the power. Sanjana (name changed) is a thirdyear student of medicine. Her brother, who is two years younger, is allowed to go to late-night parties and stay overnight, but Sanjana is not allowed the same freedoms. “When I brought this up with my parents, they said that it is for my safety. They said

that they have seen more than I have, and know what the world out there is like,” she said, adding “Even when it came to learning how to drive a car, my brother was taught first.” Priya (name changed) works for a business process outsourcing company. “Night-shifts pay more than day-shifts because they work for foreign companies. I got into the international process and they provided transportation, but my parents did not allow it. My boyfriend did not support me either,” said she. Patriarchy, regardless of how stifling it can be, can take forms significantly worse than the examples cited above. Meenakshi (name changed) narrated an incident that would make anyone’s blood curdle. “When I was in the eleventh grade in, the physics

teacher would blackmail me saying if I didn’t listen to him he would tell my parents. Obviously I obeyed because my parents are strict. One day, I was talking to a boy sitting in front of me and he took notice of that. He called me to the classroom later, locked the door, and told me not to talk to any guy or he will tell my parents. He then proceeded to touch me.” Almost every woman has had a bitter experience of being harassed by a man at some point in her life. The experiences range from sexual harrassment to everyday discrimation, often from a young age. Two questions stem from these experiences: What drives men to act in this way? Would gender sensitization in their formative years, make a difference ?

Why are men like this? Kirthi Jayakumar is a feminist researcher, a lawyer and author. According to her, some part of this is structural and cultural, and some part is overt and entitled behavior. “Patriarchal systems have offered a sense of normalization for the dominance of cisgender heterosexual men over all other genders.That is a lot like unfettered power - which manifests as entitlement,” she said.

“By normalizing, for example, a son preference or higher pay for a man despite the work being the same for women, patriarchy has enabled the privilege of men to the detriment of all other gender identities.” Mansi Malhotra is a fellow at the Ideosync-UNESCO Information Fellowship (IUIF). According to her, it is a complex issue. “It depends on the upbringing of a child, which further depends on the child’s parents and teachers. Both of these authorities are also a product of a patriarchal society. It is continuously imbibed in them that girls cry and boys do not. Girls cannot stay out late but boys can. Boys grow up seeing the world around them and the liberty they get. It translates into the boys realizing that they have a certain power and privilege which they can exploit,” she said.

Can gender sensitization help?

For one class, she decided to teach the students about sex education and periods, as they may not have learned about it. The school authorities subsequently fired her from the job for taking this class.” Malhotra pointed out that there is some change in colleges and universities for the past five years, but that it could take time to trickle down to schools. She believes that it could take at least a generation or more for change. Jayakumar believes that the strongest antidote to conditioning is education. She said, “Before education however, a pre-education stage is essential where men are enjoined into understanding why a shift in this direction can help them, support them, and lead the way for a fulfilling future for them, too. Education need not be about studying gender or feminist research alone, but also about constantly questioning oneself and evaluating the consequences for one’s actions.”

“If you see the NCERT books that are used in schools, a woman is always portrayed as standing in the kitchen while the man goes to work. On top of that, ‘men’ is used where ‘people’ suffice.” Why is gender sensitization missing from schools?

According to Malhotra, the current education system is to blame as well, as it has been structured by those in power — usually men.

Smita Chimmanda of Enfold, a 20 year old organization that teaches about reproductive health in various institutions, said that different schools have different challenges when it comes to teaching about gender sensitivity.

Although she believes that gender sensitization from the school level can help, the barriers, she says, will be hard to break. Citing an example of a friend who is an english teacher in a boys school, she said, “My friend was teaching the 11th grade in a prominent boys’ school of the city.

