Namma Katte – a safe space for women to let their hair down

Rachana Ramesh | NT
Bengaluru

While the sight of men swarming, smoking c i g a r e t t e s or just carelessly loafing around is common in public, women can only be spotted carrying out household chores. For women, there is no room for leisure in public. To find a solution to this issue, Namma Katte, a shutter shop in the public eye, was inaugurated in February.

“It is a space for them (women) to come together and do whatever they want to. Scream, scratch or swing. It is an alternative forum to rest other than in their own homes,” said Indu Antony, a Bengaluru-based multidisciplinary artist who has conceptualised and created the space. Indu has been working in the domain of public spaces for many years now.

“There’s this concept of ‘why are you sitting simply?’ Rest and leisure is something a woman must not enjoy. The norm is for them to be in a constant mode of production – wash the dishes, fold the clothes and take care of their children,” Indu said.

On a bustling road in the heart of Lingarajapuram, situated opposite an anganwadi and a public toilet, the shutter shop has become a safe space for women to laze and socialise. It is not something that has been curated overnight but has taken years of community relationship building.

Indu used to regularly visit the anganwadi where she had set out a locked box for letters, for the visiting mothers to vent their traumas in the form of writing, anonymously. There was not much response until she started to conduct oral history workshops in the premises.

“Initially, there was a lot of resistance. Then, they started to feel the idea of camaraderie and compassion. They found it as a safe space for them to share their personal stories. It became more of a ‘if you can, I can too’ scenario,” she said. Indu then started to pay these women to embroider their stories on stretches of cloth, in their native tongue – may it be Kannada, Tamil or Urdu. “She would correct any grammatical or spelling errors in our stories and give them back to us. We would get paid Rs 80 per piece,” Bhagya, who now takes care of Namma Katte, said.

These embroidery sessions initiated a habit in the women around the neighbourhood to come and chatter at Namma Katte. But now, they do not need a reason to show up. “The space has provided confidence to the women and one of them even sets up a bhaji shop in the evenings,” Indu said.

“Except for Tuesdays and Fridays, when we will have the chore of washing and filling water, women in the neighbourhood can be seen looming around the katte,” said Bhagya. “If one of them shows up, the rest of them follow like a colony of ants,” and as she was saying this many other women gathered. The women have grown comfortable enough to bring their household work, may it be peeling of garlic or knotting of flower garlands, into Namma Katte.

“Even if the space inside the shop is filled, we will sit on the stairs and by the tree, to just chill,” said another woman. The initiative is part of an artist-in-residency programme funded by the UK-based Wellcome Trust, which is collaborating with the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru on an international cultural programme called Mindscapes to support communities in understanding, addressing and talking about mental health. Namma Katte is currently inviting artists to showcase their work. Email kanikestudios@ gmail.com if you wish to showcase your work outside of a white cube space.