Tucked away in the meandering gallies of a basti named Tigri, not far from Saket, New Delhi, there is a very impressive group of girls. Energetically, these girls dance behind closed doors, as if expressing their hesitations through it. Dancing, so they will not feel subdued when the time comes to go home, never ever to talk about this deep dark hole again. A body part that is not to be named. It appears as if you speak the words or name it, it just might come alive! It might even become a real part of your living breathing body. It might as well come out of its dark rabbit hole and whisper its powerful, shocking, very valid, very real name to you…योनि…Vagina! The girls wait impatiently for an unfamiliar didi to come by and tell them shocking (things they've never fathomed, let alone heard). Things such as, “Yes, you indeed have three openings between your legs and not just two.” (हौ! दीदी मुझे तोह लगा आप झूट बोल रही थी!) *Goodness! Didi I thought you were blatantly telli
In urban slums like NS Palya, anganwadis are often a pale imitation of what they were envisioned to be under the Integrated Child Development System (ICDS), mooted by the Indian government in 1976. Under ICDS, anganwadis were expected to function as one-stop crèche and nutrition centres for children from the age of zero to six, and for expectant mothers. Every anganwadi is run by an anganwadi teacher and a helper. They are expected to give children basic pre-school education, provide them one nutritious meal in a day, and ensure the children receive vaccines and mineral supplements on schedule. Anganwadis were set up to be the first defence in detecting and correcting malnourishment in children. Read More
Comments
Post a Comment