“There are schools where the need has not been identified because nobody thinks that anything is wrong with how we are functioning as a society. Then there are schools where the administration wants to include gender-sensitivity in the curriculum, but they are wary of parents who may

think their children are too young to learn about different genders. There is also a third category of schools where the students already have these conversations at home and are comfortable with these concepts. But they are only a minority.” Chimmanda said. While experts say that sensitivity training should be included in schools, teaching infrastructure and support from parents is missing. An already packed curriculum leaves little room for additional textual burden a new subject msy requires. Manbir Brar, principal at Sacred Souls School, Mohali, said that gender sensitization should be deemed crucial for the mental growth of the students but most schools tend to give it a pass. “There are many reasons for this,” she said. “Such courses come with tremendous responsibility. Constant monitoring of the growth and appeal of the subject is required. Also, potential debates and arguments, among the students, might take place which might go unnoticed or unattended, but may later snowball into clashes. Furthermore, schools are not able to chalk out special slots for such subjects, pressed by the heavy burden of the textual curriculum.” A whole new subject is not the only solution. Education on sensitization can be included in the preexisting curriculum itself with special sessions and readings related to the topic.

“Exclusive sessions on topics such as equality of both genders, challenges that women face, how successful women did it? etc can prove helpful. The teaching can be ingrained by creating reading material for the students on specific issues related to the topic. Today’s learner is open to new ideas, topics, and avenues of learning.” 13

NEWSROOM

Is the newsroom gendered? Women in journalism stumble upon the toed line, writes Kashish Sharma

oornima Makaram is an experienced photojournalist. Starting her career as Bangalore’s first woman photojournalist and probably the first in South India, she is a torch-bearer for many women of her kind. She fondly reminisces her days on the field, covering sports tournaments of all kinds. “You name the event and I was there,” said Makaram with a nostalgic laugh. Most of the days, she was just a journalist doing her work. There were days, however, when she felt the limitations of reporting in a woman’s body. Covering cricket for a large span of her career, she talks about the ‘locker-room’ access, a barrier she can’t seem to overcome. “I remember covering a cricket tournament and it was Ganguly’s birthday. Like every other journalist, I was assigned to take pictures of him

celebrating his big day. I saw my fellow male photojournalists rushing inside the locker room and returning with pictures of him. I had no choice but to return empty-handed. I couldn’t make it up to the locker room,” said Makaram. Despite the larger presence of women in the media industry, coverage of subjects continue to remain gendered and only a small percentage of women are able to enjoy leadership roles, as per the Gender Inequality in Indian Media (2019), a survey initiated by UN Women in partnership with Newslaundry. As per the report, women get to contribute more articles on culture, entertainment and lifestyle than on defence, international affairs, sports and politics. As per the survey, women constituted 27.1 per cent of journalists and wrote 25.8 per cent of all articles in the 12 reviewed magazines of India. While

women’s writing dominated womencentric magazines like the Femina, others like Frontline, Tehelka and Outlook (Hindi) had a dominating male presence. The study shows that there was not one article on science and technology written by a woman. A similar trend was observed in English news channels where over 53 per cent of the debates featured all-male panels. Speaking about the gender bias in the media landscape, Makaram narrated a few instances where celebrated cricketers had blatantly refused to give an interview to women journalists and the process required the intervention of their male colleagues. For her, being a photojournalist was like doing any other work. It never made her feel special. The grind journalists face at the start of their career, she says, is gender-neutral. While covering challenging stories,

Women journalists contribute more to lifestyle articles than politics, suggests study | Courtesy: Shutterstock

For many women sports photojournalists, locker-room accesss is an obstacle they can’t seem to overcome | Courtesy: Shutterstock

she says, her male colleagues were as anxious as she used to be.

nalism for 10 long years,” exclaimed the correspondent.

Concerns around safety and late-night shifts are other discouraging factors that prevent women journalists to exercise their full potential in a newsroom. A senior woman correspondent (unnamed) at the Hindu says, “I have always seen women journalists working hard even at late hours. It is fine till we have safe transport facilities taking us back home. However, I could always sense some concern among our seniors if we are working till late. This also requires a lot of cooperation and understanding from our families. Media doesn’t work in isolation, we too are a part of society. This concern is natural.”

