Shanta Bai

An article in the NY Times today reminded of an experience from 2004. Is it our limited view that makes us surprised when we meet people like Shanta Bai and Kakuben Lalabhai Parmar?

Shanta Bai


I had run into Shanta Bai in Barcelona, Spain, where I
was visiting for 3 days. It was of course unexpected
and exciting that I would run into someone who could
speak Kannada, and after exchanging the initial
surprised remarks, we exchanged information on where
we were from, what flight route we came on, etc. She
was from Bellary and I was from Mysore. Shanta Bai
had been in Barcelona for 20 days, and consequently
did not know the result of the Indian elections. She
had voted, and then left for Barcelona.

"What happened to the elections? What happened in
Bangalore?" she asked. I initially began to talk
about the central government (we had just heard that
Sonia was going to step aside and ask Manmohan Singh
to be the PM) and then realized she was asking about
Bangalore.

I had more recent information than her. "It is a hung
assembly", I said. "The Congress headed by Mr.
Krishna is out. The BJP, Congress, Janata Dal have
shared seats with no clear majority".

"Who got the majority?" she asked. "BJP or the
Congress?"

"The BJP, I said". I paused to recollect, because
experiences in Barcelona of the past couple of days
were clouding what I had read and heard about the
Karnataka state elections. "I think what happened was
that the BJP and the Janata Dal had formed an alliance
during the elections, but after the elections there
seemed to be a fallout. Thus the BJP could not lead a
coalition government, but the Congress could. I think
that is what is happening. I think it is doing to be a
Congress-led government."

She nodded with with general approval. "Yes, I think
that is good. They are better."

I was bubbling with the excitement of the Congress
winning at the centre and Sonia stepping aside. This
was exciting election news. I began to talk about
central government politics and she asked, "Yes, what
happened in Delhi?"

"The Congress got a majority. It is excitingly
unexpected. The BJP is out". I added the last bit a
little cautiously because I am often unsure about
people's reaction to my feelings about the BJP. I did
not want to quarrel with her about the BJP in
Barcelona of all places.

"I heard that in my constituency a BJP MLA has won. I
felt really bad", she said.

"Yes, I don't like the BJP at all", I said, still
cautious.

"I know", she said. "Ever since they came to power
there has been a lot of strife and
conflict. Lot of fighting. Nothing has been OK."

That was very pleasant to hear. "Sonia is stepping
aside. She doesn't want to be the prime minister", I
continued.

"This is the second time she is doing this", Shanta
Bai said. "She has done this before. It might be good
to have her as the prime minister and see what
happens. It would be a change. We could try her".

I didn't fully agree, and felt my usual cynicism about
Indian politics. "I don't like any party", I said.
"But given the options we have, I am glad Congress won
and the BJP lost."

"Well, we will have to see", she said. "They might do
something good. You never know, they might do
something good¡¨.

¡§If the Congress wins¡¨, she continued, referring
back to Bangalore, it is good for girls. They could
come up in life. If the BJP wins, it is the boys who
benefit all the time".

"In all likelihood Manmohan Singh will be the Prime
Minister", I said, again shifting the conversation to
the exciting politics.

She paused, and thought. "Is he from Punjab?"

"Yes", I said gesturing with my hand a turban to
indicate he was a Sikh.

She nodded with general approval again. She could not
recollect bad things about him, and was in general
reasonably satisfied with the state of affairs. "But,
I can't stand the fact the the BJP MLA won in my
constituency. It is all because the BJP has more
money. I felt really bad", she said again.

A perfectly normal conversation to have between two
Indians in the middle of election results being
announced and governments being formed. So, why do I
write about this?

