The prologue
The class Part 1
The class Part 2
"Have you all read the text?", said Ben.
The class nodded in agreement.
"Let us listen to your views about the text."
"Shall we start with you Merlyn"
"Hmm, the text is very modern. Though it was written in 1920s it was modern then and it is modern even now..."
" There is this entire social pressure from parents to get their children married. From my educational background the concept of arranged marriages seems very strange. Your parents deciding who you have to get married to seems very fascinating, I know now it is not like that, now you can choose and all that but still the idea seems very interesting. I want to explore that idea in the light of the text."
"Interesting", said Ben as Kay continued to make notes.
"Also I work with this small NGO which works with kids, may be I can do something with them"
Ben looked at Nishita who was sitting next to Merlyn, as if saying "Now you"
"Well for me this text is definitely about gender but also about class. The idea of a room of one's own and five hundred pounds a year involves class as well, it is to probably say that a man is worth the opportunity he gets. In the last chapter, she mentions how all the poets have been university educated and were from a privileged class. Also she herself was lucky to have the security. Many people could be talented but only a few get the opportunity. One can also see this in the case of Shakespeare's sister. I had marked a few lines, which I can't find them now but there is this chapter where different people define a woman, that is something I would want to work on...."
"It is the second chapter...isn't it. She also lists..."
Arpita walked in as the discussion was going on.
"Yeah, I think...I have this mental picture of different kind of people trying to define woman which is in a circle and in the center is the woman who is undefinable. You can't really define someone. It is as if three blind men trying to describe an elephant, all of them have their myopic view but no one really gets it"
Ben now looked at Arpita, "Have you read the text? We were discussing each of our responses about it, would you like to go?"
"Yes I have read the text and I have made some notes as well, I would put them all together, In the mean while someone else can start."
Ajay started talking, "My thoughts are also on the similar lines", he said looking at Nishita.
"The book is very remarkable, apart from the obvious it has some very potent symbols, like the cat in the first chapter, the professor in the second chapter who represents the institution or the societal norms. The cat kind of mirrors woolf, not to mention it is a tail less one. At the same time I was reading another book Gandhi and Meera. It is a book which is based some historical facts. I found the two women very contrasting and it is interesting how two women belonging to the same period and the same social setting take two entirely different paths. When one that is Virginia Woolf chooses to travel outward and experience the other travels inward, in a way Meera actually left the room of her own and completely dedicated herself towards serving this man"
"Is this a famous love story...or story?", asked Ben.
"I don't know if it can be called a love story. Meera or Medeliene which was her original name, her father was from the Navy and was very fascinated by the ideology of Gandhi and wanted to join him and much before she joined him, she was preparing for it. She lived a life of poverty for an year only after which she joined him in his ashram. It is also fascinating how they shared their space and relationship with in the constraints of his ashram"
"Also there are strong symbols in each chapter, the cat in the first chapter, the professor in the second chapter, I want to do something with that. The topic of Meera would take some more research, in fact I have written a few pages on how the cat would respond to Woolf, probably I will read it out in the next meeting", said Ajay.
"I really like the idea of the cat", said Ben
"I wan't to explore this idea of divorce, there are some women I know who use divorce as a way of earning. This lady, my friends' wife she left him for no reason and demanded money from him, she has done it to two three other people. While another friend of mine divorced her husband and didn't take any money at all, she said give my life back and that's all. I wan't to see why she is getting divorced, why she wants the money and all that", said Ritesh.
Anita just walked in and sat in between Merlyn and Ben.
It was Arpita's turn now, by now she had written a few lines in her note book.
"I have two three ideas, I will have to choose which one I would work on. Firstly, the idea of Judith, Shakespeare's sister interests me. Then I want to see the differences between a man having a room of one's own and a woman having a room of one'e own. Also probably explore the idea of space from an artists room, another thing was to do with the writers she mentions and the writers I like", said Arpita
"Also there are these group of women who get out in the evening and discuss their lives, I don't know how to do it but I want to record their conversations. I don't know how it would be presented, if it is an audio how it would be played but this is the idea I had", she added
"We can have a video to it", said Ritesh
"No it can be only an audio", said Nishita
"Like there is background music, it can be background video", said Ritesh.