The Principal features writer and Response Editorial (unnamed) at The Times of India, says that people have for long discounted the essence of subjects like environment, entertainment and lifestyle. She says, “Covering a war isn’t the only way to be called a successful woman journalist. Lighter subjects don’t make us weaker than others. Very often we feature writers are not taken as mainstream journalists, it tells a lot about the skewed mindset.”

In response to the gender disparity in coverage of various subjects, the correspondent said that in her entire career, she hardly saw any of her male colleagues covering education. Owing to the various personal and societal pressures, she says, some women journalists go for lifestyle, health and education stories as they are much safer and easier to cover. Comparing the gender bias in regional media versus the English media, the correspondent narrated the experience of her friend who used to work in a regional media and how for 10 long years her potential was restricted to visiting press clubs and attending press conferences. “She didn’t experience real jour-

The senior editor right from the beginning of her career, was fascinated by feature writing. For her, these stories matter to people and are more relatable. She uses an analogy of a wall that needs all kinds of bricks in different places to stand erect and complete. She recalled her interview with the late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and how it was a candid talk and not politically sensational. As per an article Shattering the Glass Screen published by McKinsey & McKinsey February 2020, while women are well represented early in the career pipeline in media, they are a minority at the highest levels, accounting for only a small percent of C-suite positions. This suggests that few women journalists enjoy decision-making roles. There may be some exceptions, though. Al Arafat Sherfuddeen, Executive

Editor at The Logical Indian, points to the gender neutrality that marks his organization. “I have a team led by women. Two out of three editors in my organization are women. For a recruiter, all that matters is that the candidate’s profile must be in line with the job requirement. We never see them as girls or boys but as journalists. We don’t do it under some policy, we do it instinctually.” Arafat said that womens’ writings have much more sensitivity and are more human-centric. He agrees that with the advent of social media, trolling has been much harder on women journalists who express themselves freely on such platforms. For him, the leadership framework within the media is skewed and has a long way to go in terms of establishing gender equality. Naheed Ataulla, former political editor at the Times of India has a different take on the situation. For her, work speaks louder than gender. At the end of the day, she says, it is hard work and sincerity that brought her recognition.

“Covering a war isn’t the only way to be called a successful woman journalist. Lighter subjects don’t make us weaker than others” — Feature Writer and Response Editorial at The Times of India

POLITICS

Women in politics; the name’s sake participation Women’s participation in Indian politics have, barring exceptions, been a play of mere tokenism, writes Shubham Chohan Courtesy: The Womb

lmost a month taken out from what has been a high-decibel, aggressive and communallycharged election season, several post-poll studies have made their way decoding and discussing every single aspect of the campaigns and most importantly, the results threadbare. Elections – the one (and maybe only?) place where we are never short of multi-layered and significant data points helping us, ‘political nerds’, to understand how the dance of democracy unfolded statistically. For the unaware, the five results of this ‘semi-final’, as many pundits touted it with 2024 General Elections in sight, were a set of firsts – a Chief Minister winning a second term in Uttar Pradesh since Govind Ballabh Pant, Samajwadi Party attaining its highest vote share ever, yet not even within touching distance of coming to power, AAP’s ‘sweep’ outside Delhi which saw almost all heavyweights of Punjab politics losing, two CMs losing the polls but still retaining their chair (they still have to get

elected within six months to continue being the Chief Minister) But one striking feature in the course of the campaign was the focus on women; the constant tussle between maintaining the legacy of having female representation in the Indian polity and the barriers in place which aimed at backing them into a corner of no real impact.

In our 75-year history, India has had only one woman Prime Minister, one woman President and a total of 16 Chief Ministers The problem of underrepresentation of women accentuates as you enter mainstream politics. In our 75-year history, India has had only one woman Prime Minister, one woman President and a total of 16 Chief Ministers, who have had their fair share of political troubles. Here’s

