The journey thus far - Puru speaks

Puru Tyagi

"A student of Economics and a lover of English literature.  A Co-editor for Gaylaxy Magazine. A feminist (duh!), an activist, a left-wing supporter, and a grammar enthusiast (not a Nazi.) In constant search of new ideas to chew on. A social butterfly and a party animal.  My people, music and food get me going."

Puru is among the 20 fellows selected for the Pratiti journey in Delhi.
Read what he has to say about his experiences so far:

"Randomly surfing across Facebook this one day i came across a post from People for Parity inviting people to apply for their upcoming fellowship called Pratiti. I was interested in it at once given my passion for activism and my drive to bring out a change, to deconstruct the binary, to break the norms. And after filling of that elaborate form and then giving an hour long telephonic interview, to my surprise i was lucky enough to be one of the 20 fellows. 

It started with these workshops which were emotionally very grueling and overwhelming but had a profound impact on my understanding of self and pushed me even closer to my emotional side in a healthy way. It gave me a new outlook towards people, life and situations in general. Words defy me when I start to explain the kind of journey it has been for me and for that i will be forever grateful. 

Being three months into the fellowship we are engrossed with our projects, trying to create something beautiful. My team and I have been working every other day trying to create the best possible environment for a workshop to build a community of which understands the nuances of sex and sexuality and also realizes the common goal in making a freer and a more liberated society. We have conducted some semi structured interviews trying to collect narratives for the best possible outcome of the workshop and trying to create a sense of trust and solidarity between different sexual minorities and/or a sexual minority and the majority. 

I am really excited to see how all of it pans out and how far we are able to go to help break the taboo around sex and dismantle the binary. Here's hoping for the most positive of the outcomes..."

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Follow the Pratiti blog for more beautiful updates from the fellows as they narrate their journeys of growth and transformation into gender leaders over the next 2 months...

The journey thus far - Kanak speaks

Kanak Kataria

Your average lost-in-life, confused, college-going teenager. 

Highly opinionated, overly talkative. 

Humanist/Liberalist/Feminist/Equalist, whichever you prefer. 

I love to read, debate, travel, and sleep. 

Live and let live, people!

Kanak is among the 20 fellows selected for the Pratiti journey in Delhi.
Read what she has to say about her experiences so far:

"When I applied for Pratiti, I didn’t exactly know what I had signed up for. All I knew was that it sounded like a very interesting initiative about something I was (read am) very passionate about. Gender, violence, and all such related concepts have always been issues that I have felt very deeply about, and hence, when I started my Pratiti journey, what I was expecting was an intense discussion about these very issues. 

That being said, what Pratiti has been so far is entirely different from what I had in mind. It’s taught me about how to work better with people, how to listen better, how to act and react better, how to understand better, and how to assess better. It’s taught me that we all come from different places in life, and are headed to different destinations- but we’re all affected by the same issues. 

I’ve met some truly wonderful people, and shared some truly wonderful times with them. And while I still have to force myself to get out of bed on the Sunday mornings when I go back to Pratiti, the moment I reach is the moment I realize why I’m doing this.

This fellowship has, for me, been more about understanding myself than understanding gender based violence, and that’s something I hadn’t expected. Unexpected as it might have been, though, it was a pleasant surprise, and I’m thrilled to see that I’m not alone when it comes to my concerns about gender-based violence. Here’s acknowledging that it’s been a great journey so far, and hoping that it’s an equally great journey till the very end..."

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Follow the Pratiti blog for more beautiful updates from the fellows as they narrate their journeys of growth and transformation into gender leaders over the next 2 months...

Group Update - From 'Team Ekta'

The cohort of 20 Pratiti fellows have commenced their on-ground work on gender issues close to their hearts. They are doing this in groups of 4, with a total of 5 groups being formed so far. The Pratiti blog will host the stories and experiences of each of these groups as they traverse through their powerful change-making journeys over the next 2 months while learning more about their own lives and communities in the process...

The beautifully diverse fellows from the aptly named Team Ekta - Alisha, Aishwarya, Arjun and Puru - are working on a bold and powerful project - the exploration and celebration of sexuality. Their work will focus on identity processes, body image issues, acceptance of one's sexuality and the subsequent acceptance of self, all of which they believe will help identify and break stigmas created by social conditioning and taboos related to sexual liberation.