Because I am a product of middle class India,
volunteering for Asha for Education, to "educate
underprivileged children for socio-economic change in
India". Shanta Bai is a Lambani tribal woman, from
Susheelanagar village near Sandur in Bellary district,
who was part of a Samiti formed by an NGO to produce
and market exquisite hand-made embroidery that seemed
to be part of their traditional craft. (the craze of
the west and westernized India). She was in Barcelona
as part of the micro-credit booth at the Universal
Cultural Forum (see note at end for details). By most
indicators the Lambanis are "backward" and are poor.
(by the standards of the modern economy). The mines
in Bellary district provide some employment, and the
men work there for about Rs. 50 a day. "There is work
for us if we are ready to work", she said. The women,
atleast in her village, seem to be mostly associated
with the NGO and worked on embroidery. Shanta Bai
probably had never gone to school, might have been
made "literate" by the NGO. (I did not know how to
ask whether she was literate since we were conversing
as friends, as fellow Kannadigas who had run into each
other in Barcelona.) Yet, contrary to my expectation
as a volunteer working to educate "underprivileged"
children, she was fully aware of the political
process, knew about the political parties, knew more
politics than I did (I could only vaguely recollect
the first time Sonia Gandhi had passed up a chance to
be Prime Minister). She was not only aware, she was
interested, and keen to see a government in power that
would benefit her. She was interested in the local
MLA, in the state government, and the central
government in proportion to how each would affect her
life. She clearly knew who she was voting for and
why. She was eager to know the results, and asked
about election results within minutes of me meeting
her ¡V the first Kannada speaking person (and probably
the first Indian) she met after she came to Barcelona.
Clearly this was noone from a "remote" village who
thought Indira Gandhi was alive.

My education continued.

"What about the children?", I asked. "Do they go to
school?"

"Not really ...", she said. "In schools our children,
Lambani children are treated as stupid and good for
nothing and seen as children who will not learn much.
So most parents don't send their children to school".

I digested this. This was in keeping with what we
hear from our projects and issues tribal children
face.

"How did you get selected to come to Barcelona?", I
asked.

"I own the national award for embroidery last year",
she said, and then took out a copy of the award and a
photo of receiving the award from President Kalam
which she proudly showed me. "Our NGO was contacted
when the Barcelona event was organized and Mr. V
selected me to go. I went to Sweden last year for a
similar event. The Government of India paid the
travel expenses."

This was an interesting piece of information. I had
not realized that marketing of handicrafts made in
India and organized by NGOs had reached that level of
streamlining, that going to foreign countries to
display their wares happened periodically.

"My sister-in-law is going to .....what is the country
where the people are dark skinned?", she asked.

"Africa?"

"Ah yes! South Africa. My sister-in-law is going
there next month."

"When you get back will you discuss with the others in
the village about your experiences?"

"Yes, the NGO will organize a discussion session. In
my village of course like everywhere else, there are
people who are jealous, people who will be mean, but
people who will be nice as well".

She then began to talk about her experiences in
Barcelona. "To show affection the Spanish people
kiss each other on their cheeks. The NGO coordinator
with us tried to do that with our hosts, and I don't
think it went down very well", she giggled.

We were continously interrupted by Forum visitors who
wanted to take a picture of her, dressed as she was in
Lambani attire. I was soon happily joining her
indulgent giggling at the eagerness of the
picture-takers and the novelty in their eyes.

"Isn't this a nice idea?", she mused later. "We got
a chance to come here and get to know them, and they
got a chance to see us. People from all over the
world are able to meet."

"Yes", I answered. "I just saw the Moroccan acrobats
watching the Rajasthani dancers with great interest.
"Yes, it is truly fantastic."

"We have been busy since we came here. We get here at
around 11.00am in the morning and are here till
8.00pm. I haven't had a chance to look around the
forum. In Sweden, it was much better, in the sense
that we were taken to a lot of places. We ate at a
lot of hotels, and were taken to museums where we
learned how people lived thousands of years ago. We
learnt about adivasis there, and about history there.
It was very, very interesting". More stuff that she
had not "learnt at school".

"What did you eat in hotels there?", I asked.

"They took us to Chinese hotels. We would get rice
there, and it was very good. We could also get lots
and lots of fruits which used to fill us up. They
took really good care of us here."

"Where do you stay in Barcelona and how do you eat?"

"There is a house for the nine of us. We buy
groceries at the Indian store and cook our own food.
We bring lunch with us".

