Ageing cannot be Stereotyped

Rethink Ageing,  authored by founders of 'Silver Talkies', Reshmi Chakraborty & Nidhi Chawla, is a landmark book that gives a peek into the life of active seniors & advises on how to lead an active & fulfilling life.

The book is an amalgamation of the knowledge collected through running an organization ‘Silver Talkies’ founded by Reshmi Chakraborty and her co-author Nidhi Chawla in 2014. Silver Talkies empowers adults older than 55 years of age while connecting them with each other to encourage the formation of strong social bonds, across the world.

The attitude towards ageing in India is quietly undergoing a welcome transformation. As someone who recently turned 60, I've experienced this shift firsthand. Here in India, being labeled a ‘senior citizen’ comes with its own set of perks, like discounts at hospitals and better rates on fixed deposits. However, the essence of being a senior citizen is defined by how you feel, what you do, and your overall health and well-being.

Personally, reaching this milestone hasn't felt much different. I've continued pursuing new professional directions, and I've noticed a similar trend among my peers. More and more older adults are choosing an active, vibrant lifestyle over the traditional notion of retirement. This movement, known as "active ageing," is redefining what it means to grow older.

A great resource in this context is the landmark book "Rethink Ageing" by Reshmi Chakraborty and Nidhi Chawla. The book offers a glimpse into the lives of active seniors and provides practical advice on leading a fulfilling life. Founded in 2014, their organization, ‘Silver Talkies’, empowers adults over 55 and fosters strong social bonds worldwide.

                          Reshmi Chakraborty (left) and Nidhi Chawla, co-authors, 'Active Ageing' & founders of Silver Talkies

                                       

“Urban India today is witnessing a changing narrative about older adults, with many adapting to the concept of ‘active ageing’, which is well defined by the World Health Organization (WHO),” says Reshmi Chakraborty co-author of the book ‘Rethink Ageing’.

“India is poised to have a population of older adults numbering a whopping three hundred million by the year 2050 and in this scenario, it is important that they stay engaged, healthy, and happy. And WHO defines active ageing as the process of developing and maintaining certain functional abilities that will enable your well-being throughout your life, through your older years. This well-being is not just physical well-being but also looks at social, emotional, spiritual, cognitive, and environmental well-being,” adds Reshmi.

The members of Silver Talkies range from 55 to 96 years and what comes across from their stories is that the visual of a frail older person no longer holds true for them. They are choosing to step out of their family circles to start a new hobby, a new profession or just forming close social and emotional bonds.

Reshmi is a former journalist based in Pune while Nidhi, who is based in Bangalore, has worked for several years in the financial sector. She is the recipient of leadership awards for her work in the elder care space.

The book outlines the parameters that define physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being as well as explains the options available for starting a second career.

“We observed in our homes that our parents, as they got older, were facing isolation and boredom and we could not find many opportunities for them. We realized that as a society, we were taking older adults or seniors for granted and there was a strong need to create an exclusive forum where they could come together and do things of their own choice. That is how ‘Silver Talkies’ was born,” informs Nidhi.

“Since we embarked on that journey, I think till date we are still learning many new things from our members. We started with the idea that they would be interested in attending yoga sessions or a bhajan programme. But our first event was a visit to an art gallery in Bengaluru. Twelve people came with us, and we saw that soon camaraderie and rapport developed amongst them. They were having a good time interacting over a common topic, hanging out at a cafe, and having a cup of coffee together. That changed our perspective and from then on there was no looking back,” says Nidhi sharing their learnings about how the mindsets were changing.

“Our biggest learning was that ageing cannot be stereotyped. Just because you are at a certain age, you must follow a certain protocol, system, or way of life. We have discovered that they are ready to try out a lot of new stuff. So, we have had events like theater workshops and dance workshops, they have participated in fashion shows with us, they love traveling and they want to party hard. All those things which probably they could not do when they were taking care of their families or during their careers, they want to experiment with all that now,” shares Nidhi.

 According to Reshmi one of the key learnings in their book is that as you grow older, finding a community to fall back on really drives and motivates you. “Having friendships, and a circle of your own is a key factor and after that many things fall in place. Our other important message is to keep up physical movement, to the best extent possible. A physiotherapist has advised that if nothing, keep that jug of water in the furthest corner of your room or house so that every time you feel thirsty you get up and walk a little. There are many small ways to keep active. The other important thing we have highlighted is mental health because there is very little focus on the mental health of elders, plus spirituality, which sort of helps keep you grounded in many ways, explains Reshmi.

