"We see men hanging out at tea stalls, smoking and drinking chai – they can exist there without being looked at, but why can’t we see many women doing that?” asks Nikhita Thomas, recalling the question posed by a group of women in Mobile Girls Koottam: Working Women Speak by Madhumita Dutta. It is this question that led Thomas and her collaborator, fellow assistant professor at St. Joseph’s University, Pranav VS, on a journey of mapping Bengaluru’s Cantonment – not in the way that cartographers and city planners have done for centuries – but in terms of how young women historically interacted with public spaces in this colonial part of town. Their showcase ‘Cantt Chill. Won’t Chill’, created with a grant from The India Foundation for the Arts, is set to welcome visitors at 1Shanthiroad Gallery on June 28 and 29.
Speaking to women who studied, worked, or lived in the Cantonment in the ’80s and ’90s, the project seeks to understand how they ‘hung out’ during a period in which women increasingly entered public life. Partly fuelling this was ‘kineticization’ as women with Kinetic Hondas and other bikes gaining popularity in India, could move around more freely. Pranav says, “There were two waves of liberalisation that made ‘kineticization’ possible because the economy opened up. Lots of pubs and theatres also started in the Cantonment during this time, creating a hotbed for leisure activities.”
The showcase will have on display an art book-cum-zine with stories that women have shared, from memories of juicy rasgullas kept ready by a shopkeeper to sate her pregnancy cravings to stories of lugging around huge typewriters to work, and nooks and crannies that hold a special place in people’s hearts. “One person always went to Commercial Street to shop, into a gully where all the tailors lived. Her favourite activity was to go into the shop itself – there was a mezzanine floor above the house and they would dangle a rope which she’d have to catch and climb onto the ladder. She recalled how she and her sister loved doing this,” recounts Pranav as Thomas adds, “It’s a walk down memory lane because they’ve forgotten a lot.” From all the obscure facts they learnt from these conversations, the duo also held quiz events over the last few months.
These photographs and objects that their subjects have dug up have been put on display at the showcase, adding a tactile, interactive element to the exhibit. “Journalist CK Meena gave us a personal invitation card from Ramachandra Guha and his wife celebrating the 20th anniversary of Premier Book Shop. Another found a picture of herself with her father’s bike which she used to ride in front of Rex Theatre. We’ve included things that are, in a sense, archival media related to the city,” says Thomas.
In a city that has changed drastically since the ’80s and continues to do so, the duo hopes that their project gives visitors a moment of pause. “You get to slow down and walk through the neighbourhood to get a sense of what it used to be. Maybe it will inspire someone to pay attention to what may be missed when you’re on the motorway.”