another interesting data point – out of 16 women CMs in India since independence, only 8 have completed their full tenure in office. And out of those 8, only 1 still remains in power – Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. Forget the top post, the numbers are even grimmer for elected MLAs. Out of nearly 7000 candidates that contested the elections in five states, only 760 were women out of which just 76 were victorious. The men-dominated political space naturally meant that there was no inclination of political parties to even think of having a strong set of women leaders, outside the ‘women-wings’ of their party. It’s important to make this distinction as Lowy Institute makes – there is no shortage of women in the major political parties. It’s just that parties are tight-lipped when it comes to giving them the ticket to fight elections. Surely, you have strong exceptions like the Trinamool Congress that has made a conscious decision to give more tickets to women who not only

contest for them but also win seats. Add to it the patriarchal mindset and the way women are looked at, especially in the age of social media, it has made it immensely difficult for a) a strong women leader to rise through the ranks, b) even if they do make it, they have to be at the receiving end of merciless trolling on the internet. Amidst all this, there are two key women when it comes to UP politics – Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the Congress state unit and four-time CM Mayawati of the BSP who, along with her now stares at an existential crisis, as experts have pointed out. In the recent polls, it was the former that grabbed the limelight when it came to women issues. The ‘ladki hu ladh sakti hu’ campaign and the big announcement of giving 40 percent tickets to women, the Congress, I feel, made a prudent move – purely

because you needed something to get the workers’ morale going on ground given the abysmal condition and lack of narrative of the grand old party in not only UP but pan-India. Mayawati, a self-made leader who rose through the rank and file of the party under the aegis of Kanshi Ram remained one of the key players in UP politics until recently. A four-term Chief Minister, the BSP supremo was the first Dalit woman CM in India and exercised substantial control over the Dalit vote bank. However, as the caste arithmetic changed drastically post 2017 with BJP have a broader social coalition, ‘Madam’ Chief Minister as she was known, stands on the brink of extinction in state politics. Back to freebies. Of course, Congress wasn’t the only one. Every party did it with a tinge, if not more, of tokenism attached to it. AAP promised Rs 1,000 to all women above the age of 18 in Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand.

The BJP harped on a supposedly ‘crime-free’ Uttar Pradesh which made it very safe for women to step-out and the like. All of this for nothing, you’d say? On another note, one can’t forget how big a role woman voters play in making sure these leaders are elected. Ask a Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal or a Nitish in Bihar. So, what’s the way out? If a mindset change on a societal and political, is a reservation bill a way out? Perhaps. Even that faces a hurdle, the biggest of all – collective political will. Twenty- five years on, the women reservation bill has seen everything except a smooth passing of the bill to have some parity when it comes gender representation. It’d be heartening to see how a mindset change would work out in 2022, although it’d be preferred without the tokenism of a gas cylinder or cash or discussions on the subject on the eve of women’s day.

Courtesy: AFP

INTERNET LANGUAGE

Are we really rolling on the floor laughing? With the use of the latest internet slangs, the depth of human emotions have been compromised, writes Simran Sharma

ending a laughing emoticon with a straight face or writing FOMO ( fear of missing out) when one hardly wants to be part of something has become the new way of expression. From words and acronyms to GIFs, internet language provides many tools to express what one feels or thinks. Linguist Gretchen McCulloh once said that we don’t speak the way Shakespeare did, and Shakespeare didn’t talk the way Chaucer did. It sums up how language has evolved. Kumar Karun, who works in a marketing firm in Bengaluru, remembers how he gives an automated reply saying ‘not much, how about you whenever somebody texts him ‘what’s up?’. “From my personal experience, there’s a very predetermined structure to how we converse over texts. For example, I use ‘lol’ when I don’t want to think about how to respond to something the other person said. This wouldn’t happen in real life, and I would listen to what they have said and respond to it with what I think about what they said.”