Sharing some inspiring stories from the book, Reshmi points out that Ravi Acharya, one of their members, places much importance on continuing with friendships. He makes it a point to meet his friends and has also become involved with different social causes where he meets not just people his age but also across generations.

                                             Some 'active seniors' from 'Silver Talkies'

Similarly, another member, Hira Rupani, who is very spiritual and grounded, was able to deal calmly with her husband’s passing away. “She was able to accept even a negative event in her life. You know that inner stability comes with your spiritual practices and sense of purpose,” adds Nidhi.

“Older adults are now making active choices to take care of themselves despite their responsibilities. There’s 77-year-old Shakuntala Pai, who was a caregiver to a super senior in her house. And while she took care of that responsibility, now that she has time on her hands, she dabbles in painting, participated in a fashion show, and is exploring theatre. There is a new spark in her,” Nidhi opines.

There are also stories of people who have overcome the age factor and gone on to do extraordinary things. Geeta, at the age of sixty-five, began a fitness routine to become a trekker. “Geeta loves going to the mountains, but her physiotherapist told her to walk in the swimming pool and start a gym routine to build endurance and strength. Geeta had never stepped into a swimming pool in her life, let alone going to a gym. But she got over her hesitation and not only started stepping into a pool but also started a gym routine. She told us that she thought of those mountains she loved so much and just did it,” says Nidhi.

About starting a second career or work opportunities after retirement, the book has several recommendations. “There are few private companies and startups who have started considering retirees for part-time or project-based opportunities. Content writing, accounting jobs, and philanthropic activities or social work with NGOs are some of the areas where they can find opportunities and contribute through their wisdom and their experience,” says Nidhi but cautions that it is important for the seniors to accept the fact that they may not be able to find a job or an opportunity which is exactly similar in arrangement to what they have been used to. It should be considered as an opportunity to learn, reinvent themselves or rediscover another area of interest. Staying committed is also especially important,” she explains.

Many seniors are also converting their talents into business ideas by learning social media skills. “Whether you are doing your own venture or whether you are applying for a job, you need to be open to upskilling. And one of the key things that works nowadays is to be social media savvy, to learn to use Instagram and LinkedIn,” is her advice.

 Listen to an interview with the authors.

On Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5tdRyCwp2uluueQW9Zed00?si=Ev5vwnPcTM-NusS11t7U8g

On Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/books-and-us/id1688845897?i=1000624965849

 

Author Interview from Podcast 'Books and Us' (Link below) 

Our community needs more leaders: Manthan Shah

By Ranjit Monga

People should strive to reach their full potential, lead fulfilling lives, and become the foundation of society by providing leadership, emphasizes Manthan Shah, the author of the extremely thoughtful book ‘Unstoppable: How Youth Icons Achieve Extraordinary Things'. 

“We need more leaders and not people who follow others like herds of sheep. Whether young or old, one should think deeply about how to reach their full potential and take on leadership roles. Our community, and India as a whole, needs more leaders” says Manthan.

“Leaders drive change. The youth of India, at this point, have a responsibility to themselves and their communities. They should take initiative and be the change that they want to see,” he explains.  

Manthan is himself an inspiring youth icon. At the age of 21, he was one of the youngest authors to be commissioned by Penguin Random House India to write this book. He has been a sportsman, winning many medals for the country, and becoming the Under-18 national champion in Table Tennis. Recently, as a ‘Schwarzman Scholar’, he spent a year studying India-China relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Before that, as an undergraduate, he won all the awards that his university had to offer, including the ‘President's Award,’ the ‘Global Citizenship Award’ and was named four times on the ‘Dean’s list’ at the SP Jain School of Global Management, Sydney. He has also been a podcaster hosting the ‘Planet Impact’ show, in which he interviewed young change makers.

Manthan Shah, Author of 'Unstoppable: How Youth Icons Achieve Extraordinary Things' 

Manthan wrote Unstoppable to fill a gap in knowledge and information about young achievers he could look up to for direction.

After winning many medals for his state and the country, at the school level, he had to take the painful decision of ending his involvement in sports. “To go for higher training for the Olympics at the international level, a lot of financing was required which I did not have. I had a lot of fire in me and wanted to achieve something that would compensate for my Olympic dream. And one day I found myself looking for a book aimed at a youngster like me, that talked about coming of age in a developing economy like India. I am talking about facing the unique challenges of economic, social, political, and mental health issues,” he elaborates.

