Chai aur Feminist Charcha

Chai aur Feminist Charcha

Chai aur Charcha

Feminist breaking news - #girlsatdhabas - has spread like wild fire on the net.  It is accompanied by pictures of girls at a roadside dhabas bonding over chai.  It says in loud words - women are reclaiming the ownership of public spaces. The Tumblr blog is making waves in the social media.  That a picture of girls at a dhaba can garner such a following suggests that this is something that girls have wanted to do for a long long time. Blogspots like ‘Why Loiter’ and ‘Blank Noise’ cottoned on fast and gave them full support and turned the mere posting of a picture on instagram into a campaign.

Societal norms of feminine and masculine space are being revoked in the Indian milieu. Transgressions like sitting down to drink chai at a dhaba, or hanging out on top of a water tank , are just mini rebellions , but to a society steeped in stringent do’s and don’ts for a millennia, these are understood  at a profound level.  This in itself is indicative of how deep the malaise of restricted territories for women in public space is.

 If you google search for feminist literature, the notations of collected literature jump from a century to the next one with few works cited in each slot, but from 1900s there is a marked leap. The avalanche in writings of women by women arrives in the 70s and thereon.  Virginia Wolfe and Toni Morrison are feminist writers that everyone talks about, but in India, feminist literature was started by Tagore.  His unforgettable writings in Choker Bali, Ghare Bhaire, introduced us to strong female characters.  And into this fecund ground then,  Ishmat Chugtai,  Kamala Das and many regional women writers sowed seeds of women’s rights and just naturally being a woman. 

Today in forums worldwide Muddupalani the 18^th century Telugu poetess (in the court of Tanjore kings) is being quoted from her poem ‘The Appeasement of Radha’.  She was honoured and awarded for her accomplishments in performing arts and also for her scholarly achievements as a learned poet well-versed in Telugu and Sanskrit.  In the preface of her autobiography, she wrote:

  Which other woman of my kind has
felicitated scholars with gifts of money?
To which other woman of my kind have
epics been dedicated?
Which other woman of my kind has
Won such acclaim in each of the arts?
You are incomparable,
Muddupalani among your kind.

A face that glows like the full moon.
Skills of conversation, matching the countenance.
Eyes filled with compassion,
matching the speech.
A great spirit of generosity,
matching the glance.
These are the ornaments
that adorn Palani, 
When she is praised by kings.

She was recognized for her erotic poetry, traditionally considered the domain of men.  She, as a accomplished woman and a Devdasi , took away from men what was hers originally and revelled in words and imagery of eroticism.  Radha Krishna dalliance, made famous by Jayadeva ,  was first reclaimed and then recreated by Muddupalani from the perspective of Radha.  Her fervour, love, jealousy, pining for Krishna was etched in passionate hues of crimson, scarlet and fiery red.  Krishna is reduced to a mere man and loses his halo in her poetry.  She is so consumed by the larger than image of Radha that her palette had no blues or turquoise to flesh a Krishna in all his glory.  

In her writings, Muduppalani claimed her right to celebrate womanhood, but we have a long long road to traverse before reaching that point.  Right now, a simple act of a woman walking on a road can never be removed from that of the gaze of a man. The question is - When will a woman breathe, exist and live without contending with a male observer- always watching, gazing, leering, scrutinizing, restricting and condemning her.

When will she rightfully live as a free human being, the first citizen of the world?

When will she celebrate herself as a woman and revel in her body, mind, sexuality and sensuality?

“Feminism over Chai” is a baby-step towards that horizon.  Into that freedom, My Lord, let my country awake!