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Bevaru - Maraa, India

The Covid 19 crisis has brought into sharp relief the staggering number of migrant workers in Indian cities. It is absurd that it has taken a virus to bring the living and working conditions of workers into focus. Social distance has always existed in our society. The lockdown has further deepened existing fault-lines of caste, class, gender and religion, rendering certain populations vulnerable, not only to the virus, but to systemic apathy and public indifference. Further, media representations of workers continue to be demeaning and infantalizing. 

The media and arts collective Maraa publishes a bi-monthly workers newspaper in three languages. Bevaru (Sweat in Kannada) focuses on the experience of women working in the informal economy- namely, domestic workers, garbage and waste-pickers, sex workers and garment workers. The newspaper gives space to workers' self-representations and experiences in the city, something largely missing from mainstream media. Workers are often reduced to the tyranny of wage or represented only as victims. The paper works as a counterpoint, by dwelling on workers’ day to day experiences, and in some cases, encouraging workers to contribute directly to the paper. Bevaru seeks to intervene in the politics of representing labour, and to counteract the stereotypes of hapless one-dimensional victims. 

Bevaru will be attentive to the experiences of migrant workers during this difficult time - retaining its focus on women, but also broadening this to include the experience of other kinds of migrant workers. At a time when the printing press is closed, Maraa will take this opportunity to explore Bevaru digitally, circulating the paper through audio programmes, WhatsApp and other online networks. 

outside my window

Haaruva Hakkiya Kathegalu | Tales of flying birds

Notions of freedom from the Women Workforce of a City

We have carelessly been using the word "Independence" associated with the formation of the Nation State, while a significant population in this country continues to live as refugees, migrants, nomads, women, fakir, who were always free spirited but their freedoms were restricted, because society simply could not hold them down from moving. Yet, they have been resilient, arresting, haunting, spontaneous, untraceable because these figures in society are relentlessly restless and intrinsically do not conform, do not succumb. Systems and structures, process of unification, caste and institutional religion have systematically attempted to suppress, dictate or manipulate their voices. Yet, steel nibs will sprout, shrieks and laughter will be heard, prisons will be broken, new trends will emerge.

We have been working closely with the women workforce in Bangalore to see the city from their perspective. This August 15th, we listened to their experiences of struggle and resilience, their imagination of freedom.

Featuring (Conversations in Kannada)

Geeta and Sumati from Sadhana Mahila Sangha, A collective for Women in Street Based Prostitution

Tahiramma, Stree Jagruthi Samiti, Domestic Workers' Union,

Representative from the Powrakarmikas, To Be Confirmed

Rathi & Nagarathna, Karantaka Garment Workers' Union  

Saboot / Evidence

Videos

In these videos from Bevaru’s YouTube Channel workers share experiences of work and the lockdown, and memories of their families and villages, as well as songs and poetry about their lived realities (in Hindi and Kannada).