What Manthan wanted was guidance on how to achieve his potential. But could not find any useful book. “Most of the books I came across were written by Western authors with examples of people from the United States or Europe,” he states.  

Manthan could not relate to these stories and so decided to write a book himself. Manthan read over 200 books, research papers or articles, surveyed 300 individuals, and authored a book with stories of 40 young overachievers. The stories that other youngsters could relate to. So, he has strung together stories of those who were at the average age of 25 at the time of writing the book. Thus, he has the story of Olympians Dutee Chand and Dipa Karmarkar, rapper Kaambhari, astrophysicist Dr Karan Jani and acid attack survivor Reshma Qureshi.

Manthan describes their life situations and traces their journey towards achieving their goals and fulfilling their potential. He analyses the qualities and characteristics which helped them in achieving these goals. For example, in the context of Anam Hashim, who achieved success as a stunt rider at an early age, he reveals that her grit and perseverance saw her through the tough times and brought her nearer to fulfilling her dream.

Anam Hashim was an Indian professional street bike freestyle athlete. And is the only Indian stunt athlete to win an international stunt competition in 2017. Hailing from Kanpur, Anam grew up in very abusive circumstances. At the age of 17 years, she ran away from her home to Pune to live with her aunt. She loved riding bikes and taught herself stunt riding. She even dropped out of college to focus on her dream and with determination became the best motorcyclist in the country. She has also earned her place in the India Book of Records. She is known as the first woman who rode to Khardungla pass on a TVS Scooty alone and led ten women to Khardungla in 2016 during the ‘Himalayan Highs’.

“Anam achieved her goal by not following the path of others or by doing what is expected of her by society. She created her own path,” Manthan asserts. Tragically, Anam also passed away earlier this year in April 2024, due to ill health.

But to fulfill her dream she remained a non-conformist, carving out her space in what is known as a male-dominated industry, living her life according to her wishes.

“For most youngsters today, the reality is they are somewhere in the middle in the sense that they are neither completely conformist or completely non-conformist and carving their own path in life,” he opines.

“In all the overachievers whom I interviewed for the book, I found common patterns, and one of the things I found was that they all had this unbelievable amount of grit, tenacity, and perseverance to keep on doing things,” he adds.

Manthan also found that they all had a clear goal and the vision to visualize it. They could also clearly plan how to get there.

To help others set their goals, Manthan has come up with a goal-setting exercise in his book. “This exercise is based on three levels of goals - top, medium, and lower level goals. Your top-level goals are like your North Star, where you are headed, and where you see your future. A good starting point to define it is to look at your past achievements,” he elaborates.

“To reach that North goal, we have to divide it into smaller clusters of supportive goals that enable you to reach that goal. And then there are smaller goals to help you reach those goals,” he adds and explains that there are several such exercises in the book to help the readers reach their potential and lead a fulfilling life.

Manthan perceived numerous qualities in the people he surveyed. Other such qualities are consistency, having a growth mindset, ability to give back, network, and build social capital, which he describes in the book.

“I think the ability to reach out to people and network was helpful for me to get things done fairly quickly and at a very young age -  like getting this book published”, he admits and adds “If you're someone who wants to build a network you should reach out to people, and understand what they need in terms of resources, opportunities or information. If you understand their problems, you will find a way to help them - it could just be making a referral, sending them the link to an article, or writing a review. Doing such things will build lasting relationships,” he advises. “Of course, all this is best done instinctively rather than as part of some formal strategy,” he clarifies.

Manthan also shares the story of Pratishtha Deveshwar, whom he describes as a beacon of hope.

“Imagine yourself being a happy outgoing child and one evening when you're 13, you have a serious accident that leaves half your body paralyzed and then you have to spend five years completely bedridden. Those years for her were a time of extreme adversity when all her doctors and physiotherapists, failed to give her any hope that she would ever walk again or lead a fulfilling life. In that situation, she turned inwards and found solace in prayer, meditation, and journaling,” he informs and adds that Pratishtha used to write out details of her dreams describing what all she would do if she could get her old self back. In this way, she built hope for herself which kept her going.

Manthan goes on to narrate that things finally did work out for her. “She shared something with me that has always inspired me. She said that ‘thoughts are things. If you can dream it, you can be it. All it takes is hard work, great, great courage, and hope,” he recounts.

Pratishtha became the first wheelchair user from India to study at the University of Oxford and is the recipient of the prestigious ‘The Diana Award’ for social work. She is a TEDx speaker and also speaks regularly at different United Nations conferences.

