Women Talk on Film

My Grandmother used to sing whilst weeding

From Alanatha village, Bangalore Rural district, Karnataka, Shivamma narrates her place-based experience of farming, the changes she has witnessed during her lifetime, and the challenges farmers currently face. Her story also celebrates folk songs as a crucial aspect of the oral tradition of farming communities. Historically passed down through the generations, a variety of songs are sung by women farmers at different periods of the agricultural season in rural India as they sow, weed, and harvest the crops. Amid the vulnerabilities identified by Shivamma, the songs suggest a measure of cultural resilience, expressing togetherness, love, hopes, and aspirations.

Beeja Matha (Mother of Seeds)

From Denkanikottai village, Bangalore Rural district, Karnataka, Hombalamma discusses her life work as the pre-eminent local seed preserver (‘beeja matha’). She provides an insight into another aspect of cultural resilience, namely women’s knowledge of plants without which the farming of the wide range of current local crops would not be possible. Seeds are an important asset in the hands of women farmers enabling them potentially to influence cropping decisions and promote household food security. She sings an extract from a traditional song that laments men’s absence from the fields and implicitly asserts women’s role as custodians of the crop.

The Grinding Stone

From Bellalam village, Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu, Gundamma and Muniyamma speak up for the traditional way of grinding ragi (finger millet) using the ‘gundukallu’ or grinding stone, in spite of the hard manual work involved. Historically, the many varieties of ragi have been crucial to the food security of the rural communities in this part of south India, and the grinding stone was once a standard fixture of every rural household in the region. Nowadays, it has given way to electric powered millet processing machines. Gundamma recalls the songs that the women engaged in stone grinding used to sing while working, and she voices what she regards as the benefits of the traditional method.

We have more time now

From Gollaradoddi village, Bangalore Rural district, Karnataka, Krishnakumari and Leelavathi present an alternative view on millet processing from a younger generation of women farmers. They talk about the advantages of the recently introduced small millet processing machinery, and the various ways they feel they have become more empowered as a result of leaving the old methods behind. Since millets have historically been nurtured by women, there are moves currently to introduce this small-scale processing technology in many parts of south India so as to support women farmers in reviving the fortunes of local millet farming.