A story inspired by the life of India's first woman photo journalist who broke the gender barriers in a male dominated field.
Arushi Ralli 
The Book - Who Clicked That Pic?
When we think of women’s day, there is so much hoo-ha of inviting women for webinars and workshops. What we miss is the true essence of coming together and listening to the varied experiences of being a woman every single day. On 9th March, we read a children’s book on the first female photo-journalist of India and saw Pari living and breathing through the experiences we share with each other almost everyday. We started the reading by Veenu asking us, “Whose child are we?”. It was such a pleasant surprise to notice us saying we are the child of nature, of our mothers, and of the Universe.
The book, “Who Clicked The Pic?”, beautifully written by Nandita Da Cunha and illustrated by Priya Kurian left us in the world with Pari in Bombay during Ganpathi Visarjan. The illustrations are so thoughtfully made that we could imagine the context of each picture clicked. We went on a journey of expressing our strength through Pari ripping the sides of her blouse and walking freely! Imagine a world where women can walk with their heads up high with who they are and what they do. That’s what Homai Vyrawalla’s story did for us.
Photographs depicting what gender meant to the participants
We ended the reading with a reflective activity of clicking one photograph on what is gender for us. While one participant clicked a photo of a tree expressing the female friendships in their life, another clicked of their closet with theirs and their partner’s clothes. We also had participants expressing choice, freedom of expression, freedom to be, to move as ways of what gender means to them.
Celebrating Women’s Day
This reading was facilitated by Veenu Kakkar