Thiruvananthapuram: The debate on entry of menstruating women to Sabarimala has led to the setting up of a woman’s collective called Samam Progressive Forum. However, the members of Samam, in a press meet, made it clear that Sabarimala will only be one of the many issues that they will be discussing and debating about. They said that their first event, a procession will be held at Manaveeyam Veedhi by 3 pm on October 16.
They aim to conduct democratic dialogues about various issues, starting with Sabarimala, they said. Academician Meera Velayudhan said that their primary focus would be the young generation. They will hold exchanges of ideas on college campuses.
When a media person asked them what they had to say about the participant women of the ‘namajapa’ procession, Meera said that they intend to conduct dialogues with them as well. “Some of the young journalists who went to Sabarimala to cover their protests were heckled and threatened. It is an authoritarian environment. The protesting women themselves will not be safe in such a violent atmosphere. What we aim for is dialogue,” she said.
Were the customs to remain sacrosanct only for women, and not men asked writer Echumukutti. As per customs, men are supposed to cook their own food, but so many men do not do it, according to her. In many homes, the women rely on tablets to delay their menstruation, just so that they can cook for their husbands, according to her.
She also said that she has encountered an unruly set of men on their way to Sabarimala, during a train journey. When approached, the Train Ticket Exa-miner was hesitant to inte-rvene as the assailants in question were ‘Ayyappans’, she said.
Regarding the opinion that it is an age-old custom, one of the members of Samam, Divya Chandrasobhan, said that her mother, when she was 32 years, took her brother to Sabarimala for ‘choroonu’. This happened in the 1970s, and at the time there were many other women in attendance, Divya said.
