Larger than life

The sunset was still a few hours away. But a crowd of Meo Muslim men and few young girls appeared restless. But this was not because they wanted to go back to their homes in some of the most underdeveloped parts of India in the desert state of Rajasthan.

They wanted to see how a story, which they crafted, has been told by a group of city-bred folks who recently brought to their villages something that has never come in before. A camera!

Homes in Mirzapur village still have no televisions or radios even today. For the young men here, a film is a porn flick that they have seen while going to attend marriages. Desi porn is often played on portable DVD players placed in the cars these days. These stories when told to the aged men here have established a perception that images of women taken on camera makes their clothing disappear.

These men will give and take lives for keeping the community’s pride, which is expressed through strong restrictions on women on what they wear and how they conduct themselves in social spaces.

 

Many in this group knew what was going to happen inside the large hall of a blue building that served as a regional centre of an educational initiative working on making schools functional.

“Meo community can turn bronze into gold, can’t they arrange electricity for a few hours,” said a retired college teacher, who now works in the villages inspiring community leaders to demand roads and better schools for the region.

This casual remark sums up the spirit of survival the community has.

Electricity supply had been disrupted for the entire day and no back-up was available.

The result of the camera crew moving around for three days in the presence of a very apprehensive crowd that watched each move, was about to be unveiled.

The story of the first generation of girls going past the primary classes, while negotiating the demands of working on an average eight hours each day and not even talking loudly as it offended the men, was to be narrated to them through a film.

But it was much more than just an inspirational subject. The community was to also asses if the strangers who stepped into their village over five years ago, and were taken in as one of them, have lived up to the faith that was placed on them.

Noor Mohammad, a man with an enchanting smile and stern voice,  who, along with his team, has been the driving force of this change.

“One wrong move and these young girls will be locked inside the homes,” he says marshaling his community workers to hunt for a generator.

After one hour as the sun was setting, the bedspread-turned screen lit up with images and voices that the audience knew well. Giggles and nods of agreement started spreading through the room.

The girls turned nostalgic and their eyes lit up. They have lived the struggle and had taken upon themselves to keep it going, but this larger than life projection came as a reaffirmation of all that.

For elders from the community were connected for a small moment with the courage and hard work of the girls. They heard them speak louder than they would have ever allowed at home.

The echoing call from Zaida, protagonist of the film titled “Voices of Change”, that she wants to be somebody and wants to study hit a cord, and the patriarchs flinched.

View Full Album