Discarding Veils, Embracing Change: Rajasthan’s Extraordinary Sarpanch

Environment Matters: Why Women From This Village Can't Cook Dal

The Kindness Of Strangers Gets You Free Food, Rides, Artifacts

Some Hope And Cheer For The Widows of Varanasi

Power With Piety: An Old St Petersburg Convent’s Compelling History

Money To Spare? Sponsor A Happy Period

Kashmir Is On The Finger Tips, Thanks To Mehvish's Android App

Women Ensure Water, Water Everywhere - Even in the Thar Desert

Change Is What? Meet The Any Time Money College Kids

New Orleans To Bengal, Novelist Fatima Shaik Tells Her Story

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India
Discarding Veils, Embracing Change: Rajasthan’s Extraordinary Sarpanch
Abha Sharma

Born into a family of daily wagers, it never really seemed likely that Murli Meena of Bassi village near Jaipur, Rajasthan, would find the opportunity to distinguish herself. Murli, 37, however, is the Sarpanch of Dehlala Gram Panchayat today, elected for three consecutive terms because she has a reputation for getting things done. She may have stunned her family when she decided to shun the 'ghunghat' (veil) after marriage, but that move had prompted people to put her name forward when the panchayat became reserved. Badam Bairwa, 35, of Luhara Panchayat in Tonk district, may be illiterate but ever since she became Sarpanch in 2010 her community has flourished - a proper road, electricity, 25 hand pumps, four tube wells, old-age pension for women, she has made it happen. A quota of 50 per cent in Panchayati Raj seats have given women in conservative and feudal Rajasthan, a chance to explore a world beyond their home and helps them establish their own identity.

Confident and active, Murli, now 37, is managing her responsibilities effortlessly. In fact, she was invited by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for a 10-day visit to Down Under – her first trip abroad – to share her experiences of grassroots democracy and leadership.

[Photographs Available]

India
Environment Matters: Why Women From This Village Can't Cook Dal
Pamela Philipose

Dal-roti defines the everyday in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district, as it does in much of north India. This region, in fact, is sometimes referred to as the dal (lentil) bowl of the state. So the problem faced by the women of Mamana, a village that falls in this district, has an almost surreal touch to it – they cannot cook the staple arhar dal that grows in their fields with the water they collect from the neighbourhood hand pumps. If you inquire locally about Mamana, which lies somewhere between the towns of Rath and Sarila in UP's Bundelkhand region, you will be told that it is a “water crisis” village and it would be wise never to marry your daughter into a household there because all she would be doing for the rest of her life thereafter will be to chase after potable water. This is because every hand pump in the village yields brackish water, and the local wells are no kinder. Imagine the burden of water collection that falls on the frail shoulders of the women of Mamana in this scenario, and spare a thought for the environment as Environment Day comes along.

“Many people here often complain of pain on one side of their stomach and they say it is caused by kidney stones resulting from poor quality water.”

[Photographs Available]

India
The Kindness Of Strangers Gets You Free Food, Rides, Artifacts
Azera Parveen Rahman

Imagine getting into an autorickshaw and at the end of the ride being told that someone has already paid for it. Or after a fabulous meal at a restaurant, instead of being presented with a bill you get a handwritten note that says it was a gift from a guest! Sounds implausible, doesn't it? Well, don't be surprised if you are at the receiving end of such "random acts of kindness". It's a trend being fuelled by a growing group of volunteers, who go by the name 'Moved by Love' and aspire to make generosity so commonplace that one day "love, more than money" would enable people to sustain each other in a community. The group encourages generosity through experiments like the Ahmedabad-based Seva Caf? where diners gift meals to each other by paying "anything they want" for the next customer; there's also Uday bhai's Love-All-Serve-All autorickshaw, where he doesn't demand a fare from passengers. In Pune, the Wisdom Crafts store has products without a price but with a message – of peace and love.

"The laws of economics are valid as long as there is scarcity of resources and human beings are consumption oriented. But what if we flip it around? What if we move from scarcity to abundance, transaction to trust, consumption to contribution?"

[Photographs Available]

India
Some Hope And Cheer For The Widows of Varanasi
Aasha Khosa

Jamuna Devi became a bride at the age of nine and a widow at 18. Now at 80 plus, she has spent her last 60 years on the banks of River Ganga in Varanasi, an ancient seat of Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh. Jamuna's younger sister, Ratna Devi, has also been with her for many years now after she was spurned by her husband, who took a second wife. For centuries, the narrow bylanes of Varanasi – as well as other towns like Vrindavan and Mathura – have been a refuge for widows like Jamuna and Ratna, who have been shunned and deserted by their families. Here, they pray, sing bhajans and live off the food given by visiting pilgrims. Their sole ambition is to die on the banks of the Ganga – for them death seems to be the only way out of a lifetime of sorrow and poverty. But it seems like these forgotten women have got a new source of support. Spurred by a Supreme Court directive, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak's Sulabh International is drawing up plans to restore dignity and purpose to their lives.

"The government gives Rs 50 as monthly medical allowance for each woman. This is not even enough to pay the doctor's fees."

[Photographs Available]

Power With Piety: An Old St Petersburg Convent’s Compelling History
Sudhamahi Regunathan

Russia’s royals were hardly paragons of marital loyalty. But what happened when the tsars of yore wanted to “change” their wives? From all available evidence, women within royal households experienced two sources of insecurity – as wives whose husbands had found new love interests or as princesses who could not get suitable spouses. What happened to these women? They were left with their rosaries in a nunnery. The Novodevichiy Convent in St. Petersburg was a refuge for several of them. Today, this grand building with its Byzantine tombs towers over much of the city. Its history is also the history of several great Russian noblewomen, many of whom defied custom and chose the road less travelled, while others bore the indignities that came their way with fortitude and dignity.

“We have been yearning to dedicate our lives to God and have heard stories of how our grand aunts did just that. I am grateful I have got an opportunity to do this now.”

[Photographs Available]