Here's Aishwarya from the group sharing a quick update from their side:

Happiness at work (L-R) Puru, Alisha, Aishwarya & Arjun

"We picked our group name ‘EKTA’ which can be defined as ‘solidarity’ in English to represent the commonalities, shared sensitivities and goals that made us into a team regardless of our individual and social disparities. The spirit of solidarity also motivated the objective of our project: to bring together individuals marginalized or compromised by the main stream notions of ‘normality’ and create a safe space to express, understand, celebrate sexuality.

We hope to realize these objectives through Workshops, Discussions, film screening and a Party (Yes! Because Sexuality is something to be celebrated) stretching over the coming two months, enabling us to build a sensitized and ‘liberated’ community that lasts much longer.

Our group has been working on sketching out the project in all its structural details. Starting with throbbing ideas for our first workshop, which will facilitate processes around Identity, Body and Sexuality but largely aiming to weave the very essence of ‘ekta’ amidst our participating friends and to energize the notion of a ‘safer’ community through the experience of the workshop. We hope the sincerity of our efforts and the thought behind our project translates into a meaningful and enriching experience for all..."

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Follow the Pratiti blog for more beautiful updates from the different groups as they share their journeys of growth and transformation into gender leaders over the next 2 months...

The MARS Voyage

The Team MARS rocket has been proceeding at full throttle. To read more about their project and the work Megha, Asha, Rakesh and Samrat are undertaking, click HERE!

Find below some of the photos they have shared from their ongoing intervention with the youngsters at Kathputli colony, Shadipur:

 

Group Update - From 'Team MARS'

The cohort of 20 Pratiti fellows have commenced their on-ground work on gender issues close to their hearts. They are doing this in groups of 4, with a total of 5 groups being formed so far. The Pratiti blog will host the stories and experiences of each of these groups as they traverse through their powerful change-making journeys over the next 2 months while learning more about their own lives and communities in the process...

The vibrant Team MARS - Megha, Asha, Rakesh & Samrat (see what they did there?) - have been going about their work with great energy. Their intention is to understand gender stereotyping/bias and how it shapes the mind of different people of the community. They will attempt to do this through asking questions on the two pertinent themes of body and violence - How does one see their body? Is there any part of their body they love/hate or even change? Is there any aspect of their body which has made them insecure at any point of time? Post this, they intend to investigate more about the different kinds of violence faced by people in respect to gender and body, be it physical, verbal, emotional or psychological...

All smiles - (L-R) Samrat, Megha, Asha, Rakesh

Here's Asha from the group sharing a detailed update from their side:

"MARS टीम की तरफ से हम आपको अब तक हमारी टीम ने क्या क्या किया हैं वह बताना चाहते हैं... 

1॰ प्रोजेक्ट की रूप रेखा तैयार करने के लिए हमने PFP के ऑफिस मैं तीन साथियों ( आशा , राकेश और सम्राट ) के साथ दिनाक: 20 अगस्त 2015 , समय: 2 से 5 पीएम मीटिंग करी | जिसमे हमने हमारे प्रोजेक्ट का विषय(जेंडर- रूढ़िबद्ध धारणा और कैसे यह समुदाय के विभिन्न लोगों के दिमाग को आकार देती हैं) चुना हैं | आगे हम इस विषय पर कैसे काम करेगे वह तरीक़े ख़ोजे , किसकी क्या भूमिका होगी इस प्रोजेक्ट मैं वह तय किया | सम्राट की पहली ज़िम्मेदारी तय हुई की वह हमारे प्रोजेक्ट का प्रोपोसल लिखेगा और बाकी साथी उस प्रोपोसल को देख कर उंसमे कुछ बदलाव करना चाहे तो कर सके | टीम की एक सदस्य “मेघा” अभी हमारे साथ नहीं है इसलिए हम उनको सभी कार्यों को सूचना ईमेल के द्वारा देते हैं | प्रोपोसल सम्राट द्वारा PFP की टीम के पास पहुँच गया हैं |

