Transformation

Women mēstiri (superintendent) in indigo firms

In informal sectors, women are never considered to be put in the position for supervising. Mestiri is a tamil term to address the head workman or foreman who supervise a group of workers in informal sectors like construction, agricultural labour and production units. Generally mesthri refers to the supervisor of male gender and no title for female supervisor is found. This explains the patriarchy in work force structure of informal sector, establishing the appropriate role for men and women.

The Changes of Value on Time

The orange-lined text in the figure is a decree which was issued by King Bodawphaya (1782-1819) in Konebaung dynasty. The original text of it has not been found until now. This is an excerpt from the article written by Ms. Nu Nu Kyi who wrote in Saunders Weaving Institute’100 anniversary magazine. In a decree, the lay men from the different regions had to wear pasoe (the nether garment of Myanmar males) by weaving cotton and satin threads only. Moreover, they didn’t allow wearing the turban, nether garment, and shawl which make with gold and silver threads with a fly shuttle loom.

Photographs as Memory Triggers

Photographs have proven to be interesting tools to get people to open up about themselves and share memories of their past. For instance, the photo of Anwar posing at Phasi Ghar (execution point) not only got him talking about the monument that no longer stands, but also reminded him of his childhood spent dressing up and posing for photographs at various locations in Mehrauli, Delhi.

Mesha Murali: Bus stand se aage. Kahan?  

Grazing the Grounds

Suman Bai Goojar is a resident of Puraani Basti, one of the oldest settlements in the town of Pipariya, Madhya Pradesh. Hailing from the semi-nomadic pastoral Goojar community, hers is a narrative where fields are connected to pastures and communities to spaces. A snippet from our recorded conversation:

Moving Roundabouts

“The tea and snack joints at Mangalwara Chowk have always been very integral to the town of Pipariya. During the 1950’s and 60’s, there were two very popular joints here. One of them was called ‘Bharat Hotel’ and belonged to a Sindhi fellow. Sindhis came to this town after partition and set up small scale confectionary shops. The other one was run by Mr. Shyam Jaiswal. These joints were the hubs of all the political and social gossip in the town.

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