Friends,

Vacha officially turns 25 in March 2015. Officially,

because it actually began to function as a

women’s library and cultural centre from 1987.

The small group of us had felt that we should first

start a women’s resource centre and see if we

stay together, work voluntarily and only then we

should think of registration or fund raising. So it

was registered as a trust three years later in

March 1990. This issue commemorates 25 years

of this formal existence and is, actually quite

nostalgic.

Vacha was not only conceptualized but was also

concretised in the form of a library and cultural

centre where women, and even men, could drop

in to borrow a book, get information or discuss

something related to women’s issues. Women

could also drop in to have a chat and chai. It was a

novel concept and by early 1988 some

newspapers wrote about it. (A couple of them

appear somewhere in the newsletter.) We had

also enthusiastically published two issues of a

Vacha newsletter way back in 1990 but shortage

of resources, time and a great deal of overwork

put a stop to it. Now we plan to bring out this

newsletter as an occasional publication.

Hopefully, it will pop up on your computer from

time to time.

We thank all of you who have helped Vacha

survive and grow. Dr. Vibhuti Patel, my earliest

contact with women’s groups, had supported the

idea of Vacha enthusiastically. Later, she

contributed to organizing a gender study circle for

teachers, scholars, writers and home makers for

three years. Today, she is on our board. Advocate

Flavia Agnes, my colleague from erstwhile

Women’s Centre, discussed it further and helped

in calculating initial costs. Dr. Neera Desai, Dr.

Maithreyee Krishnaraj, Dr. Veena Poonacha, Dr.

Malini Karkal and many other scholars

contributed to discussions at Vacha library. Dr.

Nandita Gandhi suggested a source for a grant at

a crucial time for Vacha in 1997. We have also

had a cooperative and productive relationship

with SETU, Ahmedabad.

At Vacha, contribution of volunteers is invaluable,

especially after the project moved to a Municipal

school with a view to work with children and

youth, especially girls from deprived families.

Volunteers have given time, expertise, money,

items of furniture and much else. Asha Shroff,

Geeta Mitra, Anju Jani, Padma Ramamurthy have

taught girls regularly. Alfreda Ohol and Sumi

Rajesh helped with library and administrative

work . It is impossible to remember everybody’s

name. I must have missed some names but one

person who is almost a member of the team is

Vrijendra. We always approach him for help in

writing, translations, corrections and proofing and

for a great deal more. And he always helps

readily. There are many who have donated

money and books and materials.

And finally, I have to say this. All of us greatly

appreciate Dr Himanshu Shukla’s silent and solid

contribution through sharing his space, his

furniture and equipment, his telephone, his

kitchen and his wife’s time and energy. Yes, he is

my husband, my partner who has supported many

causes this way steadily and silently. We propose

to let him do it forever…..

-Sonal Shukla,

Director

VACHA NEWSLETTER

Volume I, Issue I March 2015

vVa MARCH, 2015 VACHA NEWSLETTER

From Vacha Team

As we celebrate twenty five years of Vacha Trust,

it is perhaps time to go down the memory lane

and remember how it all began and how over

these years, Vacha has undergone many shifts in

its work and focus, even as Sonalbehn is happily

still around...

Though the Vacha Trust was formally registered in

1990, its foundation was really laid with the

emergence of an active women’s movement in

Mumbai in the 1980s.

That is when the idea of a women’s resource

centre and library originated and Vacha began to

take shape in Sonal Shukla’s home at Vile Parle,

Mumbai. It was perhaps the first such centre of its

kind. By September 1987, Vacha had become a

reality with not only collections of books but also

audios and videos which members could actually

borrow and share. Since it was meant to be a

resource centre, born out of a movement, Vacha

was also a place for sharing of ideas and views

and other experiences for its members. Fittingly,

from time to time, interface were organised at

Vacha with writers, artists and activists like

Mahashweta Devi, Barbara Ehrenreich and Allison

Lurie and, later, Dhirubehn Patel, Urmila Pawar,

Gloria Steinam and others. Film screenings were

held at Vacha and there was a study circle with

regular readings and discussions. But it was a

study circle with a difference: all participants were

treated as equals – after all, all life experiences

are equally important value – and there was no

hierarchy separating well-known scholars from

others.