2॰ हमारे प्रोजेक्ट में हमने दो बस्तियों(जलविहार और कठपुतली बस्ती) का चुनाव किया हैं | उसमे से एक बस्ती जलविहार किस तरीक़े की बस्ती है और वहाँ पर हमारे विषय को लेकर क्या चुनौतियाँ आ सकती हैं , यह जानने के लिए हमने उस बस्ती मैं गस्त लगाया | दिनाक: 22 अगस्त 2015 ,समय: 4 से 7 pm ,राकेश और आशा ने बस्ती देखी| हमारे साथी सम्राट की तबीयत खराब हो गयी थी इसलिए वह हमारे साथ बस्ती नहीं देख पाये | यह बस्ती आशा की जानकारी मैं हैं | उसने वहाँ पर शिक्षा के विषय पर काम किया है | आशा और राकेश ने जलविहार के तीन इलाक़ो (जलविहार टैंक , तमिल बस्ती और जलविहार) को देखा | आशा ने राकेश को बस्ती के एक घर की परिस्थिति भी दिखायी , कुछ लोगो के साथ हमने बस्ती की अभी क्या दशा हैं उसके बारे मैं पूछा | यह बस्तियाँ रेल्वे और एमसीडी के अंदर आती हैं | यहाँ पर सरकारी मकान और झुगियाँ एक साथ समाई हुयी हैं | बस्तियों में टॉइलेट और सीवर की काफ़ी समस्या हैं | लगभग 5000 झुगियाँ यहाँ पर हैं | जिसके लिए यहाँ 2 पब्लिक टॉइलेट हैं | जेंडर हिंसा से संबन्धित हर परेशानियाँ आप यहाँ पायेगे | पुरुषो का व्यवसाय यहाँ रिक्शा चालक, चौकीदार, घरो में पैंट करने वाले हैं, महिलाये दूसरों के घरो में सफ़ाई(domestic worker) का काम करती हैं | क्योकि हमारे प्रोजेक्ट में हम नाटक के द्वारा लोगो से जेंडर के मुद्दे से संबन्धित एक नाटक करने वाले हैं उसके लिए हमने यहाँ एक जगह तय करी | इस जगह पर हम लोगो के सामने अपना नाटक प्रस्तुत करेगे | हमारे तीसरे साथी सम्राट भी वह जगह देखना चाहते हैं पर समय के आभाव के कारण यह अभी तक संभव नहीं हो पाया हैं |

3 ॰ नाटक जो की हम मपेट के द्वारा दिखाने वाले हैं वह क्या होगा, उसमे क्या कहानी होगी, हम लोगो को दिखायेगे समझाने के लिए या उनके दिमाग में कुछ सवाल छोड़ जाने के लिए, इन्ही सभी सवालो से हमारी “मार्स” टीम थोड़ा परेशानी थी इसलिए हमने एक व्यक्ति से मदद ली | व्यक्ति का नाम भगवती परशाद हैं | यह नाटक लिखते हैं | तीनों साथियों ने निर्णये लिया की हम उनके पास जाके अपनी नाटक की स्क्रिप्ट लिखेगे | हम उनसे दिनाक : 24 अगस्त 2015 , समय : 6 से 8:30 पीएम मिले | उन्होने हमे सुझाव दिया की हमारी जिंदगी से जुड़ी वह कहानी लिखो जिसने हमे यह मुद्दा चुनने को प्रेरित किया हैं | फिर सभी एक दूसरे की कहानियाँ सुनो और उनमे से 2 कहानियों के साथ अपनी स्क्रिप्ट बनाओ , जब यह काम हो जाएगा तब फिर से आप लोगो मेरे पास आना मैं इसकी रूप रेखा को ठीक कर दुगा और लोगो से क्या सवाल आपको पूछने हैं वह भी मैं आपको बता दुगा | अभी हमारे सभी साथी स्क्रिप्ट लिखने में लगे हैं | हम मेल के दावरा एक दूसरे की कहानी एक दूसरे को सुनाते हैं | राकेश ने अपनी कहानियाँ टीम के साथ बाटी |

 

