The Change is Here-Already! A brief report of IWD at Vatsalya Sponsored by Anoothi-US and Anchal Project, USA Its February only and we begin getting phone calls and messages- “What is the plan this year on IWD?” They already want to start preparing for a journey of 2-5 hours, want to decide what they will wear, want to advise us about the program that day and make their sweet small wishes regarding the menu, sports, gifts and awards, etc known to us. They want to put their hundred percent to make sure that they have a memorable day filled with joyful learning..:) On March 8th, Vatsalya campus in Achrol is all ready to welcome over 200 Anoothi women who are members of Self-Help-Groups created by Vatsalya. Welcoming the Anoothi Women! Until about 5-6 years ago, the Anoothi women could very timidly tell their names in barely audible voices, could not imagine venturing beyond the four walls of their homes or till the end of the village boundary and, knew only one life-that of submission, ignorance and abject poverty. Today, not only they speak their mind with a loud and confident voice, they have dreams and COURAGE to follow their dreams! They have learnt to collaborate in a development process that has changed the way they look at themselves. Slowly and gradually, skill training that were imparted to these women empowered them economically as well. Today, these Anoothi artisans earn anything between Rs. 3000 to 8000 per month working from home. Their Kantha products and Patwa jewelery are appreciated and admired world over. Anoothi women; from complete dependence a few years ago, today have made their way to a life of dignity and independence. Not only they are able to support themselves, they pay the school fee of their children, cover medical bills of their ailing parents and parent in laws and some of them even support the total cost of living as their husbands are unable to work due to illness. Our biggest achievement is to see their glowing faces beaming with joy as they confidently walk with their heads held high! Medical and Health Check-up At about 11am, they began arriving adorned very bright and colorful Sarees, Kurtas and Odhnis. Children accompany; some as young as 3 months old babies. They are escorted straight to the health and medical check up area where a team of doctors from National Institute of Medical Sciences comprising of an ENT Specialist, a Gynecologist, a Paediatricians and a General Physician are ready to examine and assist them. When the check up is done, they proceed to buy medicines at the medicine counter. Their expenditure on medicine will be reimbursed back to them during the monthly meeting. This is done with a hope to ensure that they will consume the medicines they purchased themselves. The Martial Art Expert Next on the agenda this IWD is a Self Defense Workshop; something we have been wanting to do since long and something the Anoothi women demanded last year during the IWD function and deliberations later. Richa Gaur, an amazing and inspiring young girl is our resource person- a world champion and winner of half a dozen gold medals! Her father accompanies her and very proudly shares as to how Richa who found her passion when she was barely 10, pursued it in spite of initial dismay and anxiety of parents. They belong to a conservative section of Indian society where a girl is expected to learn to behave in a certain way only and must invest her energies in learning cooking and other household chores. But soon, Richas father shared, they knew there was no stopping Richa and as loving parents they decided to support her strange passion. In last one decade, Richa; from a small neighborhood of Jaipur has made her presence known in international arena of Martial Arts. Not only she has several awards and recognitions to her credit, she has trained thousands of young girls, women and police personnel through her Martial Art Academy. Richa; this inspiring girl, is just 20! The Self defense Workshop The Self defense session began and Richa invited volunteers to participate and learn it first hand. We have 12 persons; age ranging from 10 (Shivanshi of Vatsalya Udayan to 62; Lada Mai of Shampura village) as enthusiastic participants. Next one and a half hour is spent with Richa showing them different tricks and technics of self defense and attack. The participant volunteers take their turns playing an attacker and then learning to defend themselves when attacked. We all watch and learn, awed and inspired, feeling delighted and strong, cheering and encouraging as they perform some moves perfectly and then laughing joyfully when some awkward mistake make fall flat on the ground..:) After about 80 minutes of the session, we hear some noises-children are fidgeting and getting restless. So we decide to stop there and Richa invites 10-12 persons for a special 15-20 minutes exclusive session. The Ambush! As the large group of about 200+ women and children began disbursing and the small group with Richa was getting ready for another brief training session, we noticed some commotion, this time with some alarming cries. We turn and see some honey bees hovering over and around us. Our initial reaction was to ignore them and stay calm so as to let them fly