K: How is your work affecting women?
V: If the work we are doing doesn't touch at least a few, then it is a
waste. Some deeds give immediate results where as we can discern results
from others only after some time. We can see the changes caused in women's
lives because of some aid or other material goods. In contrast, when we're
trying to raise their conciousness at a broad scale, the effects will not
manifest themselves so soon. I'll cite two examples: Asmita organized
women's societies in two large slums and is working with them. Initially
they were reluctant, but gradually the became united. When there was a rape
in a large government hospital near their colonies, they organized
themselves to gherao the hospital superintendent and questioned him. The
level of their spirited action made us real happy. Similarly, when some one
beat a 12 year old servent maid, the slum dwellers (women) went to the
police and saw to it that the person was arrested and organized all domestic
servents using this case as an example. These examples demonstrate how
women become more aware. The same is true of all of us working in Asmita,
including myself. I think it is impossible to cause such chnges elsewhere
without causing them first in ourselves.
K: What is patriarchy? Why has it been so difficult for men, even those
recognized as progressive thinkers and revolutionaries, to unerstand
feminism? How do you deal with such attitude?
V: Patriarchy is a social-political system, whereby men alone wield power
and continue control over it. It is a method that keeps women under
constant opression and continuously strngthens the circumstances favorable
to such opression. Eventhough patriarchy changes in form, its essential
work is to sustain the opression of women. Men do not like to lose the
special previeleges accorded to them in patriarchy. The resulting behavior
and thinking become an integral part of them, which makes it difficult to
see and get rid of it even for the most progressive thinkers. It is only
through the struggle for improving their place and status that women can
bring about a change in (such) men.
K: Would you comment on the issues that affect women of different classes
and how you respond to their diverse needs?
V: In addition to class, there is diversity among women with respect to
their caste, religion and race as well. While working on women's issues, we
must take all these factors into account. For example, if we start out with
the assumption that the problems of all middle and upper class women are the
same, we wouldc be surprised by the personnel laws that are different
between Hindu and Muslim religions. Similarly, there are differences among
lower class women as well. All of us know that the problems upper and lower
class women face are different. Even as we deal with these issues
differently, we always strive towards a common agenda. Addressing the
problems of women of all classes, castes and religions is difficult in deed.
At present, our work is focussed on lower and upper class, Hindu women. In
Asmita (Resource Center for Women), weomen from different religions are
involved. We understood the Muslim women's plight to some extent, because
of our work with the large muslim population in Hyderabad.
K: What are your current activities?
V: I introduce feminist politics to the readers through my writings. Urban
middleclass women form this readership. Writing alone doesn't completely
satisfy me. So I also work as an activist in Asmita (Resource Center for
Women) and mingle with the women's movement as much as possible. Asmita
does different things for women, covers a wide range of work. Among
thiswork are providing legal aid to women, organizing women of two large
slumsin Hyderabad, providing gender training to our fellow organizations in
the state and health training for women, organizing village fairs (jAtarAs) to
raise conciousness and organizing workshops for female writers. Asmita
played a key role in the participation in Beijing Women's Conference, in
advertising for the conference andco-ordinating the delegation from South
India. We also led rural women to Delhi and organized a conference of
committment. After the Beijing Conference, Asmita organized a seminar
involving the women from southern India, formed a National Alliance for
Women Organizations (NAWO) and working to give a new definition and
character to the women's movement nation-wide. In all this work, I play
some role as the excutive president of asmita. I strive to incorporate my
creative talents into such work.
K: You celebrated Chalam as an extraordinary writer who could empathize with
women. How is he relevant today?
V: What Chalam said about women's minds, bodies and experiences are very
much relevant even today. There is a lot of similarity between the way how
feminism is empowering women today and what Chalam had to say about women's
freedom then. He addressed women's health, reproductive rights, sexual
freedom and domestic labor-all these issues. Feminism is working on those
issues today. As a unique writer who discussed their problems in literature
honestly and seriously, women recognize Chalam and celebrate him.
K: We (expatriate Telugus) are typically professionals with careers in
science and technology. Many of us have interests and emotional committment
to A. P. What role can we play in the changing social-literary scene back
home? What specific activities would you like to see coming from us?
V: Your living here gives you access to advanced science and technology. In
Andhra at present, there is a pressing need for advanced studies in social
sciences and literature. I do not know much about science. Why don't you
collect information here and present/write about it for people back home?
If you write about what you are doing here in your field, how it is changing
and what opportunities we have to adapt those developments and publish it
there in telugu, that would be very useful for researchers, activists and
workers back home. I think this work is not difficult and should be
interesting to you all.
End of interview
P. S.
I'd like to wrap this up with an anecdote Volga related. ( We were talking
about raising money for the things one wants to do.) She and her friends
met Satyajit Ray in Calcutta, discussed with him their aspirations about
making alternative movies and expressed concerns over money. He brushed
aside those concerns and said, "What you need is a burning passion, a total
commitment. When that is present, money will come; it is only secondary."
Later they did make the movie 'Bhadram Koduko' which was received well and
won several awards.