Nourish in India: Female Representation in Community Leadership

Having read so much about the diseases one can get coming to India on the CDC website, being injected so many times and taking so many pills, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I was told the name of the village which would be the focus of the documentary film on which I am working: Malaaria.

It took about an hour to drive out to the village from Seva Mandir’s offices in the Fatehpurah section of Udaipur, a journey which took us from the cow and autorickshaw-filled city streets, to highways with the occasional camel walking down them winding through hills, to the bumpy dirt roads of rural Mewar (the name for the Udaipur region).

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell writes: “Poverty is not deprivation. It is isolation.” Gladwell is discussing the significant role that social networks in the United States play in helping people advance their careers, ideas, and agendas, but I was continually struck by that concept while in Malaaria.

When people talk of the issues of inequality, they often speak of how India is a nation of extreme contrasts, how you see poverty and wealth side by side. This is certainly true in the big cities, but Malaaria is nowhere near the swank shops in Delhi or the corporate headquarters in Mumbai. It would be easy to ignore Malaaria’s problems because unlike city slums, they are very much out of sight (and out of most people’s minds).

Our project doesn’t really have a clear, tangible impact on the lives of the women in Malaaria. They showed us the irrigation system that Seva Mandir helped them build, the village school, and their new well. These things are concrete and their effects are easier to measure. Though the effects of our project on the lives of women in Malaaria may not be as clear-cut as an increased harvest due to better irrigation, I think (or at least hope) that our short documentary which examines the increased role of women in a traditional village council, will help raise awareness about what these women have accomplished and what work remains to be done. Awareness is more a part of the means to an end than an end itself. Though they are largely isolated from much of the outside world, the women in our film have used their connections with one another, their mutual interest in having their voices heard to come together to create change in Malaaria. Though the advancement of their rights is based on their own actions, Seva Mandir’s creation of a women’s resource center, childcare programs, and education initiatives have all been crucial to making their work possible.

My hope for our film is that it will inspire women in other villages to come together and work to create a space for women in their village leadership and that it will allow Seva Mandir to promote its work to a larger audience in order to increase support for their efforts.

The project is beginning to wrap up. We went to the village for the last time today
and got to see an actual Jati Panchayat meeting. It was all in Mewari
so I only understand the basic ideas but the case to decide whether or
not to grant a woman a divorce. Her husband began to beat her after he
started drinking and at one point he tried to
lock her in a room and burn her alive. The case was brought to the
Women's Resource Center which is an outlet of Seva Mandir, but because
the group didn't have a whole lot of authority (because the group only consisted of women) the case was sent to the Jati Panchayat. Today was the
first time this case had been brought to the Jati Panchayat and they
decided that the husband needs to be present in order for him to follow
the ruling and so at the next meeting, they will make sure that he
will be there, along with the in-laws and the  woman's parents.
There is little doubt that the ruling will be in her favor which is
good, but the fact that he has to be there in order for her to get a
divorce is still a sign of work to be done.

Other than that, there isn't a whole lot going on. We finally
delegated the tasks for the project based on what we have left to do
and so hopefully everything will be done by Wednesday.

We made it back to Udaipur safely! and the city has never looked this good. Our drive to Jaisalmer was long, about 10 hours and was definitely an experience. The roads were super narrow a lot of the way, especially through the mountains. I guess you could say that we were all a little on edge until we got to the city. It's a lot hotter there than it is here and is definitely more in the desert. Everything's got a bland brown color to it and overall I wasn't that big of a fan of the city and I wasn't the only one. We went to the fort and that was pretty good but it was just so hot and everything seemed to be a hassle. A lot of the restaurants weren't open because it's the off season, so it was hard to find food at times. It was the first time we had met up with fellow travelers so that was nice. We met a Dutch guy and two Americans. There was also Bernie, a Brit who we had met in Udaipur.

It wasn't all bad though by any means. The second night we were there, we did a Camel Safari  which was really fantastic. We each had our camels and their "handlers" and both days we walked through the desert for about 2-3 hours. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that hot and the view was amazing. A couple of times, we walked through sections of sand dunes which was like I was in a movie.

When we got to a slab of concrete that was raised about four feet off the ground, I realized that was our bed. We watched the sun set as we sat on the dunes and played in the sand. Dinner was amazing and was cooked over a wood fire. I've never had chowpatti that awesome. We spent the night under the stars and they were truly amazing. I've never seen stars like that, there were so many of them and the light pollution was so minimal that you could see the Milky Way and there were tons of shooting stars. Fahmida and Bernie (the British guy) stayed up much later than the others and we just sat there and talked about life and watched shooting stars. Even though I stared at the sky for hours, it's still hard for me to remember what it looks like.

The next morning, we woke to the cawing of a pack of crows and realized we had survived the night.The wind had been relentless the entire evening and we had to pry our eyes open because the sand had sealed them shut. We were all really nasty; I could feel the layer of sand all over my face, but it was definitely worth it. After breakfast, we rode our camels back and came back to the Jaisalmer hotel. We were all beat and exhausted and after a shower and food, we all crashed. The next day was pretty worthless too as we were all sooooo sore all over. Especially our asses. And, after our second full day in Jaisalmer,  we were ready to go home.