informal or something like ahhh how do I explain let’s say it’s just a habit and the way we communicate even if we don’t mean what we say just to make small talk or make sure the other person stays interested (we don’t wanna sound dry)” (sic) With time the use of internet language has become so common that people have become accustomed to it. Many use it not because they like it but because they want to fit into these social media trends. Vinaya K, a journalism student from Bengaluru uses social media lingo because these social media apps support such language. She feels that she cannot express herself in the internet slang. She told that since Instagram captions and tweets onTwitter have a word limit, internet language helps many in communicating a lot with less words. “I often use this lingo like LOL or ROFL without really meaning it. It is an automated reply. When I want to tell someone something, I

avoid using these lingos in my reply or straight up call them. Even though technology has helped us communicate in faster and simpler ways, I don’t think it helped us have effective communication,” she added. DR. Prem Lata, a linguistics professor from Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Agra, feels that language is evolving but it is also degenerating. She believes that seeing people writing RIP on the demise of people with emojis, lessens the gravity of the situation. She told that many youngsters use internet language to save time, and some follow suit to not feel like an outcast. “There are two sides to a coin. Evolution comes with some advantages and disadvantages. Internet language has blurred the lines between casual and professional use of language. In my opinion, it shows how language evolves, and we do have to cope with it but it is taking away the gravity of the situations and our emotions,” she added.

He added that sometimes people feel too lazy to type out a proper extended response, so they go with something short, which gives the idea of what they want to say. But this leaves out a lot of valid information that has to be told to convey one’s actual thoughts or emotions properly. “Internet language replaces the profoundness of our emotional expression with conventional responses, which makes it look like we’re some kind of a chatbot,” he continued. At present, there are about 1,697 common abbreviations and 3,633 emoticons in the internet language. Diya Saraswat, a 12-year-old student from Sydney, said, “I think that nowadays on social media it’s kinda

LOL to FOMO, internet slangs fail to express depth of human emotions | Courtsey: Shutterstock

MEDITATION

Turahalli Forest: An oasis of peace A patch of land devoid of civilization lies in the metropolis of 13 million, writes Arshreet Singh

wenty kilometers from Majestic Station, on the southern edge of Bengaluru, lies Turahalli—a deciduous forest spread over 600 acres. In the midst of constant honking, dust and construction noise, this mini-forest offers a sense of tranquility unmatched by the busy parks of the city. The forest, protected by the Karnataka Forest Department, is fenced from all sides. While parks in the city and elsewhere have elaborate gates, complete with arches welcoming visitors, this one has none. To enter, one must climb the short fence near one of the walking-paths visible. It is so quiet inside, that the sound of shoes stepping on the red soil drown out the gentle swaying of trees. Birds of different species sing their tunes, most noticeable of which is the peacock’s rather harsh call. A distinct smell, which can be described as almost peppery, is noticeable as soon as one enters the forest. Could that be the scent of fresh air that humanity has come to forget? I do not know.

Weathering from granite and gneiss gives the soil its rich red colour | Credit for all images: Arshreet Singh Boulders balancing on rock formations litter the forest

Further on the path, volcanic rock formations known as Peninsular Gneiss which are found all over the subcontinent, often billions of years old, decorate the forest. Massive granite boulders, some of which have cracked due to weathering from growing roots of trees, precariously balance themselves on these formations. As the boulders have been baking in the sun for millions of years now, they also add a maroonish tint to the greenery of the forest. On top of dealing with the forces of nature, these boulders have to contend with the power of love too. Boulders that seem impossible to reach otherwise, are not safe from the passionate lover, itching to etch his declaration in stone. The theme of these ‘cave paintings’ is usually hearts and initials.

According to an article in Citizen Matters, the boulders also served as regular practice sites for rock climbers, some of who have gone on to climb several peaks in the Himalayas and elsewhere. Climb on top of one of these boulders and the ever expanding metropolis reveals itself.

The forest is surrounded on all sides. It seems as if the city will engulf it any day now. Deeper into the trail, a sweet fragrance grips the senses. Upon investigation, it was found that two trees of plumeria with white and yellow flowers, also known as Champa, surrounding an ancient Shani temple, were the source. The temple, surprisingly, is devoid of sculptures or images of gods. Instead, it features an array of stones painted white, yellow and red. The ancient temple doesn’t take anything away from the lack of civilization in the forest, but adds to its rustic ambience.