“So, grit is made up of the following things: having a sort of a long-term goal and then having an interest in what you do, practicing and becoming good at it, and finding a sense of purpose in the things that you do. And when you are doing these three things, that builds grit. But underlying all these things is hope, like at every stage we should be hopeful that things are going to work out. And Pratishtha is a beacon of hope for me,” he shares.

Manthan thinks that the existing conformist system does not work for most youngsters. “Doing what is expected of you and thinking in return you will be happy; I do not think that it works that way. To break free from these chains, one has to do something very unique to oneself, something that makes you happy,” he says. He advises defining your idea of success, what it means to you and achieving it on your terms.

“And you have to take more agency to become sort of extraordinary, but not in the traditional sense of you becoming wealthy or becoming extraordinarily famous. Whatever you think is success for you and if you are achieving your own highest potential, this book offers you stories and resources to help you in that direction,” he adds.

To listen to the entire interview on podcast 'Books and Us' click link below

On Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VKkmn6iRMzqohM3GQndCq?si=9aedc7bc3d96402c

Apple

https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/unstoppable-how-youth-icons-achieve-extraordinary-things/id1688845897?i=1000649954306

 

First published here : 

https://globalbihari.com/literary-speaking-people-should-strive-to-reach-their-full-potential/

 

 

12^th Edition of Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival commences online today

 

 

The   12^th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, South Asia’s biggest LGBBTQIA+ film festival commenced online today, with a grand opening ceremony at 6.00pm (IST). The ceremony was hosted by TV Talk show host Renil Abraham. The opening ceremony can be viewed on  YouTube  & Facebook channels @kashishfilmfest.

 Link https://youtu.be/PyxjWOddirQ

 This is the 2^nd time the festival has gone online beginning last year because of Covid regulations. There will be 12 days of weekend screenings of films while weekdays will be devoted to panel discussions and filmmaker Q&As. The festival will screen 221 films from 53 countries and is available across India and across the world.

 To register click here:  http://mumbaiqueerfest.com

 According to film maker and Festival Director Sridhar Rangayan the opening ceremony will be followed at 9.00pm by the screening of Film No Hard Feelings at the KASHISH virtual platform Xerb.tv. No Hard Feelings tells a heartwarming story of three first and second generation Irani immigrants in Germany, peppered with a gay love story. It is available only to audiences in India.

 The theme chosen for this year’s festival is #Unlockwithpride, representing the festival’s mission to unlock geographical & racial barriers, and encourage love and acceptance of LGBTQIA+ individuals, and thereby unlock a new normal of hope for everyone, Sridhar said.

Sridhar picks  twelve films to watch out for in the festival. Click on their links below to see the synopsis.

 Narrative Features –

No Hard Feelings (Germany) – August 19^th 

No Hard Feelings, the opening film at KASHISH 2021, is a Berlinale Teddy Award winner that tells a heartwarming story of three first & second generation Irani immigrants in Germany, peppered with a cute gay love story. Available only to audiences in India

Another Self (Iran) – August 22^nd

Coming from a country like Iran, this evocative film Another Self tells the story of a transgender persons’ journey standing up against her family and society.

Advent of Mary (Brazil) – August 27^th

Advent of Mary is a beautiful story from Brazil of a young trans girl’s struggles to come to terms with her sexuality, amidst a conservative family and the Catholic church. The young girl is played by a real-life transgender girl. Viva Inclusion! This film is in competition too for best feature as well as best performance in a lead role.

The Lawyer (Lithuania) – August 28^th

A beautifully sensitive film from Lithuania, The Lawyer (Advokatas) is about a lawyer’s romance with a Syrian refugee who he meets through a sex-cam chat. The film also stars a real-life transman as one of the important character. This film is playing as Narrative Centerpiece. Available only to audiences in India

Love Spells & All That (Turkey) – September 4^th

Lovely locations in Turkey, beautiful cinematography and brilliant performances enhance the enchanting quality of this film Love, Spells & All That about two women who were in love and meet after several years.

Unsound (Australia) – September 5^th

Unsound, from Australia, is the perfect Closing Film since it is youth focused, about the next generation and has a real-life hearing-impaired person playing the lead role of a deaf transman in love with a singer. Available only to audiences in India

 Documentary Features –

A Worm in the Heart (Russia) – August 20^th

In the film A Worm from The Heart, the filmmakers, a gay couple from UK, travel to Russia to speak to the LGBTQIA+ activists there to find out the challenges the community faces. A very brave film, which is an eye opener. The film is in competition.