But again Vacha was not just a resource centre

at one place. In the spirit of a movement, its

resources had to be actively shared with

different groups. Therefore, it had an outreach

component. It initiated participatory story

telling with theatre artists at different places.

Plays were performed at various sites in villages

and cities: the most significant being the

musical Nari Itihas ki talaash mein (In Search of

Women’s History) developed by Forum Against

Oppression of Women (FAOW), Mumbai,

directed by Madhushri Dutta and written by

Vibhuti Patel. Vacha produced it after one

performance by FAOW; Vacha supporters

provided music and constituted its cast. Vacha

also made presentations at various women’s

conferences, seminars and workshops. In

addition, Vacha produced two music videos:

one with songs from women’s movement and

the other had feminist garbas. (Garba, a term

derived from garbha (foetus) is a traditional

song and dance form of Gujarat. Garbas used to

be created mostly by women praying to female

gods or calling out to sisters and women friends.

Often they were songs of complaints, protests,

dreams and aspirations. Feminist garbas were

adapted from these songs.) Vacha also

produced two video films on women

participants in the Indian Freedom struggle, in

Gloria Steinem during her visit to Vacha library

At a study circle with Mahashweta Devi

2

vVa MARCH, 2015 VACHA NEWSLETTER

consultation with historian, Amrita Shodhan and

sociologist, Sujata Patel.

These audios and videos turned out to be hugely

popular and are still in use. This was the first

phase of Vacha work from 1987 to 1996 when it

remained housed at Sonal Shukla’s place - a space

that had been often used by various groups and

organisations from 1970s. During this phase,

other very active members were Nina Haeems,

Dineshwari Thonse, Meenal Patel and Vibhuti

Patel.

In 1996, Vacha shifted to the BMC School at

Santacruz, Mumbai, where it still remains. As a

registered NGO, it was allotted rooms in the

school to work on education and other related

issues of students from deprived communities

with a priority for girls. (Sonal, Nina and

Dineshwari all have additional qualifications and

experience in pedagogy.) Here, Vacha’s focus

shifted to young students, both girls and boys, at

the school and their needs. At this stage, there

were two important additions to the Vacha team:

Kumud Shanbag, who had worked closely with

Prof. Neera Desai at the SNDT Women’s

University, Mumbai and at a rural women’s

project in Udwada, Gujarat and Nischint Hora who

walked out of a job at Door Darshan, the

govterment-owned TV channel. Now, it was

decided that Vacha members and volunteers

would conduct English and computer classes for

these students, before and after school hours, in

the premises and would also add a substantial

component of life skills.

In 1998, Vacha applied for and was awarded a

girls’ development project. This project

transformed Vacha. A study-cum-action project to

be carried out in BMC schools in the city for girl

students between the ages of 9 and 13 years, with

a sample size of 7000 girls, its focus was on the

status of their health which also included a sense

of well-being. Swatija Manorama worked with

Sonal Shukla on this project. Other team members

were Daivashala Giri and Darshana Joshi. Partly,

as a result of this project, in 2001, Vacha evolved

into a Girls Resource Centre with specific

resources for girls: books, games, journals, songs,

quiz books, music videos and other resources

were gradually built for girls’ use. At the same

time, Vacha began to hold gender training

workshops for NGOs, CBOs, students, teachers

and others working among tribals in Gujarat and

Maharashtra. Vacha was one of the three

organisations selected to create a gender syllabus

for primary school teachers and students and to

conduct teacher training in Maharashtra, and,

later, in Gujarat.

Vacha received a certificate of appreciation from

Bombay Community Public Trust and Centre for

Advancement of Philanthropy, Mumbai in 2005.

In 2014, Vacha was awarded a certificate of

achievement and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakhs in

‘Life Skills’ category, Girl power awards in an all

India competition from Dasra, Mumbai.