According to Dr. Sukhwant Grewal, a psychologist, being in nature can reset the mind and help relieve stress. “Adults and children alike are increasingly disconnected from nature. Living and working in high-rise buildings and being on the phone 24/7 doesn’t do wonders for mental health either. It is imperative that one takes out the time to go out into nature and experience what our ancestors experienced thousands of years ago. There is no doubt that surrounding yourself with nature relieves stress,” he said.

Fragrant plumeria tree blooming with white and yellow flowers next to the Shani temple

Metrolopis of Bengaluru from a hill in the Turahalli forest

Walking in a forest can be a deeply meditative experience, albeit a little scary at times. The tiniest rusting sound in the bushes can be hair-raising, not least because Bengaluru and its surrounding areas are home to a multitude of venomous snakes like the cobra. The serenity, however, is broken as soon as one exits the forest and returns to the city, making the experience that much more seminal.

QUEER REPRESENTATION

How Hindi cinema misrepresents the LGBTQIA Bollywood’s attempt at normalising homosexuality could is doing more harm, writes Ayndrila Banerjee

ollowing the abrogation of Article 377 in 2018, a move that liberated many closeted sexual minorities, the Indian film industry encashed the opportunity by bringing out movies depicting homosexual or transsexual relationships. Most of those films aim at normalising the hitherto-taboo subject and have gone on to create movies that fall under the genre of comedy. The filmmakers probably think that since laughter is the best medicine, a comic take

on a subject that is still abhorred in Indian society could help normalise it. But several members of the LGBTQ community themselves say that in their attempt at comedy, these movies end up being offensive. “Through movies like these, homosexual people are portrayed as comical or joyful, too loud or wearing tacky clothes. In reality, we are no different from people who aren’t from the community,” says Shimanta Barua, who identifies as a pansexual. The representation of the subcommunity of transgender people is also flawed, feels Shimanta. He said: “There are movies that stereotype trans people as liars or deceivers, which I think is the worst possible way to portray these people.” To give an example of this, in the movie

‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, the lead actress is shown to be contesting elections with a transgender woman who is characterised as woman with ill traits. A woman, who only has ulterior motives behind winning the elections, who doesn’t care about the welfare of the people who she seeks votes from. Then there comes the question of misrepresentation. There has always been a long-standing debate about how filmmakers hire actors who don’t consider themselves a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. These actors play the role of transgenders. The complaint that reverberates from the members of the community is that despite the existence of actors who are transgenders, directors only go for someone who can play the role adequately. Irfan Khan (name changed), an active member of the community, said: “The movie ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashqui’ portrays a transgender woman, but in reality, it was a misrepresentation. Vani Kapoor, the actress who played the role, is a cis gendered heterosexual female. If the creators really wanted to put forth the idea of transgender relationships, they could have easily found a trans woman from the community itself. This can be misleading as it is not true representation.” On one hand there are movies like ‘Badhai Do’, ‘Shubh Mangal Zyaada Savdhan’ etc. which gain a lot of traction mainly due to the acclaimed cast actors, there are many deserving movies on the subject that get pushed under the carpet. One possible reason for movies like ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga’ or ‘Margarita with A Straw’ don’t make the cut is because these fall under the genre of drama

and are often more impactful. The rigidly established unacceptance of the idea of homosexuality has made it difficult for serious cinema like these to gain traction. While many complain about the misrepresentation of the LGBTQIA+ community, there are people from outside and within the community who think that however flawed the portrayal might be, it is the first step to normalise the idea in a

traditionalist society. Many think that filmmakers and actors are at least bold enough to bring the issues of the community out on the big screens. Raqeeb Raza, a queer rights activist said there’s a flip side to it: “I feel it’s both good and bad. I mean, the fact that there’s more portrayal of the queer community in the mainstream is a good thing, because we see more of us on the screen than we ever did growing up. But, then, there’s also negative as well as improper portrayal of the community and that’s where the bad comes in. If you are portraying an already marginalised community in a negative manner then you are doing more harm than good. But there are also sensitive portrayals of the community in a few recent films, mostly regional. have tried to portray queerness quite well.