Canela (Argentina) – August 22^nd

A heartwarming documentary from Brazil, Canela is about a middle-aged transgender woman planning to go through her gender reassignment surgery, and how she navigates her relationships with her colleagues, friends and more importantly her wife, two sons & the family. The film is in competition.

Prince of Dreams (Sweden) – August 26^th

Prince of Dreams is a languid observational documentary, filmed over 10 years, beginning when Erik, a transman, was only 17, tracing his struggles through his gender dysphoria and his love for Martyna, which makes him set out on a journey to question what makes a person a real man. This film is in competition.

Rebel Dykes (UK) – August 27^th

Rebel Dyke is a funky out-&-proud documentary that is a heady mash-up of animation, archive footage and interviews with LBT+ artists, performers, musicians, and activists in London. Waves the flag high up for lesbian, bisexual, trans & queer visibility. This film is in competition.

Always Amber (Sweden) – August 27^th 

Absolutely contemporary, Always Amber speaks and shows the youth of today who are not afraid to own up to their gender and sexuality. Amber, a gender non-confirming person and their best friend Sebastian, two queer youth in Sweden, share everything from dreams and parties to new friendships. Available only to audiences in India

Admitted (India) – September 4^th

Admitted is an eye-opener of a documentary from India about the most amazing transgender activist Dhananjay Chauhan. It is a life sketch of this powerhouse of a transwoman who was the first transgender student of Panjab University.

Information about all the films, as well as schedule and information on how to register, is available on the festival website http://mumbaiqueerfest.com

 http://kashishmiqff.blogspot.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kashish.MIQFF | Twitter: http://twitter.com/KashishMIQFF

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/KASHISHfilmfest 

 

https://youtu.be/PyxjWOddirQ

India Workplace Equality Index sends the right signal for LGBT+ inclusion

By Ranjit Monga

Corporate India has certainly come a long way with participation of as many as 65 companies in the first ever India Workplace Equality Index (IWEI) whose results were announced last month. IWEI is a benchmarking tool for employers to measure their progress on lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT+) inclusion in the workplace, launched by Delhi-based Keshav Suri foundation in partnership with FICCI and ‘Pride Circle’ earlier in 2020. 

 It is an Indian version of Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index, which has already benchmarked over 500 companies. 

The IWEI benchmarked companies on nine parameters and 21 were named in the ‘gold’ category, among them are some big names like Accenture, Godrej, Boston Consulting Group, Citi, Hindustan Lever and HSBC. These are employers “who have successfully embedded LGBT+ inclusion in their policies, hiring practices, external communication, demonstrating a long-term and in-depth commitment towards LGBT+ inclusion”, according to the citation. There were 18 winners in the ‘silver’ category who have made significant achievements in promoting LGBT+ inclusion. Some of these companies are GE, Cummins, Standard Chartered. GSK, Ford, Gap, Uber, Tata steel and Wipro. There were 13 bronze winners, who have started their journey towards inclusion. Some of these are Crisil, Lilac Insights, VIP Industries and Wells Fargo. 

 It sends out the right signal for persons from the LGBT+ community for inclusion in their offices, thus ensuring that their right to work is safeguarded. Just a decade ago things were vastly different as I found out while trying to make my second documentary film on issues affecting the community. Having canned a few interviews with persons who were working professionals I could discern a sense of helplessness at the atmosphere prevailing in their workplaces, which were not necessarily multinational companies. This was the time just following the death of professor Ramchandra Siras from Aligarh University who was hounded by his colleagues and suspended from his job following a dramatic disclosure of his homosexuality. Some persons had unauthorizedly barged into his home and filmed him. 

This incident brought into focus the issue of homophobia at the workplace and how does one survive in such an atmosphere. I had been seen over the years many LGBT+ persons leaving their jobs once they reached their 30s as queries pertaining to their marital status from co-workers became too much to handle. Many became freelancers or entrepreneurs, also becoming ‘activists’ for the LGBT+ cause. The problem was that how many LGBT people were ‘out’ in their workplaces. I would go a step further and say how many were out at home or in the larger society? Because the workplace is an extension of society. If you are in the closet at home, then most likely you will be in the closet at the office. A friend who used to work in a top IT MNC at that time was one such person in the closet at his workplace. Once when he informed me that some new policies were being implemented for same-sex couples in his office I urged him to make use of them which he declined. “I don’t want anyone to know about me, my colleagues will make fun of me behind my back”, he said somewhat despondently. 

