You can say that it all started with a song…or many songs. For, all these friends loved to sing - Jyoti Mhapsekar, Sharada Sathe, Chhaya Datar - while American research student, Gail Omvedt, strummed the guitar - songs of equality and emancipation, of empowerment and strength, written by poets like Narayan Surve, Madhav Chavan and Daya Pawar. "Not because we were some great singers," laughs Sathe, "but because we wanted to communicate with the downtrodden and the uneducated…and singing was the best medium." Their audience usually comprised workers and farmers and their wives. 61-year-old Sathe continues, "Whether we were in sur and taal did not matter to our listeners, what mattered was the emotional content which straightaway touched their hearts." Mhapsekar, now 56, continues, "We all came from middle class backgrounds where academics and achievements are revered. Revolution and the middle class have never gelled together, but we all had Leftist leanings and wanted to work for those who were marginalised by the mainstream." The turning point for this loose knit group came in 1975 when they attended the Stree Mukti Andolan Sammelan in Pune with a poster exhibition. Here, they met many like-minded individuals who were waging their own wars against the suppression of women. Realising that they needed a more organised platform than mere songs to really effect change, they established the Stree Mukti Sanghatana (Women's Liberation Organisation) in 1975 itself, which happened to be the International Women's Year. "Women are wary of politics, but SMS did not have any political links nor did it ride on any particular ideology and that's why we could attract so many volunteers. We were the first autonomous organisation in Mumbai without any political patronage. Feminism in simple language, that's what we were," smiles Mhapsekar. To simplify this message of empowerment and equality for women, Mhapsekar wrote the play, Mulgi Zhali Ho (A Girl Is Born). The first show of Mulgi Zhali Ho was performed in Delhi on May 15, 1983. "Though the audience was largely Hindi speaking and the play was in Marathi," says Mhapsekar, "everybody loved it, proving that theatre has no linguistic barriers." Indeed, the kala pathak - the cultural troupe of Stree Mukti Sanghatana - with its track record of 30 years - has reached every nook and corner of India with the help of powerful plays and numerous songs on women's issues.

Contact details: Stree Mukti Sanghatana, 31, Shramik Lokmanya Tilak Vasahat Road No 3, Dadar, Mumbai 4000014 Tel: (022) 24530354 Email: smsmum@vsnl.com Website: www.streemuktisanghatana.org

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