CINEMA

Rise of pan-Indian cinema in the offing Regional cinema sees a new dawn with rising popularity of OTT platforms, writes Kashish Sharma

ahul Parashar, a 27-year old young man in Gurgaon grew up watching Hindi cinema. Habituated to watching movies in a theatre, he had exposure only to mainstream cinema. When the pandemic kept him home-bound, OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime came to his rescue. For Rahul, the last two years have transformed the way he looks atcinema: he watched regional cinema for the first time, thanks to the OTT platforms.

says, but they are giving us an authentic experience of these movies. With the parallel rise of OTT viewership, the situation has turned in favour of the regional cinema which is now receiving national attention and enjoying a larger audience. While there are many factors behind the increasing viewership of Malayalam cinema and Tamil cinema, film critic Srinivasan Shiva Kumar feels that

Subtitles are better than bad lip-sync, say viewers | Courtesy: Shutterstock “Due to lack of exposure and unnecesssary generalizations, all regional cinema was painted in the same colour. We too had a skewed vision. Theatres offer limited space, we never had the opportunity to appreciate any film that was not mainstream. Bollywood took away most of our childhood. However, with OTT, Bollywood has become just one among many other options. For the very first time, I have control over what I wish to watch,” said Rahul. Parashar also talked about how movies like Pushpa and RRR have changed the way he perceived South Indian cinema. They might not be the finest movies, he

though OTT is complimenting the trajectory of South Indian cinema, it is not entirely responsible for its growth. “It started much before the rise of OTT. Growth started when dubbing came into the process. Also, I feel that there is a rise of consciousness among the population who seek more content-driven movies. I would call it the refinement of taste. These regional movies which once enjoyed a small audience are now being appreciated for what they are. It has little to do with the platform which no longer might influence once we are out of the pandemic and theatres are back on the scene,” he further continued.

Kumar believes that mainstream cinema in the country has touched upon and remade only a less valuable fraction of these regional movies. Many regional artistic gems remain unexplored, he said. Hima Das is a 28-year old woman from Hyderabad who has drowned herself in Telugu and Malayalam cinema since childhood. Contrary to Kumar’s view, she feels that OTT has solved the problem of accessibility and authenticity which limited the audience of regional cinema. “Who would take the pain of downloading a movie from unknown sources that in the first place is not in your mother tongue and secondly has been dubbed into other languages. It kills the spirit of the work. It is like watching Exorcist in Hindi or Telugu. More than chills, you might die laughter.” Das believes that OTT is like a mega mart that flashes all kinds of cinema at the click of a button. The process of searching for intercultural movies, she says, is made easy. She believes that subtiltles are way better than bad lip-sync that can turn any serious work into a piece of comedy. Many people, she says, are seeing South-Indian movies authentically for the first time. Vinaya K, a 22-year old student from Kerala feels strongly about Malayalam cinema. “It feels so great when my non-Keralite friends talk about movies like Minnal Murli and Kumbalangi Nights. That feeling of appreciation is priceless.” Realising their pan-Indian viewership, South Indian cinema is now tweaking their films for the pan-Indian viewership. Movies like Bahubali (2017), Pushpa (2021) and RRR(2022) have tapped into this factor. There is also a rising trend of intercultural artist participation. Many regional movies are starring both the local artists and artists of the mainstream cinema.

REVIEW

Movie Review: Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu While the movie importantly touches upon female desires, it does little to bring nuance to the subject, writes Shristi Achar

