The Skeletons who would be People

Something to lend hope.

Sadhana

http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/20000520/ina20030.html

Three gutsy women fight a crowd of bullying men

DAVINDER KUMAR

AHMEDABAD, MAY 19: Time: Morning 7 O`clock.

Place: Agriculture Produce Market Committee, Ahmedabad.

It is a great mess. Hundreds of trucks loaded with tonnes of vegetables are lined up in queue. Most have brought the daily supply from the adjoining districts while the rest are waiting to leave for farther destinations in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi for delivery.

Inside the market, the air is even more scarce. It is a huge trading ring of 400 shops.Crores of rupees are transacted in hours. At any point of time, 50,000 men scream, shout, gesticulate, argue and finally strike day`s deals.

It is a madhouse. But Dinaben Parmar - the lone woman in the ring - is a no-nonsense person. Of frail constitution, she may be hardly visible in the sea of men. Her mellowed voice is often lost in the chorus. But Dinaben stands confidently in what clearly is a man`s domain. Her colleagues, two of them, sit in their recently rented small shop in a corner. Labhuben supervises the operations while Ushaben handles the cash-box. The three describe it ``a fight against all-odds`` - a fight which has demolished one of the male bastions in grassroots economics in the country for the first time.

After a protracted battle with the State government, the market administrative body and then a strong lobby of middlemen, the three women have been courageously pushing through their agenda of ``fair trade`` in the most manipulated trade under the banner of their cooperative - Gujarat Rajya Mahila Sewa Sahakari Sangh - for almost six months.

The basic idea behind this was to prevent the vegetable growers - mainly poor farmers - and the vendors from huge financial losses as the middlemen and traders heavily manipulated the market committee like stocks in the share market. The cooperative has a membership of about 21,000 growers in the Ahmedabad rural region, Gandhinagar, Kheda, Mehsana, Sabarkantha districts and over 15,000 vendors in Ahmedabad.

``Considering these circumstances, we applied for a shop in the market. It was rejected with the argument that women cannot do business in the typical male stronghold. We opposed this and approached the Food and Civil Supplies Department and finally got a shop rented out to us at the APMC in November 1999,`` said Labhuben Thakkar, manager of the shop and a senior member of the cooperative.

The cooperative had earlier burnt its fingers when about one and a half years ago it purchased vegetables directly from the growers and auctioned it in the city. ``Due to inexperience in the trade, we made heavy losses and had to abandon the idea for some time,`` says Labhuben.

It was after this that the cooperative sought the help of the country`s best management brains at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to suggest some remedies. ``On our request, the students of IIM did a thorough market study of the functioning of the APMC. This also involved marketing strategies, the economics of the game, pricing of the product, marketing and then effective management,`` said Reema Nanavati, general secretary of Self Employed Women`s Association (SEWA), the parent organisation of the cooperative.

Today, the cooperative is strictly following the lead given by the IIM. But this has not made things any easier for the women who are actually managing the shop in the trading ring round the clock in turns.

For the three women, the struggle with their male counterparts started from day one. ``They take every opportunity to make us feel that we cannot survive in this trade. Right from parking rows of trucks in front of our shop to painting Beware of these women on the wall outside our shop, the middlemen and traders have been trying their best to drive us out,`` says Labhuben. ``Crop growers face threats of cuts in lending (from the other traders) if they sold their vegetables to us.

``Besides, they have stolen our sacks of chillies and even our weighing scales. But we will remain here,`` she added.

Narrating her personal experience, Dinaben Parmar says, ``As per the trade practice, the rates are arbitrated on fingers and the customer has to touch a particular finger for deciding the final bid. Many men pose as vendors, touch my fingers and then quietly vanish in the crowd.``

But the women have not lost hope. ``We are not making losses. It is a break-even situation. Due to drought, this year`s sales have been affected. But we will come up with a better performance in October. Also, we are following IIM`s strategies on marketing to strengthen our position. Our commission is far less than the other traders and we are honest,`` said Labhuben.

Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

re. Saima Shah (#10)

Wah, ji, wah! Eloquently expressed. I don`t think Shandana would mind the `digression`. Her work usually provides the `context for change` you speak of, so this discussion is quite relevant on this board. (..nO, Shandy?)

