WOMEN

Community Awareness and Outreach March was the month of many firsts for Bembala. Bembala’s community outreach initiative “Bol Sakhi” organized its first event with nearly 30 Pournakarmikas (street sweepers) and an awareness talk with the parents at the Samriddhi Trust Bridge School. We also had our first pop up at Indus International School -Bangalore (IISB) Bol Sakhi was a heartwarming gathering where the volunteer survivors shared their own stories, which highlighted different forms of abuse creating awareness. This forged a connect that women’s experiences of violence cuts across all socio-economic barriers and encouraged the ladies to empathize and share their thoughts on abuse…

With a red and black shawl over her shoulders and a warm smile, Thamizhachi Thangapandian walks the streets of Medavakkam on Tuesday, April 2 2019. She initiates a friendly conversation with the women, tastes the Kara Kuzhambu in one of the houses and listens attentively to their  problems. She assures that she will transform the locality if elected to power. A writer, poet and academician, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) camdidate Thamizhachi Thangapandian is fighting her first Lok Sabha election from Chennai South. She is campaigning vigorously -- both online and offline; her Facebook page is filled with updates about her…

“There has been a 20 percent increase in patients admitted for alcohol and drug abuse this year, as compared to 2007,” says Dr Poorna Chandrika, Deputy Superintendent, Institute of Mental Health. “Alcohol and drug related crimes are on the rise in Chennai. In over 25 percent of criminal cases in Chennai, the offender was inebriated during or before the crime,” says V Kannadasan, a criminal lawyer, practising in Madras High Court. The above data signify two things: one, the number of citizens falling prey to alcoholism and other substance abuse is clearly on the rise and that this may well…

Sitting in a tuition centre in Neelankarai, 21-year-old Rani (name changed) stammers as she reads meizhuthu (consonants) in Tamil. As the teacher pronounces the alphabet, the frail girl repeats it after her and tries to memorise it. She immerses herself in the effort, hoping she can shut out her recollections of childhood, filled with the stuff of nightmare for anyone, adult or child. Forced to give up studies at an early age, Rani slogged for more than a decade at a rice mill in Red Hills. “No one including me knew it was slavery. We had accepted it as our…

What does a city look like? Who lives in the city? If you are thinking of the New York skyline, skyscrapers, wide roads, clean streets and cars, you are perhaps not alone. These westernized imaginings are quick to invade our mind whenever there is talk of urbanscape. However, now think consciously of the space that we inhabit, a typical Indian megacity, and our own daily experiences may present themselves as stark contradictions. Having lived in Mumbai, when I think of a city I am taken back to my daily commutes to college, in the local trains. Standing at the doorstep,…

To begin with, that's how India's map looks like right now, if we mark the parliamentary constituencies with women Members of Parliament (MPs) in green. The chart visualised by Lokdhaba, an initiative of Trivedi Centre for Political Data at Ashoka University, shows that women's representation has been scattered across the nation, for the 16th Lok Sabha. The debate on having more and more women at the helm of political affairs has been a long one. The Women's Reservation Bill promised by various political parties has remained unimplemented due to lack of political consensus. As we head towards yet another Lok…

You see them every morning, all across the city. Pourakarmikas, pushing their rickety handcarts, sweeping the streets and collecting the garbage that residents, shops and others have just left by the roadside for them to clear. Bangalore actually needs many more of these unrecognised and overworked workers, who provide a truly essential service, keeping the city clean. But have you ever wondered what does their work mean to them? Is it a choice or a compulsion? Pourakarmikas toil in working conditions that are far from perfect, as numerous reports and studies have shown. Hired by contractors selected by the city…

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” goes a famous quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.  The verse seems to have impacted M S Paoyaola, a 21-year-old social work student from Madras Christian College, who recently went all out to help a physically and mentally unwell woman on the streets, and came back with a rude awakening of realities on the ground in such situations. On January 26th, around 6.30 pm, Paoyaola, a second year student and a resident of St Thomas Mount was passing by Morison Street in Alandur. Noticing a small…

Translated by Sandhya Raju "பல மாதங்களாக தனிமையில் வாடினேன். என் குடும்பத்தினரிடம் என்னால் மனம் விட்டு பேச முடியவில்லை. தற்கொலை எண்ணத்தை தூண்டக்கூடிய அளவில் கல்லூரி படிப்பு ரொம்பவே அழுத்தம் கொடுத்தது" என்கிறார் பிரபல கல்லூரியில் இறுதி ஆண்டு எஞ்சினீயரிங் பயிலும் ராம். வாழ்க்கையின் இக்கட்டான முடிவை எடுக்கும் முன், ஆன்லைனில் உதவி கிட்டுமா என்று தேடினார். "என்ன தேடுகிறேன் என்று தெரியாமல் என் பிரச்சனையை முன்வைத்து வலைதளத்தில் தேட ஆரம்பித்த பொழுது தற்கொலை தடுப்பு ஹெல்ப்லைன் நம்பர் கிடைத்தது. சும்மா முயற்சிக்கலாம் என்ற எண்ணத்தில் எந்த வித எதிர்ப்பார்ப்பும் இன்றி தொடர்பு கொண்டேன், ஆனால் அந்த முயற்சி என் வாழ்க்கையை மாற்றி அமைத்தது" என்கிறார். WHO ஆய்வின் படி இந்தியாவின் சராசரியை விட தமிழ்நாட்டில் தற்கொலை செய்வோரின் எண்ணிக்கைமூன்று மடங்கு அதிகம்.   National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) படி.2015 ஆண்டில், 14,602 தற்கொலைகள் தமிழ்நாட்டில் நடந்துள்ளன. நாட்டிலேயே…

“I felt very lost and alone for many months. I was not able to communicate my feelings to my family. I felt very pressurised to finish my course requirements in college, and it overwhelmed me into thinking about suicide”, says Ram*, a final year engineering student at a reputed college in Chennai. Before Ram could take the drastic step, he turned to online resources hoping for help. “I don't know what I was looking for. I Googled how I felt, and found the contact number of a suicide prevention helpline. I figured I would just make that call. I did…