away to wherever they were going. But soon, we notice that they are in hundreds and actually attacking us all. Everyone panicked and ran for cover but before we could reach any safe place, many of us were stung by angry bees. For the next one hour, all of us were talking to each other from our safe hidings on our mobile phones, enquiring into the status as to who was where, who was bitten, what was needed to be done and so on. We were removing the stings from hands and faces and necks of persons who were bitten severely and several timesIt was quite painful for some. After about 30 minutes, one team of our Vatsalya Udayan boys and girls decided to handle the bees and the staff took charge of taking the victims to hospital. It was an unimaginable chaos; one we were not ready for. We we have lived with those beehives for years, they have never troubled us before. Later we were told that is was a migratory swarm that was on its way to somewhere and was perhaps attracted by the overpowering smell of perfume of the gathering. Nevertheless, after one hour, we were still sitting in a room, trying to assess the situation, when we heard loud DJ Music- The women were back! Everyone was back and dancing, even those who had been stung by as many as two dozen bees! They all left after a sumptuous meal of Dal-Bati-Choorma! Another adventure waiting en route One of the public transport buses that were taking these women home to Ajmer was stopped by an angry private bus owner. He apparently was upset at loss of business since women get to travel FREE on March 8th as per government orders. The driver of the private bus not only stopped the bus in which our women were traveling, he pulled the driver out of the bus and began beating him up. Seeing this, Anoothi women got down and told the driver to behave himself or else be ready for consequences. This man could never have imagined what was about to come when he hurled abuses at the women and threatened them. Not that we endorse violence but this driver asked for it and was given a nice thrashing by our women. They also told him that he had chosen a wrong day and wrong bus to show off his attitude! But, it did not end here. This rowdy fellow telephoned some more hooligans like himself and 20 men stopped our bus again after it had travelled 15 km. They surrounded the bus and began shouting and threatening our women. And, again, all our women, except those with small children, got down from the bus and beat up all those drunkard, ill-mannered, abusing ruffians. Shocked and surprised, it did not take more then a few minutes for them to call it quits and vanish! Anoothi women could not believe their luck that they would get an (undesirable) opportunity to try their self defense skills learnt just a few hours ago this womens day and would come out winner. However unfortunate the incidence was, it sure is a remarkable how fast learner these women are. No wonder, the strength of Anoothi women has grown from 15 to 250 in just couple of years...:) And, the final confrontation The grateful bus driver who was supposed to drop them somewhere in the city, drove 10 extra miles and dropped our women right out side the bus station. Triumphant and proud of their ability to practice what they had learnt just a few hours ago in the self defense class, Anoothi women were eager now to reach home. But, there was yet another hurdle- The window clerk refused to give them free passes! It was obvious that he did not want to loose his share of profit from sale of tickets that day and so was giving tickets only to menfolks. Tired, angry and bee stung, Anoothi women demanded to speak with the manager. And, a few minutes later, the manager personally escorted them all to an empty bus and ordered the driver to take to them home! Our final thoughts Looking back at the March 8th of 2014, we have mixed thoughts- Those of happy reunion, learning a remarkable new skill and achieving some outstanding results! Regarding the driver bashing episodes, there is a little sadness- Why it is so difficult to share life gracefully and gratefully? We do wish to let our readers know that most of women who were bitten by bees have completely recovered except a few of them who continue to be under medical observation. The doctors are taking good care of them and have assured us that they will be absolutely fine in a day or two. Anoothi India has decided to reward some of the women for their courage and boldness in taking lead for defending their rights and protecting other women and their children. Two of Vatsalya children have already been rewarded- Shivam and Rohit; when everyone else was panicked during bee attack, they were carrying the small children to safe places. They were later patrolling the campus, making sure if everyone was inside and also later, reporting victims to the medical assistance team. They then lighted fire at several places to create smoke which only made it possible for all the women to not only have their lunch peacefully but also dance a few steps on Bollywood songs before leaving! Thank you for your time and being there for us, as always..:)
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 02:23:07 +0000
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