 An academic study of organisations conducted over the last two years by Professor Ernesto Noronha and Professor Premilla D’Cruz of IIM-Ahmedabad and Assistant Professor Nidhi Bisht of MDI -Gurgaon has found that for most gay men and lesbian women the situation has not changed much. They interviewed several employees across sectors in large as well as smaller companies in Delhi and Mumbai. Some of their interviewees said that besides being subjected to questioning, they are even offered marital alliances by their colleagues. They are unable to talk about their feelings, about their partners, their weekend plans etc. “In addition, they are asked to shoulder more responsibilities as they are single and end up being the most hard-working employees. In some cases, salary increments were denied to them for the same reason”, informs Professor Noronha. 

 What was encouraging to him was that within this paradigm they made small but definite attempts at coming out at their workplaces, letting their team leader or other colleagues know about being gay or lesbian by dropping small hints. “It is like they are testing waters to see if they will have support as they just want things to be ‘normal’, not wanting to be singled out”, he reveals. Conditions in the SME sector were found to be quite bad, particularly for transgender employees. The latter are part of another study presently being pursued by Professor Noronha.

“It all boils down to what your boss thinks about you and LGBT persons in general”, says Rajesh (name changed) who is in his 30s and has switched many organisations in the last few years. “One gets isolated if you come out, as colleagues fear being thought of as gay by association”, he feels. According to Rajesh LGBT+ employees have basically three choices. First, to try and ignore the snide remarks and continue to suffer to survive, leave the job and go take up employment somewhere else, or become bolder and face the office gossip and fight for their rights. “Certainly, the situation changes completely for you if you come out or are outed at the workplace”, he adds.

 Amrita Nayak, one of my interviewees from 2010 had at that time got fired from an International NGO, after her boss came to know that she ‘had a girlfriend’. Since then, she has switched to the corporate world, where she says things are a lot better. “Here only one thing matters and that is doing your job well. No one wants to know about your personal life. Even though the HR persons are aware about me I do not face any awkwardness at all and am happy in my job”, she says and adds that as women grow older, they are bolder and hold on to their jobs and career quite well. 

For gay men too, things have changed for the better in larger organisations. Varun (name changed) who works for a multinational says that coming out is a complex personal process, related to the support you receive at home and among friends. “Even though my company has had all the policies in place since a long time, I did not come out in my office till I got support at home”, he says. “Even though our company has an LGBT+ network there are many who interact on it anonymously, which proves that they are at various stages of coming out, so it is how comfortable you are with yourself that reflects in your workplace issues as well”, he adds. But Varun had a completely different experience in another multinational where he worked earlier, and which did not have any policies for diversity and inclusion. “In that company my boss came to know that I was gay and began to question my co-workers about me, causing me a lot of embarrassment. It was distressing for me and I eventually left”, he reveals. But in his new company Varun has been lucky as his company has a strict policy and if anyone discriminates or harasses LGBT+ or any of the other diverse groups in the office, including women, persons with disabilities among others, action is taken against them. 

 “I don’t care if they accept me in their hearts or not, but as long as a professional atmosphere is maintained in the office, I am ok with it. The role of the senior management is very important. If they uphold these policies at every step, it provides confidence to those who are not out that they can count on their support. So, having the policies and implementing them at every step is most important”, feels Varun. 

 Putting in place a support group within organisations is one of the recommendations made in the study by Professor Noronha and his colleagues. A company needs to have a supportive, secure, fair and unbiased environment where a person feels psychologically safe”, he says. This issue is related to the loss of voice of different groups like labour and trade unions within organisations, a trend visible in industry over the last few years”, says prof Noronha. “A group can take up issues pertaining to individuals like bullying, much better. “Earlier, the tendency of a person targeted was to quit as the fight against the management is a losing one on an individual level”, he adds. “In the end what they want is things to be ‘normal’ and not wanting to be singled out, so they can get on with their careers and life”, he opines. 

Having an inclusive workplace also leads to business growth for companies. This has been recognised the world over. Also, people perform better when they can be themselves. But the biggest contribution of this changing landscape would be to enable LGBT+ people, who have long been denied their right to pursue their careers, to finally have secure workplaces where they can flourish and reach their full potential.

Ends 

 First publihed in Globalbihari.com

https://globalbihari.com/india-workplace-equality-index-sends-the-right-signal-for-lgbt-inclusion/

G-23: Message in a bottle

By Ranjit Monga 

The Congress party is indeed at a crossroads with a considerably reduced representation in parliament since the past two Lok Sabha elections. But in my view, it is more because of most of its leaders refuse to come to terms with the changed reality since the late 90s. That was the time when, having been out of power for some time, they were rudderless. Then Sonia Gandhi joined the party as its president and the party's resurrection began. 

