The Withering Flower

Image Source

'She' born as the second gender, Oh!

but why is she the second gender?

Do you know?

She who played with a Barbie doll.

How did she come to choose Barbie doll and not an aeroplane?

Is it genealogy or social ideology?

She who wanted to be a superwoman like her working mother;

but why? I don't know.

Neither did anyone tell her not to be nor what to be.

And then she who was told to be careful always;

later learnt to be on alert anyway.

No, no one stalked her or attacked her,

but her cousin was stalked, her sister was teased, her friend was groped.

Her fellow second genders were molested and raped.

And she heard all their stories.

She put on a dupatta, wore longer skirts,

avoided talking loudly or laughing out,

never walked alone in the dark,

never walked alone on a deserted road,

never walked with head held high on a busy street,

never walked carefreely,

never got on a bus without being alert in all senses,

never travelled in a cab without fear,

never slept peacefully on any journey,

never felt safe alone in a deserted office,

never felt confident to raise a question,

never felt strong to put up a fight,

never learnt to be confident of her body,

never learnt to look at a mirror without worrying about her dress and looks,

never loved herself for what she was.

She learnt to hide in the shadow of her father.

She mastered the art of being cautious and never let her guard down.

Then she without a choice chose to wear the almighty Kavach that is the MangalSutra.

She never forgot her headgear - the Sindhoor.

Believing in its extraordinary powers to save her.

She became the superwoman that she was told she was.

She stood behind his success.

His shadow became her world.

She became an expert in hiding in his shadows.

She saw his dreams.

Her own dreams had died a slow death and she had no time to mourn.

Then they arrived and took up her time and energy.

She now learnt to see through their dreams.

Even after being a super woman she hid inside her Kavach and head gear.

Even when her fingers were hooked to their tiny fingers for their safety,

she found ways to adjust her dupatta.

The journey continues like a withering flower.

Read More »

The Shunned Reality of Manual Scavengers in India

The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 defines ‘manual scavenger’ as:
“a person engaged or employed, at the commencement of this Act or at any time thereafter, by an individual or local authority or an agency or a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the Central Government of a State Government may notify, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed…”

I asked naively, "does this still happen in our society? I know these kinds of things happen in villages but do they happen in cities like Chennai?". There is nothing wrong in the question. It does not happen in cities. It absolutely does not happen in my neighbourhood. It certainly has never happened in front of my eyes. I have never seen anything like that happen. I know you could not agree with me more on this. Such a thing does not exist. These people don't exist. And even if we see anyone like that we believe it's their job. They are doing their job and they get paid for it. One thing we know for sure is that they don't do their job properly. Otherwise, why would public toilets be so dirty? You know, these people, they don't do their work properly.

I could not stop the tears that were rolling down my cheeks. In the dark, I was sure no one could see. I cried silently because I did not want anybody else to think that I am being over sensitive and trying to show off. But then I heard sniffing sounds from here and there. Even in the dark, I could feel the desperation in the room. The building up anger and the muffling helplessness. The guilt was looming above when they finally switched on the lights. With minds filled with questions, everyone clapped. No one could speak a word. How could we? We had just watched the documentary "Kakkoos" (the Toilet).

My question, in the beginning, I knew was not only wrong but sinful. I realised manual scavenging is real. As a normal person when I read the definition, I didn't really understand it. So when I searched the internet I found an article on "The Wire" where I found a much simpler definition. The article says:
"The Asian Human Rights Commission, for instance, describes manual scavenging in the following terms:
“Manual scavenging in India is officially defined as ‘lifting and removal of human excreta manually’, at private homes and toilets maintained by municipal authorities. The practice consists of gathering human excreta from an individual or community dry latrines with bare hands, brooms or metal scrapers into woven baskets or buckets. This the scavengers then carry on their heads, shoulders or against their hips, (and in wheelbarrows if they can afford it) into dumping sites or water bodies. Apart from this, many scavengers are similarly employed to collect, carry and dispose excreta from sewers, septic tanks, drains and railway tracks.”

This definition makes it much easier to understand the definition of the word. This also gave me a realisation that every person who works in public toilets, by these terms is a manual scavenger in India. We very well know the condition of public toilets in our country. And don't even ask about the railway stations and railway tracks. We all know how the toilets in trains work. So who cleans all the shit on the tracks? By this definition, all those men whom we see getting into open ditches and manholes are manual scavengers. Even those who sweep roads are manual scavengers because they sweep everything including human excreta. This happens in our cities under our nose. Do you feel nauseating on hearing the word human excreta or shit? Do you feel nauseating when you see people doing it on the roads and on our beaches? Then just imagine the lives of these people who have to clean it every day many times with bare hands.

The documentary showed at length about the plight of these people. How they are employed and the conditions under which they work. The kind of exploitation they are subjected to. How they work as contract workers and how their disgusting and dangerous job is garbed using sophisticated words like sanitation worker. It was an eye opener on why still humans are being employed to do this work when clearly there are machinery available and being used in other countries. It clearly showed their helplessness in not being able to come out of this situation in life generation after generation because of the most heinous system called the caste in India. Above all, it showed the apathy they face in the hands of officials and the public(you and me) every day when they live and even after they die.

We read in newspapers every week about 2 or 3 men dying due to suffocation while cleaning manholes, septic tanks and ditches but how many times do we give a second thought about it. How many times have we discussed it? How many times have we imagined what their lives were like to live cleaning septic tanks, ditches and manholes? What kind of life do their families live? Do we even consider them human beings? The documentary answers so many questions like for instance we ask, "why don't they leave this job and go get a better job?". So many questions that we ask without even trying to understand their lives are answered. So many questions are raised. The deaths are under-reported, deliberately wrongly reported as accidents, compensations are denied citing fake reasons to escape punishment for employing them illegally. Those who get compensation have to pay a bribe to get it. Mr.Bezwada Wilson( Indian activist and one of the founders and National convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), an Indian human rights organization that has been campaigninC for the eradication of manual scavenging and winner of Ramon Magsaysay Award) spoke after the screening and he said, "since 1993 when The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act was passed, 16 times deadlines were set to eradicate manual scavenging and every time it has been unsuccessful. It still continues unabated."

In a nation where a massive activity like demonetisation which affected crores of people could be implemented overnight, can't the same messiah implement this law and stop manual scavenging overnight? A question again raised during the discussion after the screening. What is our role in this society? What is our responsibility as a citizen moreover as a human being? What can we do about this inhuman practice? How can we change it? How can we eradicate it? Questions each one of us should ask ourselves. Our silence is a crime. Our indifference can cost many more lives. Watch Kakkoos.

Read More »