At Katputli Colony

4 ॰ टीम मार्स ने दिनाक: 2 सितंबर 2015 ,समय: 4 से 7 पीएम पर हमारी साथी मेघा के साथ मीटिंग रखवायी, ताकि हम सब उसे प्रोजेक्ट की अपडेट दे सके और वह हमे बता सके की उन्हे प्रोजेक्ट कैसा लगा | पहली बार हमारे टीम के सभी सदस्ये एक साथ थे, हम लोगो ने मेघा को पूरा प्रोजेक्ट समझाया और उनसे उनके इनपुट लिए | मेघा को मपेट के द्वारा नाटक वाले पॉइंट पर थोड़ी दिक्कत आई , कुछ ही देर मे पता लगा की राकेश और सम्राट भी इस पॉइंट से सहज महसूस नहीं कर रहे थे | इसी वजह से हमने मपेट द्वारा नाटक करने के पॉइंट को बदल दिया | सभी साथियों की चर्चा के बाद हमने तय किया पहेले हम फोटोग्राफी का प्रोजेक्ट का करेगे , उसके लिए हमने 8 सितंबर 2015 को कटपुटली बस्ती में पहेली शुरुवात करने का तय किया हैं |सभी साथियों ने अपनी भूमिकाये ले ली हैं |हमारा दूसरा पॉइंट हैं , हम लोगो अपने जीवन की एक कहानी जो जेंडर पर आधारित हैं अपने परिवारों के सदस्यो के सामने सुनायेगे और उनकी प्रतिक्रिया देखेगे और उनसे कुछ सवाल जवाब करेगे | सम्राट कल की मीटिंग के आधार पर प्रोपोसल में बदलाव कर रहा हैं | राकेश और आशा अपनी बस्ती में लोगो के साथ बातचीत शुरू करेगे ताकि वहाँ फोटोग्राफी करने में आसानी हो | मेघा की भूमिका फ़ोटो खिचना हैं | सम्राट और आशा कैसे लोगो को हमारे फोटोग्राफी प्रोजेक्ट समझाना हैं उसकी तैयारी कर रहे हैं |  ..."

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Follow the Pratiti blog for more beautiful updates from the different groups as they share their journeys of growth and transformation into gender leaders over the next 2 months...

Group Update - From 'Footprints'

The cohort of 20 Pratiti fellows have commenced their on-ground work on gender issues close to their hearts. They are doing this in groups of 4, with a total of 5 groups being formed so far. The Pratiti blog will host the stories and experiences of each of these groups as they traverse through their powerful change-making journeys over the next 2 months while learning more about their own lives and communities in the process...

The dedicated fellows from Footprints - Vineet, Sapna, Karnika & Deepak - are working on a cause they deeply connect with in their personal lives: the conflict between urban middle class parents and the youth over expectations to get married and the role of gender in defining or driving these expectations.

Here's Vineet from the group sharing a quick update from their side:

(L-R) Vineet, Sapna & Karnika at work

"Footprints has been going about its work in a fairly planned and meticulous manner, much to the amazement of yours truly who doesn’t exactly function as a Type A personality.

In the last three weeks, we have already identified and developed a clear project, that aims to facilitate communications between the urban middle class youth in NCR with their parents about the topic of marriage, as well as unearth the root of conflict that may exist between both sets of parties about marriage.

Through Skype calls, a Facebook group and even a meeting hosted by People for Parity at its office, we have gone about getting all the tasks done as per the schedule that we had prepared at the very outset for our work.

Credit for the incredible efficiency and professionalism goes to Sapna and Karnika for bring an incredible sense of calm and composure, and an inevitability of diligent execution of set tasks, as well as for bearing up with Deepak and I.

With their assured leadership, I am quite confident that we will end up with a brilliant and insightful project in the next few weeks..."

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Follow the Pratiti blog for more beautiful updates from the different groups as they share their journeys of growth and transformation into gender leaders over the next 2 months...

The September Meeting!

Chatter

A couple of glimpses from Sunday, the 6th of September, as the Pratiti fellows gathered at the PfP office to discuss, ideate, laugh, engage and learn further on their journeys towards becoming gender leaders. On the verge of initiating ground work on their respective group action projects, the fellows experienced some intense facilitation processes in this penultimate gathering before their journeys conclude at the end of October. 