"Why do we have to think about the presentation now, just make whatever you want to we will figure out how to present later", said Anita and Nishita in union.
"I wan't to work with one of my plays which I had written long back, it is a story of a girl who is a very good dancer, she is admired by one and all. A man admires her, falls in love with her and marries her. He likes her but he is very possessive, he doesn't like others admiring her, but thinks it is too low for him to ask her to stop dancing so he has a child, which acts as a barrier. One after the other they have three children. He also has a sister, who is married to a psychologist. The sister and the girl share a very great relationship together. When the girl realizes that he is using children as a way to restrain her she tells him that one of the children is not his. They separate and after a long time, he comes back and apologizes to her. He says he would excuse her for all her mistakes. Though enraged, she looks forward to the reunion but he again asks, which child is not his.", said Anita telling the story of the play she had written.
"This was performed in Prithvi theatre, it is an established theater group in mumbai. I would work on this alone, I would try to adopt it. I stay very far, even now I have driven 35 kms to come here"
"We would also like to show two short films", said Kay.
The first film was on the women being excluded from productive work, about domestic work not being counted as productive labor. The second one was a trailer on the Nandigram suicide, where two young girls committed suicide as they didn't want to be separated"
"We want to explore this entire idea of suicide, and the idea of gender identity. Was this case of Nandigram famous?", asked Ben
"It was famous among a limited set of people, among the NGO's, women's groups or professors", said Anita
"Subaltern studies is an important part of colonial history, I want explore the idea of suicide in the Hindu Nationalist view, women were forced to commit suicide in the name of sati, while the colonialist said it was wrong the Hindu Nationalist defended the practice", said Ben
"Also the fact that Virginia Woolf herself committed suicide", added Arpita.
"We are collecting all the suicide cases", said Kay.
"Gender suicides or suicides in general", asked Nishita.
"Suicides in general"
"Have you read about the farmer suicides, it was 2010 I guess", said Arpita..
"It is on going, it is still happening. It is a well written about topic you can check", said Nishita
"You have to tell us how we can help you, how we can facilitate the process", said Ben.
"It is not to pressurize you but to help if anything is needed to be arranged. ", said Ben
"I need a wall, where I can keep writing things", said Anita
"May be a canvas", suggested Nishita
"No I need a wall, if needed we can paint it later", said Anita.
"How many of you are open to acting if anyone wants to put up a play", asked Kay.
"I can't act but I'm open to trying new things", said Merlyn.
"If we need we can get actors from outside", said Ritesh.
"But that wouldn't be nice, I think we should perform it is not that we are putting up a show, we have been involved from the beginning and we would be better", said Anita
"Why do we decide now, let us begin with the process and see how it works", said Nishita
"Exactly", agreed Anita
"We need to think concrete now, see if you want to work individually or if any things converge. She wants to work on arranged marriage, he wants to work on divorce, for you it is the second chapter, she will rewrite the play, he will talk about the cat's perspective. Probably some of you can work together", said Ben
"You can think over and tell us, if you need anything", added Kay
"Probably I can work with the divorce, I think both of them go together", said Merlyn
"Is there anything else?", said Ben
"Also about the gender suicide, one of my friends works with the LGBT community and she works with a publication called queer ink and they have come up with an anthology of stories on queer, it is called Out"
"On the exclusion of women from productive labor there is a recent NSS survey which shows that about 9.2 million jobs have been lost over last year. The economists have argued that women are going for higher studies but the numbers do not match, in reality women are getting educated though marginally but their husbands are not allowing them to work and the number of jobs lost by women is much higher", said Nishita.
"Also on the subaltern studies there is a book called Debrahminising History which adds a caste dimension to the Sati, you might want to read it"
"It would be great if you could get the book for the next meeting", said Ben.
"So when is the next meeting", said Kay
"Can we meet again this week?", said Ben
" It won't be possible", said Anita.
"Okay, then is Monday 6.30 alright", said Kay
The others nodded in agreemnent
