Dookala, and the wings of a bird

And among the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh is the equality of women and men. The world of humanity has two wings -- one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.

Baha'i writings

Money
The woman took the money - and asked me if I was sure that I had enough for myself. New Year's Day was the first day she had come to the gate.. saying nothing but I went downstairs to give her a big raise because I felt that was a nice New Year's Day thing to do. I tried to ask where she coming from.. because part of me still thinks that people who beg are tricksters while another part says that God visits me in the form of beggars.
The woman came back a few times after - one time she just stood on the bridge and stared at our jhandhi flag. She was at the mandir on Shiv Ratri night; and then one Sunday when I came home from a rare visit to a mandir, she was waiting at the gate. I had this thing in my head..  that never mind the prayers and chowtaal and fasting and so on, really and truly that worshipping God is really about this woman and how I interact with her.

This woman tells me she comes from Wales and then works somewhere but she does not say much, except thanks sometimes. I wonder if I am being fleeced, and whether I should bother with whether I am being fleeced and just be glad I can give and then thinking I should not be sanctimonious about giving and then thinking why the hell not... if it was a man, it would have been easier to say no.. go find a wuk.. but this woman tells me she works.

Feminisation
The first email exchange I have on International Women's Day 2011 is with a woman who was glad I wrote this letter today about how President Jagdeo friken the feminisation of men as though being woman-like is a bad thing for a man. The woman Minister though, she sit down and aint say nothing.. well nothing was reported.. she dare not, because probably like so many other women she friken dat she might loss she wuk if she talk too much. The other powerful woman they have in Government, she willing to mek up she own story too to defend she Government. For some men, that loyalty is a wonderful quality.. For me though, it is one which frikens me and make me limit my Hail All Women.

Is funny how President Jagdeo talk about how he friken the feminisation of men - just as I have in my head this thing about being a coolie womanist and get into other conversations about men who embrace feminism since it provides opportunities for us to learn about ourselves as men. Andil Gosine writes about this in a 2009 article;  another man sent an email on International Women's Day reminding me about social justice and how any womanist man should always be conscious of social justice. Linden Lewis talks about what working for equality means, very similar I think to one of my favourite parts of the Baha'i writings.



Dookala and her jahaji Daughters

This year I have been thinking of the daughters of the Indian indentured labourers who have been working at retelling the stories of our ancestors.. Gaiutra Bahadur's listing of the women who came with her great-grandmother on the ship opens up questions of what happened to them.. this one especially

"Dookala, #95721, Panka from Raipur, 12 years old, sent to Lusignan plantation, East Coast Demerara."  

What happened to Dookala, 12 years, alone and unaccompanied?

Nalini Mohabir is doing work at looking at those who went back to India, and whose work has opened up important questions of identity - not only of race, but of nationhood  . 

There are other daughters who I have come into contact with who are now bringing the stories to light by looking at different aspects of the lives of the people who came on those ships. A man - jahaji son- I  know is talking to other men about domestic violence because of a jahaji daughter who asked him to write an article... a massive milestone for me as I think of how initial reactions to the work against domestic violence were deemed anti-man and anti-Indian.

Other daughters though do different things. Minister Manickchand , responsible for the Government's gender equality policies, judges a beauty pageant for Indian daughters.. no doubt oblivious to, or contemptuous of the crticisms that beauty pageants are about the commodification of women .
When sections of the Hindu community protested the last Miss Diwali pageant, it was with this recognition that each woman has her own worth. The Minister and other judges thought that one of the best 'talents' portrayed for Indian women that night was "a seductive woman on the prowl"

Shirley Field Ridley in the seventies in Guyana had condemned the existing pageants as racist (light skinned, straight haired visions of beauty) and sexist.

Another jahaji daughter though.. had a different view of the beauty pageant .

This other side of the bird, that wing got plenty different feathers.