One of the activities emerging from the girls’

resource centre was to to extend its work among

young girls who lived in bastis. First Pradnya

Sawargaonkar initiated this programme in 2006

that Medhavinee Namjoshi has coordinated and

expanded from 2008. First action was to follow

girl students into their localities. In the process, it

began to form groups of girls to discuss their

issues, to provide them a platform and safe space

for their activities and to build their leadership

skills. In some bastis, it also involves boys in these

groups as well for many reasons: boys in these

‘Bheetar Bahe Mukti Dhara’ and ‘In Search of Safia

Khan’- two videos produced by Vacha on women

freedom fighters

3

vVa MARCH, 2015 VACHA NEWSLETTER

At a foyer event during Symposium

bastis are also deprived (though vigilance is

necessary to assure they did not appropriate

youth leadership); justice for girls must involve

boys and besides, even as they grow up, boys

largely stay back while girls get married and move

to other places. However, Vacha volunteers try to

ensure that leadership roles in mixed groups are

equally shared between girls and boys. In most

cases, once initiated, girls themselves ensure that

boys do not dominate them in group activities and

leadership roles. Happily, this network of bastis

today has extended to 17 places with an average

active membership of 25-30 girls. However, boys

are not actively involved in all bastis. In all these

bastis, regular classes are held to build some soft

and hard skills; there is a mobile library and twice

a year, on August 15 and January 26, in each basti,

girls produce a newsletter which is entirely their

own.

Besides, girls from Vacha’s centres in bastis have

participated in many campaigns, seminars and

fairs (including a stall at Kala Ghoda festival,

Mumbai and the work continues....

Earlier Vacha Newsletters

“A library with books exclusively on women” – The Afternoon Dispatch and Courier, 1988 “An exclusive women’s library”- Mid Day, 1989

[Quoted in a Symposium report- ‘Girls at Margins’]

Making a presentation in a Symposium on Grilhood

Earlier Vacha Newsletters

“Parents proudly introduce their sons to

guests and treat them with a lot of love,

respect and concern. But they ignore their

daughters. Parents’ rough tone and manners

hurt and ager us.”

- Shabnam, 16 years

Past Vacha Newsletters

4

vVa MARCH, 2015 VACHA NEWSLETTER

[From Preface to Nina Haeem’s anthology

‘Rebecca Reuben: Scholar, Educationist,

Community Leader 1889-1957’ (2000).]

We were amazed that there was no mention of

Rebecca Reuben in books and documents

published even by people who were concerned

about recording the history of women and of

minorities in Maharashtra. It seemed no one

wanted to look for pioneering women educators

among the Bene Israel even though it was well

known that some of the earliest women teachers

belonged to this community.

Did no one want to find out what the first woman

to top the Matriculation examination did later in

her life? We wondered if large scale migration of

her community to Israel and to Western countries

was the reason why Rebecca Reuben’s memory

was not valued and preserved. Would such a

phenomenon retrospectively wipe out a person’s

contribution in the field of education? Or was ot

because she was a woman? There is no way to

know now. We felt the omission had to be

corrected. We cannot afford to lose information

about our foremothers, for Rebecca Reuben was

not just a Jewish teacher, but an Indian woman

who made an impact on community life as early as

the second decade of the 20th century.

COMPLIMENT

It is difficult for me to accept

Each compliment you have paid me.

Like the time

I won the first prize in public speaking.

You said

“One look at you was enough for the judges to

decide”.

Or when that famous editor

Selected my poem for publication,

You asked

“Did you take the poem personally to him?”

I am astonished at your astonishment.

It is a compliment you insist.

It is difficult for you to understand

Then why I am insulted.

In your code of legitimacy

I am only supposed to look good.

To like jewellery, clothes, cosmetics.

I do.

As much as I like to argue,

or write, or win.

In your code of conduct

A good girl is seen not heard.

But then I don’t want to be a good girl.

Only a better one.

In your code of compliments

I should then wear a veil,

For you are not blind.

And the wool you couldn’t pull over eyes

Is stuffed in your ears.

It is difficult for you to say the right words

It is difficult for me to accept.

For

in my code of existence,

I cannot wait.

I will not hide.

- Joy Deshmukh

[ Published in 2nd

issue of a past Vacha Newsletter, 1991]

5

vVa MARCH, 2015 VACHA NEWSLETTER

Male Female

75.3 53.7

82.1 65.5

Improvements in literacy levels in India

2001 2011

Myths about menstruation are a part of the larger

patriarchal structure of control over girls and women.

While restrictions on girls during menstruation cut

across class and culture around the world, the custom

of untouchability practiced against menstruating girls

and women is unique to India. Girls and women

between the ages of 10-50 years, face untouchability

from their own family members during menstruation.

