These women of Delhi's Nizamuddin Basti embody change, independence, and empowerment

New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): It is the first week of Ramzan; the otherwise bustling lanes of Nizamuddin Basti are rather quiet for a spring afternoon. Once primarily a slum cluster in the heart of the national capital, the Basti now accommodates buildings that appear taller than some monuments here. Beyond its dusty paths and dingy lanes, the Nizamuddin skyline has domes of monuments decked with fairy lights for the holy month, lush green trees in the backdrop.
"I was born here, I grew up seeing these monuments all around me," says Shumayila, a 25-year-old history enthusiast, for whom white marble monuments and pietra dura ornamentation was a common sight. "I saw them from my home's terrace."
As a child of three or four, she grew up mesmerised with grand tombs of Nizamuddin until by the age of 10, she realised that living with tombs around is not very common--that Nizamuddin was special!
"I love history. I had a very good childhood exploring history," says Shumayila, "We played hide-and-seek in these tombs."
Monuments here are Archaelogical Survey Of India-protected but not all of them require a ticket to enter.
A graduate from Maitri College, Shumayila holds a Master's degree in History from Lady Sri Ram college. The Delhi University alumna works as a tour guide in the Nizamuddin heritage area and intends to return to academics.
While Shumayila has stars in her eyes, 43-year-old Seema Ali worked her way up to the point where she could let her daughters have the zest to live their lives freely.
"The society was much more conservative before, that has changed significantly now," says Seema, sharing that girls were not allowed to step out at all when she was growing up. "But now we do,"she said, "Children know the locality very well and even have jobs to do."
Being the Change
Seema's journey to this day of freedom and confidence was not easy. When she decided to go out and work, her desire was met with reluctance.
Seema had her husband's support only after her monthly earnings of Rs 8,000 to 10,000 convinced him that she is engaged worthily.
"They do not prefer that women step out of home and work. But my husband saw that we are safe and not too far from home. Now he drops me to places where there are exhibitions, even if it is far. I gifted him a scooty with my earnings," she said proudly.
Seema works as an artisan and is extensively involved in making and selling crotchet crafts. This is a craft that was traditionally handed down to her but she, like many women, kept it confined to her home. Now, she is a key member of a collective.
It takes her one hour to crochet one flower with cotton thread. At times, she takes her work home. The raw material is provided and she is paid for the services to making the craft. Seema does not call this a job in strict terms but is happy with her gainful engagement.
Seema takes it upon herself to give due attention to her home and family, attending to her motherly and wifely duties and not let anyone speak against her for engaging beyond home.
This diversification from the home-bound duties of a woman reflects on Seems's household: "Earlier, I was dependent on my husband's income," but now she actively contributes monetarily to the household.
She showed a prized personal possession. "I also gifted myself these," she said gleefully, showing her gold earrings that she bought one year after she started earning.
Seema has been working for over a decade with Isha-e-noor, an initiative under Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which aims to provide enhanced and dignified livelihood opportunities to the women involved through craft-based skills. AKTC also runs a self-help group Sair-e-Nizamuddin comprising youth of the neighbourhood providing them employment opportunities.
Ranta Sahni, AKTC's Programme Officer told ANI that in 2009, there was a baseline survey of Nizamuddin Basti which revealed that only nine per cent women worked outside their homes and were engaged in jobs of domestic helps in nearby localities.
"There is lack of education but the community is inclined towards making things with their hands -these are also their traditional skills," she said. This made room to create opportunity to generate dignified income for them.
"The few forthcoming women helped convince other women to come out," Sahni said. Earning money and contributing to household was the greatest impetus for them to remain engaged. "They did not have to ask anyone for money to give their children a better life," she said.
Dignity of Labour
In this strata of society where women are barely literate and are generationally conditioned to believe that the world begins and ends with home and family, what does empowerment mean to them?
"That they have enough money and don't depending on family while still holding it together; being free to travel around, being provided the means and opportunity for it," Sahni said.
For 32-year-old Saiba, it is this empowerment that has allowed her to bear the expense of her daughter's education in a private school for the past five years. "Had it not been for this [earning opportunity], I could not have imagined sending my child to a private school," she said.
The mother of three earns Rs 15,000 to 20,000 a month in peak season. Saiba cooks, bills, and supervises the preparations for the orders received, apart from being a key figure in events of catering organised at different locations in Delhi and even other major cities.
Zaika-e-Nizamuddin, another thriving initiative under AKTC, is a women's enterprise that caters specialities from the 700-year-old culinary history that makes Nizamuddin cuisine and healthy homemade snacks.
From monetising her cooking skills in the kitchen of Zaika-e-Nizamuddin to diversifying her role in the entrepreneurial pursuit, her journey, too, was predictably difficult.
Saiba says that objection first came from a close family member who questioned her absence from home for long periods and that "the meagre returns" did not justify her absence.
Initially, the community was engaged in making healthy snacks for their homes to address malnutrition among children in the Basti. They were encouraged to take their efforts beyond their homes and through the kitchen of Zaika-e-Nizamuddin, prepare snacks for sale in the neighbourhood. However, the trade did not click enough to keep the women away from their homes for long hours, the returns were nothing to boast of.
Saiba's middle-aged mother-in-law had strong reservations and was not happy with her daughter-in-law earning mere Rs 600-700 a month in 2012. She, however, did little to help with household responsibilities.
But Saiba, like other women in the group, refused to give up. The returns gradually started increasing, the catering business took off and they were invited to premium hotels where they learnt from their chefs.
For the women of this kitchen, there has been no looking back. The reluctance of the families has turned into acceptance.
Juggling her professional commitments with family, Saiba balances time with her children one day at a time, going by the hours between her shifts and chores at home. What keeps her attached? "The fun of being in the kitchen. And duty," she said.
A Helping Hand
Ratish Nanda, CEO of AKTC told ANI how his organisation helped in socio-economic upliftment of the womenfolk of Nizamuddin Basti, and has also contributed to conservation of monuments.
"The Government of India offered us a choice of 50 sites nationwide. AKTC chose to return to Humayun's Tomb - having earlier undertaken the restoration of the tomb gardens," he said.
"In Nizamuddin we must have held over 5,000 meetings with community groups over the duration of the project to understand needs and aspirations. Also, every five years we have carried out baseline surveys to study the impact of our programmes and can say that we have directly benefited 99 per cent of the residents," he explained further.
"We continue to be involved and have sought agreement renewals with MCD for education and sanitation programmes," Nanda added. "Many programmes have already become self-sustainable, some have achieved the objectives and hence we have shut down some individual programmes," Nanda told ANI.
If more institutions wish to engage with communities with a similar aim, how should they proceed? Is the government's support still very important?
"Critically, institutions need to understand that there is no short cut - building community trust and understanding community needs can take thousands of hours of meetings and many months, even years," Nanda said.
Explaining that an inter-disciplinary team has been pivotal to their success, Nanda said: "Partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Archaeological Survey of India enables us to implement infrastructure" which includes conservation of monuments, which, in turn, has helped local residents here improve their livelihoods.
Back in the spacious kitchen if Ziaka-e-Nizamuddin, the Magrib azan has sounded; Saiba supervises her colleague as she prepares kababs for an order, while another says her prayers. It is time for iftar and the women have to head home to their families.
Isn't it a lot of work at this time? "I will put something on the stove and go for prayers in the mean time," says Saiba as she scuttles back home, "My son must have cut some fruits." (ANI)