t is hardly surprising when the experiences of women trying to buy condoms are portrayed as urban legend, especially considering the horde of stressful and personally horrifying elements those stories hold. It is even more so when one listens to the stories of women trying to explore their sexual desires. To narrate such a story in mainstream cinema, is thus, a bold move by the makers of Achcham Madam Naanam Payirappy. The movie title translates to ‘Fear, Innocence, Coyness, Chastity’, indicating the general attributes of a woman raised in a ‘good’ society. The story is a coming of age drama, directed by Raja Ramamurthy and starring the legendary singer Usha Uthup and Akshara Hassan. Hassan plays a late-teen, urban, upper-class Brahmin girl Pavithra, who is entrenched within conservative boundaries. Her mundane life includes her pet gold fish, her dog Pixie, her strict mother (played by Malgudi Subha) who consistently pressurizes her to sing like her grandmother (Usha Uthup), and her father who is unimpressed by her boyfriend Harish. Her controlled upbringing dictates everything, from the clothes she wears to how her notes must sound when she takes music lessons from her mother and grandmother. Her only respite is her two friends, Rathi and Jessica, with whom she tries to push her personal boundaries, be it eating fish or discussing sex. This setting makes up most of the movie, reflecting on the constraints in a standard Indian household, and how the women try just a little bit more to break free from them. An

is dangling between the two. Whether she goes through her decision or not forms the rest of the story. While the story, as initially stated, does mean well to take up a sensitive issue, it fails to make an impact on the audience due to its lack of focus on realistic details. For example, the protagonist and her friend decide to buy condoms in their neighbourhood shop itself, where she risks getting recognized.

The movie attempts to deal with female desires in a conservative upper caste setting, as opposed to the understanding that privileged classes are open-minded. Courtesy: IMDB.com

interesting visual portrayal of the movie is the aspect ratio of some initial scenes of the movie, which is small and box-like, much like Pavithra’s life. Ironies that depict her desires as opposed to societal expectations are extensively presented; she enjoys listening to jazz while she is forced into learning Carnatic music; her love of fish-eating despite having a fish for a pet. The plot of the movie takes hold when Pavithra decides to have sex with her boyfriend. The scenes where she and her two friends go through the process of realizing her decision seems like a classic Freudian ‘Id, Ego and Super-ego’ setting. One friend helps her affirmatively while the other deters her, and our protagonist

Women’s stories of sexual experiences are often rife with the great lengths they go to hide their activities. Whether that should be the ideal situation is a different matter. However, if one were to depict a realistic scene, such details wouldn’t be relatable to the audience at all. Perhaps the only scene of impact is the protagonist’s dialogue with her grandmother, where the latter explains how Pavithra must listen to herself, and not settle to become a people-pleaser. While most of the movie involves itself a little too much in setting the plot, the plot itself isn’t for more than twenty minutes. The movie is a good one-time watch. If nothing, it gives a sneak-peak into the minds of the present day generation. It does well to show the conditioning to societal standards that are forced upon people, and the constant desires to break out of them. However, the movie slacks in presenting a satisfying resolution to the story. A five-minute conversation often does little to solve profound issues of life, and the understanding of that would bring the nuance that the story lacks.

Cry Baby Cry for the Beatles’ ashram A photo essay by Tina Freese

here are places in the world that leave a deep impression on people. The Beatles’ Ashram in Rishikesh is one such enigmatic place. Located near Rajaji Park, it sends one into a state of serenity. With the soothing sound of the Ganga, the place which is now a tourist attraction was once a meditation ground. The place gained popularity in the 60’s when the famous British band The Beatles came to live here. The band found artistic inspiration in the place and is believed to have written nearly sixty songs which featured on the ‘White Album’ and ‘Abbey Road,’ As much as the place is covered with dense forest, the broken down buildings called the Kutias (huts) are covered with beautiful murals depicting life, meditation, and the band’s brief stay in the ashram.

The band, in the midst of roaring popularity, found themselves looking for peace and ended up visiting the Ashram.

The Beatles stayed for nearly eight weeks and wrote popular songs including ‘cry baby cry’, ‘Dear Prudence’, and ‘Let it be’ here.

The ashram is located on the eastern bank of river Ganga.

Different artists including street art artist Pan Trinity Das have contributed to the beautiful murals painted in the satsang halls of the ashram.

After the death of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the mediational leader of the ashram, who was said to have devised a transcendental technique of meditation, the place was abandoned in the 1990s

There are eight four kutias or huts with meditation rooms, most of them have beautiful paintings made after the place was abandoned.

It was under the forest department and was opened in 2015 for the public, and has been a tourist attraction ever since.