Routine Of The Girls In Nari Gunjan: A Photo Story

The Starlings of Nari Gunjan

Nari Gunjan is an organisation that works on the fundamental rights of women. It provides education, livelihood, basic hygiene and sanitation for the women of Musahari community. It is founded by Sudha Verghese and is situated in Danapur and Bodh Gaya. They also work with Help-age India to provide health-care and ration to elderly persons every three months. Recently as a part of my India Fellow project with Aavishkaar, I started teaching and working with Nari Gunjan. My work is to spend time with girls, teach them and play with them. Prerna school in Danapur houses 120 beautiful girls from the Musahari community. Let us begin with them.

The day for the girls of Nari Gunjan starts early in the morning. They wake up at 5am. In the next two and half hours, they do their morning chores and activities like yoga and sports. 7:30am onwards, they have their newspaper reading time, post which they head to breakfast. All these activities are carefully watched and monitored by their warden Anita di (standing in picture below), ensuring the children finish their activities on time. The girls here don’t need a clock, they can tell the time just based on the whistles.

School doesn’t begin right after breakfast. Children spend about an hour from 8:30 in self-study classes where they focus on their learning from the previous day. This is where I help them with their studies. Most of the time, I work with 6th standard (have developed a soft spot for this batch). Meanwhile, some of the girls go for their music classes. They play harmonium and tabla. Then, we have a 15 minute assembly session. Before classes start, kids have to go to the nearby government school at 10am to mark their attendance (this school is in the campus of Nari Gunjan)

They have two breaks during the day where girls use the time to socialize and loiter, a few of them indulge in exercises too. It is also during these breaks that they have their lunch. The elder girls first help the younger ones by distributing food.

Once school finishes at 3:30 pm, children spend spend half an hour reading in their library time, post which they spend another half an hour on the playground. They play games like chain-chain, friend-friend, Tom and Jerry, badminton, frisbee (since I have taught them). As always, Anita di plays the role of time keeper, blows her whistle to let us know the game time is over and now, it’s their snack time.

The girls head back to the self-study classes in the evening for a couple of hours. I need to prepare well for these classes as one boring session can result in the children not calling you to help them the next day. Class 2 (when I don’t have to teach them, they teach me a great deal), Class 5 (where you can observe the hormonal changes as their moods fluctuate) and Class 6 (who have to be bribed in innovative ways so that they will study) are very interesting to work with. Before dinner, the girls watch news or go for singing classes. By dinner time, they are hungry and the delicious food brings signs of relief to their faces.

Before the girls head to sleep, they offer their prayers:

Mere prabhu tu mujhko bata, tere siva main kya karu. Teri chamak ke saamne deepak jala ke main kya karu, katon mein bas rahe ho tum…kaliyon mein khel rahe ho tum, teri chamak ke saamne deepak jala ke kya main karu

The lights are out by 9:30 pm and the girls close their eyes to catch some well deserved rest, before Anita di rings the bell at 5am again and their routine starts all over. The morning bell quietens on Sunday. These are the days for relaxing and refreshing. From having the time to take care of their hair and braid them in many different ways to having a special chicken dish being prepared for lunch, children live without the need to go on to the next item on routine. If anyone would have asked me before coming here, if a strict time table could be enriching, I would have said no. But for the girls,

Nari Gunjan is not just a hostel, it’s their safe haven, refuge, their sense of security, empowerment, strength, nesting habitat, their girlhood, innocence and sense of growing up.

I remember as a child how much I hated my hostel and its routine. It felt restrictive (at the age of 3, I was sent to a hostel when I lost my mom). But through these few days, I have developed a fondness to this place (albeit I don’t wake up at 5am). Nari Gunjan has allowed me to connect with these children. They have practically become my kids now. Right now, if someone questions me about the restrictions on them, I don’t have an answer.

But there is a difference between what I have gone through and what the girls are going through. They are here to avoid all the societal obstructions, rebuild their thought processes, be a bread earner for the family, someone who is strong, brave to speak up and a person who is respected and listened to.

Maybe, not all of 120 girls like the routine but they know why it is important for a woman to study and understand what Nari Gunjan’signifies. This construction of thought is like the murmuration of starlings. If one starling refuses to be a part of its flock, it is persuaded to perform otherwise it’s destiny is to be a prey …