A group of teenagers, mostly girls, walked in an Independence Day rally in a South 24-Parganas neighbourhood on Sunday, calling for freedom from ills they have been facing and witnessing every day.
The teenagers wanted freedom from gender bias, domestic violence and teasing.
The participants walked with colourful handwritten posters. “Women returning home late in the night have questions raised on their character. Why not the same with men returning home late?” asked one poster.
“A baby is a baby. Why the urge to know the gender of a baby inside a womb,” asked another.
The rally took place at Piyali, around 70km from Kolkata. The neighbourhood, and adjoining areas like Champahati, are home to thousands of people who comprise the workforce — from domestic help to AC mechanics to guards at malls — that keeps Kolkata running.
“My mother beats up my younger brother regularly. We help her with daily chores, cooking, washing clothes and other things. But she often hits my brother if he refuses to do any work or is slow in getting a job done,” said a 19-year-old girl, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in arts from a college in Champahati.
She had made a poster on child abuse. Her father has deserted the family. Her mother used to work at a leather bag manufacturing unit in Park Circus but lost her job because of the Covid pandemic.
Another teenager, a Class XI student, is termed “effeminate” by his classmates and some members of his extended family.
On Sunday, the rally started around 9.30am. Telegraph picture
“I don’t like to play football and cricket like others of my age do. But is that a crime?” the boy asked. His mother has raised some chickens and ducks. She sells their eggs to eke out a living.
Several girls had made posters calling out harassment and torture, faced by women in everyday lives.
“I face catcalls and lewd comments regularly. People simply don’t react. It is as if harassing a woman is normal,” said another participant at the rally.
A young woman was married into a house in her neighbourhood a year ago. Her in-laws allegedly torment her for dowry.
“A couple of months ago, she had her elbow burnt by a spatula,” said the participant.
The rally was organised by Ebong Alap (Conversations and More), a voluntary organisation of “writers, teachers, journalists, researchers and performance artists to focus on critical and gender-sensitive citizenship”.
The organisation has been running a study centre at Natunpally, a neighbourhood in Piyali, since April last year. Scores of local teenagers come to the centre for learning sessions and workshops on several issues.
Members of the organisation who have been mentoring these teenagers said the loss of income of their parents had worsened their conditions.
“Many children said their fathers came home drunk and beat them up almost every day. Many men have deserted their families. The women, many of whom work as maids in Kolkata, have lost their jobs. During the initial workshops, the children would often break down while describing their plight,” said Abhijit Ray, a team member of Ebong Alap. Ray has been conducting the workshops at Natunpalli.
In the run-up to the Independence Day rally, Ray had conducted a poster workshop with the children.
On Sunday, the rally started around 9.30am. Alongside the posters of Gandhi and
Subhas Chandra Bose, they held posters of Kalpana Datta, Bina Das and other female freedom fighters “who find little mention in history books”.
The participants walked past multiple neighbourhoods and went up to a bustling market near Piyali station, in the Sealdah-Canning section.
Short skits were enacted at the station before the rally came back to the Natunpally study centre to hoist the Tricolour.