We caught Aatma Devi in a meeting organised by the NGO she works for. She stood out amongst 55 women, loudly announcing herself through her bright pink saree. She is a social worker coordinating meetings for women's empowerment on ground. She moved to Dharavi from UP in 1999, a little after marriage.
Forced to follow the traditions she had grown up seeing, she was veiled at all times, not permitted to reveal her face to anyone who wasn’t her husband; locked in her house after the husband left, locked out from the world. She would cry for hours, looking through her veil outside her window, marvelling at all the life passing her by. Her weeping, faceless shadow decorated the street every day.
One such day there was a meeting on the street conducted by an organisation for the empowerment of women. As the meeting progressed her hands began to itch. The veil was calling out to them. Big ideas were discussed and they possessed her spirit. They took over her body to raise her hand and fling the veil behind, revealing the world to her bare eyes. Every gathering replenished her courage until it spilt out in the form of rebellion. She would fight with her husband, and take his beatings just to go out and attend these meetings. Now unveiled and living, she wanted to show women like her what life could be. Her body couldn’t contain her personality anymore; it oozed out through her clothes and infectious energy, making up for all the lost time.
‘Why do we women always give the body of the fish to our children and husbands and eat the tail or the head ourselves? Our bodies deserve the nutrition as much as theirs do. A woman’s thinking is only valuable when she thinks for the well-being of everyone, but I stopped doing that at the cost of my own and I want more women to realise their worth,’ she says and works tirelessly to this end. When I ask her what she does in her free time she lets out a girlish chuckle, ‘What free time? I have none, people keep showing up to my house unannounced, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ This was evident in our brief conversation being interrupted by multiple calls. Her organisation has now reached out to 5000 women, training them in beauty skills, sewing and others.
She tirelessly works for her community without expecting anything in return. She would fill out people’s forms for documentation, get involved with organisations arranging these meetings and be an accessible person to anyone needing any help. ‘It’s so important to be useful. I want to make myself useful. Why would you be speaking to me right now if I didn’t have anything to offer to you?’ she says and I ponder. She has been doing these things for years but only started getting paid when Covid happened.
She wants to leave Dharavi at some point in her life. ‘Yes it is a great place for people with no resources as the community itself becomes their biggest resource, but why would I want to live here if I could live a life of comfort?’ She doesn’t believe that Adani is the right person for the development of this place and is heavily involved in the protests happening against it.
Her dedication to serving the community and courage to stand up to the powers that be were remarkable to witness. After all, she her choice of costume isn’t of someone who is looking to be silent.