So we finally figured out what we're doing after the film! What looks like the best option is to split up the group because people are flying out of different places at different times. This means that Patrick and I will fly to Mumbai and leave on the 13th or so and fly to Delhi the Sat/Sun before we fly out to Amsterdam. This gives us several nights in one spot. We're both going to be budgeting a lot so that's good and there might be another girl going with us and if she does, our rooms will be even cheaper.
So far, I haven't really explained what we're doing here as far as working on the film, reason being because it's a very complicated issue and difficult to describe over an text, but I'll do my best. Basically, we're creating a film, something between a documentary and an infomercial for Seva Mandir, which focuses on the issue of caste (or Janti) Panchayats. A JP is traditionally a group men who come together from a village and form a sort of governing body to decide on different cases. This exists everywhere but we are focusing on one village, Malaria (haha) and its JP. Each caste has a different Panchayat, which is how it relates to the caste system, but what we're really focusing on is the women's issues at hand. Women have never been allowed to be a part of a JP until one woman took a stand and told the men that she was going to sit on the same platform as them. This has allowed for cases which involve women's issues to be fair.
We've gone to the village twice. The first time, we took a lot of pictures of mostly kids and got some background information. The village is extremely remote and is about 40 min from the highway which is about 30 min from Udaipur. Today, we went back to interview the female JP member and women affected. These women are amazing and have come from miles away just to be a part of the film. All of them come in with their sarees on and heavy tribal silver jewelry. (if I hadn't been working, I would have asked to buy it right off them). They speak Mewari, which some Hindi speakers can understand. In other words I had no idea what the entire meeting was about, but somehow I know that we communicated. I have some sort of understanding of their story and can't wait to actually read the translations.

Finally, we had made it! While this is my second time to India, it's no less vivid, polluted or wonderful than the last time. The context is different too. For six weeks, I'll be working with five other UNC students as we create a film on the Caste Panchayat system in Udaipur, India. We are working as interns through a NGO called Seva Mandir. The non-profit is huge in Rajasthan and has projects which focus on everything from women's empowerment to sustainable development.
After arriving in Delhi, jet-lagged and haggard, we spent only one day in the city. After hiring a car for the day we saw sights like the Lodhi Gardens and the Lotus Temple. Delhi was what I remembered it to be and I think we were all ready to move on to Udaipur. After only one night in Delhi, we took an overnight, 12 hour, sleeper train. While we expected for the train ride to be an experience, we didn't know just how "interesting" it was going to be.
We thought we had everything planned out. We had bought our tickets online and had showed up at Delhi train station, just assuming that everything would go as planned. It wasn't until we looked closer at our ticket and realized that we were wait-listed. After further examination, we found out that three of us were confirmed and one of us wasn't, meaning that there were to be five people for four seats. So, we got on the train, hoping that the fifth,  a stranger, wouldn't show up.  But he did, and he told us that we would just wait until the conductor came through to check our ticket, and then we would figure out how to arrange ourselves. After sitting in tense silence for about an hour, the conductor finally showed up. Basically, he told us that all four should have been confirmed but because one wasn't there could be fines because they weren't supposed to be on the train. However, he wasn't really sure what to do, so he left us in more tense silence as he went to ask his boss. But he never came back. And so, we managed, with three beds and four people, Patrick and I sharing the lower bunk.
After a long night of not sleeping, Udaipur was a much welcomed relief to our still tired and jet-lagged selves. Hotel Natural, situated on one of the many lakes, was refreshing with its white washed walls and its warm "host family." In fact, we have come to know the hotel and its staff quite well. It is a small place with maybe ten rooms, each of which are hand painted by the owner's wife. It has a rooftop terrace as well which overlooks Rang Sagar and the Old City. Our work with Seva Mandir has started as well and recently we have started editing.
With the exception of the frequent, shopping trips, we have done only a few things in the city. Recently, two of the girls and myself were taking a walk in the Old City, just to explore on foot, when we spotted an elephant standing under a bridge. Of course, we approached it and its handler, checking out the possibilities of rides. And of course, it was Rs. 100 for each of us to go to the City Palace. Keeping in mind that it's not everyday that one gets the opportunity to ride an elephant, we accepted. But almost immediately, we began to doubt our decision.
Once we got on and the animal stood up, it decided not to move because it was so hot. I don't blame him. So, we tried to stop the ride there and just pay the handler our money and leave the beast in peace, but with no such luck. The route was through the narrow streets of the Old City, meaning that our mode of transportation took up nearly all the space. Furthermore, I hadn't realized how low hanging the power lines were that run all through the streets. Fearing for my non-electrocuted life, I was ducking down constantly. All the commotion of the elephant also attracted a ton of attention, as you can imagine and everyone came out to see the stupid Americans who had paid to ride around on an elephant. We eventually found enough space on one street to get off, before we made it to the City Palace and made more of a fool of ourselves.
Another less embarrassing excursion was to the Monsoon Palace, situated high up on the mountain. At about 5.30 pm we set out via rickshaw and traveled to the top to see the sunset. It was a truly spectacular view as we watched the sun disappear behind the mountains. Who knew there were so many in our area! Udaipur is truly situated in a valley, thus the many lakes through out the city. However, because it is the off-season, they are all dried up from the heat.
They will be filled back up soon though as monsoon season begins in late June. For the meantime, we must deal with the heat. So far, we have acclimated to it very well. Our first few days in Udaipur were rough; we could only go out for a little bit at a time because the sun would completely drain you. But eventually, days where it's about 115 degrees, aren't that bad. Of course we sweat, but you get used to it after a while. The heat also means that you can drink a ton of water and you only pee once a day!