Little Women, Strong Personalities (Diary)  

Such writings would, for example, tell the stories of Bhagwati Devi (Bodh Gaya), Tiliya Devi (Madhubani), Rasheda Kauser (Bhagalpur) and Veena Devi (Nawada), and many more such women, who have lived on the fringes of our society but refused to bow down before the gendered violence of the mainstream, and have successfully endeavored to offer resistance to the patriarchal social order. There are others like Anita Khushwaha in the laidback lanes of rural India who are standing up for their rights of choosing the way they want to live. The life stories of all these women of Bihar bring to the fore the blatant truth that indulging in self-pity and self-destruction can lead nowhere in life. Instead, even if illiterate (many of them), when they cherished dreams of a just society: egalitarian, democratic, enlightened, and marched ahead to make those dreams true, these women not only affected their lives but helped many others of their likes to transform theirs as well. They thus are acting as torchbearers in common woman’s search and defining of her identity.

Courage is an uncommon virtue. But for many Indian women it’s as commonplace as life itself. ‘Little Women Strong Personalities’ brings you the account of these ordinary women with extraordinary lives. Women who refused to be victims; who had enough grit to triumph over the troubles and tragedy that are their constant companions: sexual harassment and abuse; domestic violence; riots; gender bias... ‘Little Women Strong Personalities’ is an attempt to present a collection of real life stories of the indomitable courage and hard struggle of these hitherto “invisible” and “unrecognised” women of Bihar, who though battered by the force of time, have refused to be passive victims of violence. While these stories convey that our women have still to travel a long way in becoming the masters of their destinies, they also make it clear that step after step we are getting there. Their gritty stories repose some faith in the hope that this unjust world can be transformed.

Here, we salute these women who decided to unshackle the oppressive burden of history, of man-made barriers blocking their creative potentials from unleashing, and won.