14. "...educating women and telling them to be vigilant about their rights and freedom"

Sindhu

Interviewee: Sindhu, Interviewer: Rohini, Via: Phone, Date: 5/5/11

I had called to talk to Sindhu’s husband and was not really planning on talking to Sindhu on this call as I knew she was recovering from a hip surgery. But as my conversation with her husband drew to a close she expressed the desire to talk to me. I was honored.

Age: 82 yrs

Birth Place: Pune, India

Background information: Sindhu has lived in Mumbai all her life.

“In fact, since the day my mother brought me home from the hospital, I have been here. In this very building… for 82 years! I was in apartment number 26 for 21 years before marriage and in number 25 for the past 61 years after marriage,” said Sindhu.

When I asked her to share a happy memory with me, what she said first is what I frequently hear from many of the folks I interview. She said she is happy that she has good children, loving family etc. When I navigated through the years a little she lit up on one memory, I wish I could have seen her expression but that is the down side of a phone conversation… oh well.  I had to be satisfied listening to her ‘lit’ voice.

She mentioned that during 1975 the then Prime Minister of India Mrs. India Gandhi, had declared a state of Emergency. It was the darkest hour in the history of modern democratic India. There was a lot of restriction on free speech; people were put in jails for raising their voices in protested.  Sindhu had always been an active social worker. She was an active Samiti member, an organization that led a grass root movement for the education and upliftment of women. In response to the state of emergency, Sindhu and 12 other women from the Samiti came together and formulated a ‘Bhajani Mandal’ a group that sings devotional songs. One of the group members wrote the devotional songs that in the true sense were ‘patriotic songs’ something that would wake up the masses! This group went from city to city and village to village singing and educating women and telling them to be vigilant about their rights and freedom.

“We even managed to collect some money that we donated to the Samiti for the welfare of women”, said Sindhu who sounded very content even over the hiss and noise of the long distance phone call.

“Yes those were happy times…” Sindhu quickly come back to the present. It seemed to me as though she did not want to linger in the past for too long.

I respected that sentiment and after a few more polite exchanges got off the phone.