In this book, we have documented girls’ stories of

menstruation in their own voices.

“ This is my cousin sister’s story, of when she got her

periods…That day, she had felt a strong pain in her

stomach, and when she started bleeding, she didn’t

know what it was. She got very scared and told her

teacher about it. Her teacher asked her to go home and

sent a friend along with her to reach her home.

Once she got home, a difficult time began for her.

Instead of placating her fear or showing her any love or

even explaining to her about what had happened, her

mother kept my sister alone in one room. She had to

stay there, alone, for the next six days. On the following

day, a pooja was arranged for her and she was given

sarees by all the married women in the family. It is true

that she was given a lot of good food and other things

during those days…but anyone passing by her room

would taunt her and harass her…she felt terrible during

those days, that is what she told me…”

[Excerpts from our publication- ‘Puberty, Poverty

and Gender- Girls speak about menstruation’

(2014). ]

India South Asia World

88 86 92 74 73

87

Youth (15-24 yrs) literacy rate (%) 2009-2013*

Male Female

As Chart 1 shows, gender gap in youth

literacy rate for India in period 2009-2013,

is much worse than gender gap of rest of

the world. As Chart 2 indicates, this

gender gap has continued over the years.

However, there is one positive note in

current times for female literacy in India.

As Chart 2 shows, the improvement rate in

female literacy rate from 2001-2011 is

better than improvement rate in male

literacy rate for the same period. This

shows that though gender gap in literacy

rates remains high, there is improved

awareness about female literacy.

Ch

art

1

Ch

art

2

6

Source: UNICEF. Accessed at:

http://data.unicef.org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/coreco

de/SOWC_2015_Summary_and_Tables_210.pdf

Source: Census of India, 2011. Accessed at:

https://data.gov.in/catalog/improvements-literacy-

levels#web_catalog_tabs_block_10

vVa MARCH, 2015 VACHA NEWSLETTER

[A Girl’s Poem from our publication- ‘Bole Kishori’ (2010), translated from Hindi.]

Vacha’s Publications

Our Vacha

Our Vacha is like the wide world –

Full of colour and all sorts of people.

So Vacha includes us all –

Our teachers, women and men,

And us, students of different

backgrounds

and different communities.

We do not quarrel here,

In fact, we soon become good friends.

We eat together,

Together we learn, and together we

attend Vacha workshops.

Some girls love to get up to mischief in

class,

But all love Vacha teachers very much.

- Aayesha Shaikh

Remembering VACHA

It was wonderful to be reminded that we

began our work at Vacha 25 years back. I still

remember those first few days, months when

we were arranging our library and discussing

as what all we could do to educated our

school going children mostly coming from

nearby slums to make their lives more

interesting as well as fruitful by knowing

about their lives and their rights.

-Kumud Shanbag (Former Administrator)

A few girls from a Muslim majority

community, said during an interview,

“Today we can come out of our house

and shout slogans and act in a street play

to raise our issues in front of a crowd in

our basti; if we think of ourselves 6

months back the situation was totally

different. But now with Vacha’s regular

support and life skills programmes we

are here …”

“that repository of stree shakti in the form of

books at Vacha continuously challenged and

provoked my thought process.” – Pinky

Virani in the foreward to her book ‘Bitter

Chocolate’

When I joined Vacha class,

I was in 4th standard and I

couldn’t read or write in

English. Now I am doing my

graduation. When I was in 10th

standard I stood first in English

language throughout all the

BMC schools.

- Rajesh (Former

student in Vacha)

7

vVa MARCH, 2015 VACHA NEWSLETTER

Vacha’s publications

VACHA RESOURCE CENTRE FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

Registered office: Project Office: 5, Bhavna, S.V.Road, Ground floor, Municipal school building, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai- 400 056. Tank Lane, Santacruz (W), Mumbai- 400 054.

Email: vachamail@gmail.com / admin@vacha.org.in Tel No. 91-22-2605-5523 www.vacha.org.in Follow us on Facebook: Vacha Resource Centre

Watch videos on Youtube: Vacha Trust Contribute to our blog at hhtp://girlhoodindia.wordpress.com