HYDERABAD: When I came home, everyone commented about how my skin got tanned. But for me, it is a symbol of pride. Of having been perhaps the first single girl to single-handedly crisscross the hinterland of Telangana with the express intention of connecting with women,” says Mandadi Shravya Reddy Deshmukh, as she settles down for a chat after a whirlwind tour traversing 4,116.4 km. This 20-plusser and a civils aspirant from Hyderabad, says it has been her dream to be able to touch every woman’s life. With this intention, she started her NGO ‘We & She’ in 2017.
The organisation primarily works in the rescue and rehabilitation of women in dysfunctional marriages. Unlike most people who go for flash-in-the-pan speeches and tours, she says she wanted to understand their situation from ground zero and had embarked on this audacious 31-day journey titled “Memu Aame Kosam (We for her) – from Hyderabad to Nagar Kurnool and back. She chose July as it is monsoon and most working-class women would be available to speak.
“I have met women who seem to have lost everything in life and are hoping they will get help from somewhere. I met a middle-aged woman in Adilabad who said she has never seen a 2,000 rupee note in her life so far. I went to the Dalitwadas and met Sakkubai Bandaru who had a home with two walls and rest of it collapsed during the rains. A woman of great self-respect, she would rather suffer than approach her children or the government. I met Joginis who are ready to start their own enterprise but have nowhere to go or no one to approach,” says Shravya, who lives in Habsiguda. She says her dad Chandrasekhar Reddy, mom Neeraja Reddy and sister Sreeha are the wind beneath her wings, who let her fly high to chase her dreams.
Shravya felt that she could offer immediate help to some women and for some, she may have to either raise funds or get local governing bodies to intervene and of course the state government’s action too. “When I met Sakkubai avva, I could not hold back my tears. I gave her `5,000 and told her to treat it as a token old age pension and promised to get her a stipend of `1,000 in five months, apart from building a home for her. In a village in Bhadradri Kothagudem, I met K Sherwani who is suffering from Brain Stem Glioma, a debilitating neuro disorder.
I am trying to connect her to some corporate hospitals who can perhaps take up her treatment,” she recollects. She feels that among the bigger issues that need to be dealt with is setting up a weavers market in Yadadri to help the 600 local weavers there and make sure they get at least the minimum price. “I was shocked to see how a `5,100 saree from the village is being sold at `22,000 in the malls and all that she gets in return is a pittance. To start with, I want to conduct a shopping exhibition where all that these weavers do is get their ware, come to the city and go back with some profits. They don’t even have to pay for the stall and I am prepared to hire a bus to come to the city,” she says excitedly. Shravya says that this is a small help. Incidentally, it cost her `2,90,004 for this tour and she raised it by selling her bracelet, a birthday gift.
She says that a meal with the Anganwadi workers threw light on how the government’s schemes are good, but aren’t always reaching the people. “They were to have an egg a day, but obviously it wasn’t. We later found that the food in-charge sells it in the local market. There is a need to have at least a mechanism to address this issue, if not hi-tech stuff like CC cameras to monitor what is being served there.”
Shravya says she plans to document her travel in the next two months and present it to the PM, CM and political party heads seeking solutions. “It is important for me to follow it up to its logical conclusion. As you know, I am neither a social activist nor anyone with political affiliations. I am just a woman who wants to stand for women, 24x7.” She is inviting women across the state to reach out to her for solutions.
kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com @mkalanidhi