It is one great lesson they seem to have forgotten, the ability of the Gandhi name to draw voters and their connect with the people of India. After the NDA’s term lead by Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Congress held power for a decade. From the turn of the century the world has now moved on to end of the second decade of the 21^st Century. The generation which grew up without cell phones or were using the early models of Nokia phones of the late 90s, is now well into middle age.  Today’s young generation thrives on social media which they access on sophisticated cell-phones. This has necessitated changes in governance and politics. Ease of outreach available to government departments as well as politicians is  the single most important change in the new reality, which perhaps many in the congress failed to take advantage of. 

To his credit Rahul Gandhi tried to bridge the gap of this changing reality for his party.  After the 2014 defeat, he fought hard and from the front to register wins in many states, even ousting the BJP from three big states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.  Infact the BJP which coined the slogan ‘Congress mukt bharat’ soon realised that it is not going to happen.

So, what really is going on now? Leaders, who formed the backbone of the party during the last two decades wrote a letter to the Congress president requesting her to initiate certain changes, which are well known. Meanwhile, why is Rahul Gandhi refusing to return as party president. Are they (the old guard) the reason for his hesitation? Is he waiting for a sign from them that they would own up to previous losses or at least do so in the future? Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi was perhaps more vocal about it when she said that Rahul was left fighting alone while campaigning for the 2019 elections.  If that is so, then why is the old guard not ready to accept this and make amends by supporting him now as he is taking on the BJP government on almost all fronts.

Also, a big change is sweeping across the rank and file of congress party workers. First, they seemed to have swelled considerably in recent times. Secondly, they have begun to come out on the streets - whether it was to help the returning migrants as seen during the start of the pandemic, or to protest the China border issue, unemployment, economic downturn or the farm bills. And they are flooding social media with their action videos. In 2014, Rahul when acknowledging that the BJP had made good use of social media for winning the Lok Sabha elections, had declared that the Congress will also learn to do it and become better than them. 

It is clear that these young workers owe allegiance to Rahul and Priyanka and not to the old guard.  The sooner the G-23, as they are being referred to by the media, wake up to this reality, the faster will be the return of Rahul Gandhi as Congress president. Of course, the party should find a balance to work together with the stalwarts who can be the guiding force both inside and outside parliament..

Otherwise, the letter they wrote will remain a distress message in a bottle for their political survival. 

Line up of Kolkata People's Film Festival (KPFF) 2020

The Kolkata People’s Film Festival (KPFF), organised by the People’s Film Collective (PFC), is a people-supported, independently organised, volunteer-led cinema festival, showcasing politically committed contemporary documentary and fiction cinema from India and Southasia. It brings together filmmakers, cinephiles, students, workers, artists, writers and journalists - a wide cross-section of people to interact on various issues pertaining to contemporary society. 

The seventh edition of KPFF will screen 34 films from India and Southasia.

According to a release this edition of the festival is being held against the backdrop of  issues pertaining to migrants, political dissent, violence against oppressed castes and gender, and assault on public education inn whole of Southasia. It is also a time of unprecedented climate crisis which has  marginalised sections of the population.

website http://www.ourcinema.in
facebook page https://www.facebook.com/KolkataPeoplesFilmFestival/ 

KPFF 2020

23-26 January / 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily

Uttam Mancha, Hazra, Kolkata

Entry Free* (*everyone decides how much they want to contribute to run the festival)

Stories from India (Long Documentary)

1. CORAL WOMAN / Dir: Priya Thuvassery / 52’/ 2019
2. JANANI’S JULIET/ Dir: Pankaj Rishi Kumar/ 52’/ 2019
3. MOD BHAANG/ Dir: Renu Savant/ 60’/ 2018
4. MOTI BAGH/ Dir: Nirmal Chander/ 60’/ 2019
5. RECASTING SELVES / Dir: Lalit Vachani/ 80’/ 2019
6. SANGHARSH, TIMES OF STRIFE / Dir: Nicolas Jaoul / 105’/ 2018
7. SONGS OF OUR SOIL / Dir: Aditi Maddali / 52’/ 2019
8. STRANGERS / Dir: Laura Kansy, Oskar Zoche / 75’/ 2019
9. SWIMMING THROUGH THE DARKNESS / Dir: Supriyo Sen / 76’/ 2018
10. #UNFAIR / Dir: Anoshka Matthews , Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Mohit Bhalla, Wenceslaus Mendes / 55’ / 2019