I was puzzled, intrigued, to some extent stunned, and
a whole lot of other things. Here was a young woman
who was well aware of the what was going on in the
world. I was not sure what more we could "teach" her,
that she could not learn herself. What more would
education have given her? How would it really have
changed her life?

The other aspect I was unravelling in my mind was that
the NGO appeared "successful", clearly had ties with
the Government of India. The Samiti seemed to be
doing well. Because of their support she could get a
national award from the President! Yet she only
seemed to be making about Rs. 20 a day. More to the
point, had her life changed socially and economically?
I suppose she was better off than before. What was I
expecting? A life where she would be able to zip to
Barcelona for a vacation? Or where her child would
go to the school I went to? I am not sure what I was
expecting. She didn't represent to me someone whose
"life had been socio-economically improved". But
perhaps that was just me being ignorant. Her life did
seem to have changed. Clearly she spoke well of the
NGO, so they had helped her. They had helped her find
a market for her produce. She seemed happy, though
she had to work hard for a living (as do many in this
world). Perhaps this was change, and I should learn to
understand that. If I wanted something more, maybe
this was the first step.

"Wasn't your family afraid of sending you alone this
far?" I asked.

"My husband and I are separated. There is only my
mother left, and she was fine with it. She is taking
care of my child. We have to work for a living, so I
could not pass this up. I hope my mother is doing OK
with my child. Only 9 days till I return".

Shahina Ahmed who was representing West Bengal then
joined us. In true Indian style within 5 minutes she
had discovered that I worked with computers, that I
was not yet married, and that the bangles I was
wearing were real gold :-) Shanta Bai greeted the
fact that I was not yet married with approval. "Yes,
sometimes that is best", she said.

She made one of her bracelets for me, "to remember me
by", she said. She also gave me the address of the
NGO in Sandur. Maybe one day I will meet her again in
Bellary and see whether her child is following the
same profession or has had more choices .... that is
if the child wanted more choices .....

------------------------

I met Shanta Bai at the micro-credit booth, a part of
the Universal Cultural Forum organized in Barcelona.
The NGO which had created the Samiti in her village
had been asked by the Indian government to send
someone to the Forum, and she had been selected. Her
trip was sponsored by the Indian government.

The Forum, as it is popularly called, was organized in
Barcelona, Spain, by the Catalonian Government, the
Barcelona government and UNESCO (Barcelona is in the
province of Catalonia in Spain). With a theme on
Peace, Diversity, and Sustainable Development, it was
started as an event to parallel the World Economic
Forum and the World Social Forum. They have done a
stupendous job in bringing people and their work from
all over the world, from those working in a charity
mode to environmental activists. Exhibitions included
"Education for All", "Fair Trade", "Ethical
Banking", "Community based city governments", "The
lives we live from an environment perspective",
"Micro-credit" (where I met Shanta Bai). Many of
the activities enabled visitors, especially children
to participate and experience diversity instead of
watching it from a distance. There was a strong
emphasis on children, because, as the brochure said,
¡§the children today are the leaders of 2015¡¨. Many
good ideas were displayed: filtering water through a
saree to protect against Cholera in Bangladesh,
Simputers developed in India, digital hearing aids
from Norway to name a few. Cultural diversity was
celebrated with shows from tight rope walkers from
Azerbaijan to water puppet shows from Vietnam to
workshops on Bollywood dancing (I am not kidding, I
have pictures of streams of young Spanish children
waving colorful chunnis in the air to the beat of
Hindi film music). There were hundreds of dialogues
and discussions on various topics from linguistic
diversity to objectivity in the media. The idea being
an emphasis on dialogue to resolve differences. All
against the backdrop of the oh, so blue mediterranean.
More information is at http://www.barcelona2004.org.
One of the goals of the Forum is to
let activists from all over the world know that they
are not alone. Or as the Argentine Nobel Peace
Laureate Mr. Esquivel, a Forum participant, put it,
"it is a place for optimists from around the world to
share different points of view".