Secret Angel!

Absorbed

The journey thus far - Vineet speaks

Vineet Bhalla

Hailing from Faridabad, Haryana, Vineet recently graduated with a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) degree from the W.B. National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. Having previously been a Fellow with Make A Difference, he is currently working as an Assistant Director with the IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access) Project.  Vineet is interested in the interface of law, public policy and human rights, as well as efforts and initiatives that promote sustainability and social consciousness among the public, especially the youth.

Vineet is among the 20 fellows selected for the Pratiti journey in Delhi.
Read what he has to say about his experiences so far:

"Norman Douglas once wrote that whoever has helped us to a larger understanding is entitled to our gratitude for all time. Over the last few years of my life, I’ve engaged in a diverse range of experiences in an attempt to understand the world around me, and my place in it; it is in pursuit of the same that I applied for People for Parity’s Pratiti Fellowship. 

Two months into the programme, and it has not just given me what I was seeking for, but something perhaps even greater, which I’ve hitherto seldom given any attention to: a larger understanding of my own self. Therefore, regardless of how the rest of the journey pans out, I know I’ll be grateful to Pratiti for all of my time. 

I joined the fellowship at a stage of great transition in my life: I had just finished college, going suddenly from student to adult as I started working full-time for the first time in my life, and move back to stay with my family in Faridabad after five wonderful years in Kolkata and a total of seven years away from home. There were a whole lot of changes all at once in my life that I was having a tough time dealing with. In this context, Pratiti has been almost therapeutic for me, as it has enabled me a great deal to accept and make peace with these changes. 

I find myself looking forward to the weekends for the Pratiti session, for the space that these provide to be completely honest with myself. With good reason too, since these have helped me unearth, understand and come to terms with most of the conflicts in my mind, made me re-look at and put effort into a lot of relationships that I’d taken for granted, improved my communication with my friends, enabled me to come to peace with who I am and be real about what I want, provided me with a bunch of individuals with whom I feel an authentic sense of community, and led me towards finally fully grasping the artificial nature of the concept of gender. It sounds too good, and that is only because it is. 

The stage of implementing the community projects that we’ve designed over the last two weeks looms ahead, and I look forward to it with nervous excitement. But I’m sure that it will be quite similar to how the Pratiti journey has been so far: appears strange and intimidating initially, but once I go all in, I’ll get way more out of it than I put in..."

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Follow the Pratiti blog for more beautiful updates from the fellows as they narrate their journeys of growth and transformation into gender leaders over the next 2 months...

Group Update - From 'Pigs in a Blanket'

The cohort of 20 Pratiti fellows have commenced their on-ground work on gender issues close to their hearts. They are doing this in groups of 4, with a total of 5 groups being formed so far. The Pratiti blog will host the stories and experiences of each of these groups as they traverse through their powerful change-making journeys over the next 2 months while learning more about their own lives and communities in the process...

The passionate folks from the quirkily named Pigs in a Blanket intend to work towards creating a safe university space for LGBTQIA community support systems to be able to discuss and share experiences and issues relating to gender, sexuality and identity. 

Here's Neha from the group sharing a quick update from their side:

"After spending days endlessly messaging each other (thank humankind for tech, imagine if we were using pigeons or owls...we would have a mutiny on our hands by now), we seem to have successfully charted a map for our goal of setting up a safe university space for discourse on gender, identity, and related issues.

Thanks to the much appreciated efforts of Dhruv, the venue is nearly sorted. {insert crazy dance here}

Big shout out to our resident psychologist Kanak for working hard on the guidelines, ice breakers and whatnot for the upcoming meetings, and the amazing Anubha for working on the banners, posters, and promotions. Whew!

With enough wind in our sails, and an icebox full of ('legal', we promise!) energy drinks, we hope our little dinghy will sail through. 

Aye, to the horizon me hearties!"

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Follow the Pratiti blog for more beautiful updates from the different groups as they share their journeys of growth and transformation into gender leaders over the next 2 months...