Women’s Day at a tribal wadi

I’ve been working with adolescent girls at a tribal wadi for the last 6 months. Khapachiwadi falls under Gadab gram panchayat in Pen taluka, Raigad. 

I decided to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day with the community there on the 15th of March’23. This quaint wadi is inhabited by the Katkari tribe and sits atop a hill overlooking the rest of Gadab. 

The news of the event spread like wildfire and each household pledged to contribute towards making the event a success. Girls and boys prepared dances, and men took charge of food and kids so that women could sit through the event without having to worry about home. Because of this, most women admitted that it felt like a day truly dedicated to them. 

The event was abuzz with a hundred and twenty female attendees coming together to celebrate womanhood and the significance it holds in each of their lives. The star-studded guest list was inclusive of the Sarpanch Mrs Mansi Mangesh Patil,

gram panchayat members, the CSR head for Maharashtra at the JSW Foundation and the head of the women’s SGH group of the wadi to name a few. 

Girls from Khapachiwadi got the event rolling by talking about Savitri Bai Phule and the struggle and grit of women like her that made it possible for women to stand equal to men. The guests addressed the gathering and spoke with words of encouragement while urging the girls to think towards creating the best versions of themselves for the future. This was followed by a welcome song and dance performance by the girls – the most notable being daba dholki (the traditional Katkari folk dance) on the Adivasi Raja geet and the praise for goddess Bhawani on the song Jai Bhawani.

 Young boys and girls of the wadi decked up in character and came together to pay homage to the excellency of Katkaris as fisherfolk and hunters by weaving it into folklore through their dance performances. 

Post lunch, a plenitude of events ranging from musical chairs, a game of marble and spoon, poster making competition, etc were held. The games witnessed a great number of participants exuding healthy competition but keeping everybody on the edge of their seats. A rather insightful bit of the event was the poster making wherein girls had to let their imagination loose on ‘mera sapna’ or ‘meri pasand’. Bagging third place was Mamta Waghmare, a sixth grader who drew a police officer and outlined her dream of becoming one when she grew up. A close second was Sonam Pawar who dreamt of and traced onto paper her desire for a better school and nisargh (environment) around her.

The first position was held by Jayashree Waghmare who dreamt of becoming a doctor and whose attention to detail on the poster was applaudable for a 7th grader. Amongst others were also sapne and pasand for BTS, being a ‘cool dude’ and a dancer as good as Chandramukhi. 

The day then eased into prize distribution and came to an end with a vote of thanks by Janvi Pawar from the wadi. 

Seeing all the women and girls with smiles that reached their eyes, I felt proud to think that through the JSW Foundation’s fellowship program, I could contribute towards widening the periphery of CSR activities to the tribal wadis as I embark upon this journey to help bridge gaps and bring communities together.