Parity Lab

In the village of Badapur, in the searing monsoon heat and humidity of Uttar Pradesh, women and children belonging to the Dalit Musahr communities had gathered for their gatisheel paathshaala session under the open sky, a paathshaala where they learnt functional literacy and shared a space for dialogue. This paathshaala is conducted by Muheem , a grassroots organization that has been working with these communities for their education and empowerment, including preventing Gender Based Violence (GBV), for years now. I had the privilege to observe and participate in this particular gatisheel pathsaala session because I was a representative of Parity Lab, an accelerator that Muheem has partnered with for its leadership and capacity development. The session was to be initiated by a round of introductions for the Parity Lab team’s benefit. I did expect that some people might be shy in introducing themselves, just as some people everywhere are with introductions, but more so since our team...

We live in the age of paradoxes. Mobile phones have made us accessible at the press of a button but our ability to communicate is being compromised. Families go to a restaurant and everyone is in their own world. This happens with friends and work colleagues as well. Social media has shrunk the world and isolated individuals. We now have so much awareness of concepts such as the patriarchy and feminism. We are even more aware of violence and yet it continues. Mental health is quickly becoming a major issue and yet, care is not accessible to large populations, especially in rural areas. As a wellness associate with Parity Lab, my job is to make mental wellness accessible to communities via the NGOs that serve them. Parity Lab accelerates the journey of the founder and first-line leader of NGOs that work at the grassroots level to combat gender-based violence. The people working in these NGO’s as well as their communities grapple with mental wellness. They often come from low caste, low ...

We are born into stories. Our caste, class, religion, and nationality are decided at birth. Other considerations such as gender, physical appearance, and skin color are characteristics that are immediately associated with us.  We often make assumptions about people based on beliefs that are related to these characteristics.  For example:  If you are born blind, you will always be dependent. If you are born a boy, you will be an engineer or an important officer.  If you are born a girl, you will be a doctor. If you belong to a "lower" caste, you will never make it big. There is a relationship between our inner voices and outer voices. Many beliefs that inform behavior are formed from social conditioning rather than individual experiences. As we grow up, more of these beliefs become associated with us. We buy into them and make choices that do not necessarily benefit us. So we must ask ourselves:  Where do beliefs come from? Who benefits from them? What is the imp...