(Then again, what discussion? You`ve said all there was to say, Saima!)

Still, would be nice to hear Shandana`a view on `should literature have a social agenda?`-- temp`s too.

with thanks,

PM

Shandana,

I really enjoyed this piece. Very descriptive infact loved this line:

``ever since she had entered the gulf stream of puberty that dissects the ocean of emotion, Ayesha had taken to sauntering around the house at a speed that, at the best of times, came close to that of a nesting slug.``

A nesting slug....wow that was beautiful.

neat.

Re: Jonty

Literature is the mirror of a society. (my humble opinion). It is a shifting reflection like on water, of the aspirations, trials and joys of an age. A writer is more authentic than a historian in some ways. An historian only records facts, but a writer immortalizes feelings, and hopes in such a way that people live in those characters. This articulation is important for a society to discover itself and voice its dreams. Without the channel of fiction, how can a culture rejuvenate and renew itself? It will become stagnant and barren. The quality of fiction is like a barometer of change and creative development in a culture. to sum, rather than being `an agent of change` it provides a context for change.

Btw, have u checked out the Chowk forums? we can move there rather than digress too much from Shandana`s piece.

rgds

Saima

Hi Saima ;-)

Your concerns raise interesting questions. Can literature bring about change? Should it be seen as an agent for change?

And if not, what is literature for?

The floor is open for responses.

Saima

Hi ;-)

Your desire for change raises interesting questions. Can literature bring about change? Should it be seen as a medium for change?

And if not, then what is literature for?

The floor is open for responses.

thank you all :)

pm...your criticism is always welcome. you`re right about digging in the mud, thats where is spend most of my time nowadays anyway, like a little pig with it`s nose in the trough.
take care everybody

shandana

Hi Jonty,

Nice to see you. Well, my reasons are based in my personal despair where Pakistani politics and culture are concerned. Yet one loves ones country/people/home. The hope burns bright that an Ayesha is watching her parents` antics, with a critical eye. And rages at the narrow prejudices, the mental blinkers.

One hopes that the rage one day turns to action.

rgds

Saima

Re: Saima

``I think this combination of dejection and passionate desire to change must be unique; and perhaps only possible in a Pakistani writer.``

Interesting theory. But why only possible in a Pakistani writer?

A very moving piece. Great writing!

``rage against the dying of the light``

Let us not let the light of knowledge die out on the girls/women of Pakistan.

Dr. Riffat Hassan here in the US may want to read this one, and offer her analysis.

Ras

the disagreement between the parents is priceless. one learns more about their characters from that conversation than from any description. you really have an ear for the nuances of dialougue.

initially had reservations about a pre-teen quoting ``do not go gentle...`` since thomas wrote it for his dying, elderly father. but, second reading, it does go well with ayesha`s practical resignation...besides which the poem has certainly transcended its original purpose.

Deceptively simple. Dazzligly multi-layered.

I always like to think that one day there will be a Shandana novel or a Shandana short story compilation. I think this combination of dejection and passionate desire to change must be unique; and perhaps only possible in a Pakistani writer. The way you have used DThomas is great.

My heart went out to little Ayesha; who raged against the dying light. I wish there may be a million such in Pakistan.

rgds

Saima

Good to see some vintage Shandana Minhas!

The imagery was powerful and moving, though sometimes so strong (or strecthed out) one lost connection with the protagonist/s. (There, I can criticize too!)

I reckon you`ve done some digging in the dirt and come out the stronger for it. Unlike the other talent-laden ``true fiction`` piece on the front page currently, this one, though not nearly as dizzily mesmerizing, seems to have a sense of direction, even if ``inversed``.

I liked the ending:

[As she moved she whispered, for comfort, the words she’d come here to understand, “Rage” she whispered “rage against the dying of the light.”]

... sad but pregnant with hope. (maybe that`s the enduring SM `message`-- if I may be so presumptuous as to assume there`s one)

g`luck with further excavations and constructions!

SM:

Maza aagaya!

Imaginative. Well crafted. Witty. Insidious.

lve

t