Stories from India (Short Documentary)

1. CHACHAN, A DAY / Dir: J J Abraham / 32’ / 2019
2. CHAI DARBARI / Dir: Prateek Shekhar / 29’ / 2019
3. HEIRS OF HALF THE EARTH AND SKY / Dir: Georgy Abraham / 39’ / 2019
4. JHARIA / Dir: Biju Toppo / 28’ / 2019
5. MAGICAL FOREST / Dir: Archana Chandrashekar / 34’ / 2019
6. OUR GODS ARE LIKE THAT / Dir: Sraiyanti Haricharan / 32’ / 2019
7. PRISON DIARIES / Dir: Uma Chakravarti / 26’ / 2019
8. THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN / Dir: Moupia Mukherjee / 35’ / 2019
9. WANING MOONS / Dir: Nooryaab Nakhat / 28’ / 2019

Stories from South Asia (Documentary)

1. RISING SILENCE / Dir: Leesa Gazi / 75’/ 2018 (Bangladesh)
2. SECOND HOME / Dir: Shekh Al Mamun / 26’/ 2019 (Bangladesh, South Korea)
3. TAKING ON THE STORM / Dir: Matjaz Pinter, Eva Pivac / 82’/ 2019 (Nepal)

New Indian Fiction (Long Fiction)

1. EEB ALLAY OOO! / Dir: Prateek Vats / 105’/ 2019
2. SUDANI FROM NIGERIA / Dir: Zakariya / 120’/ 2018

New Indian Fiction (Short Fiction)

1. A LETTER TO HOME / Dir: Mukul Haloi / 25’ / 2018
2. BIDUGADE (THE REDEMPTION) / Dir: Naveen Tejaswi / 21’ / 2019
3. DARROJ / Dir: Varun Sharma / 29’/ 2019
4. DYING WIND IN HER HAIR / Dir: Shazia Iqbal / 21’ / 2019
5. MAHAANTAM / Dir: Shridhar Sudhir / 29’ / 2018
6. NEON / Dir: Sakshi Gulati / 27’/ 2018
7. NOOREH / Dir: Ashish Pandey / 22’ / 2018
8. POSHARINI / Dir: Sreecheta Das / 26’ / 2018
9. WIG / Dir: Atanu Mukherjee / 25’ / 2019

Special Screening and conversation

1. REASON / Dir: Anand Patwardhan / 218’ / 2018 (Documentary)

Lecture, Presentation, Concert, Exhibition

1. OPENING KEYNOTE / Speaker: Arundhati Roy
2. KASHMIR: THE IMAGE AS WITNESS, AND MEMORY / Speaker: Sanjay Kak
3. 'SINGING YOUR DESPAIR, AND MINE' / Poetry, music and conversation between Aamir Aziz and Moushumi Bhowmik
4. ART OF OUR TIMES / Collective exhibition of works by several contemporary political artists

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Screening of Janani's Juliet on 19th Dec (Mumbai)

Janani's Juliet (53 minutes) Will be screened as per program below

19th Dec @ 6pm

Venue- Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Byculla

(Education Centre)

Followed by Q &A with the director
Entry Free

Director, Camera, Sound Design and Editing - Pankaj Rishi Kumar

Associate Director & Location Sound -- C. Vinayak Ram

Sound Mixing -- Pritam Das

Producer: PSBT

Language: Tamil with English Subtitles

Synopsis:  Kausalya lost her husband (Shankar), when they were attacked by her own family. They had married against their families wishes. Deeply disturbed by a spate of honor killings in India, a Pondicherry based theatre group sets out to introspect the implications of caste, class and gender. They adapt Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. What emerges in the process is a critical reflection and commentary of the contemporary Indian society where love struggles to survive.

India's Official entry to the Oscar's

Best Long Documentary Prize at IDSFFK, Trivandrum, India 

Best Film, Signs Film Festival, Thrissur, India

Official Selection Competition, Kolkata International Film Festival & FSA Kathmandu

Official Selection -- Bubhaneswar, Open Frame, Madurai, & Auroville Film Festival

Reviews

1---   https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/romeos-caste-conundrum-jananis-juliet-5832919/

2---- https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/a-documentary-traces-the-making-of-chandala-the-impure-a-play-that-weaves-caste-politics-into-romeo-and-juliet/article28577785.ece

3-- 'Janani's Juliet' at Oscars: Documentary exploring caste and love has Gowsalya at centre

https://www.facebook.com/events/2471139173166085

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