Mukta Introduction

Mukta A TelanganaWomen's Collective Introduction

Report Submitted to Sri Krishna Committee on " Small Industries in Telangana" by Vimala

Friends,

Report  Submitted to Sri Krishna Committee on " Small Industries in Telangana" by Vimala.  

You can see the number of Industries which have been in existence before the formation of Andhra Pradesh and their status today. Few interesting points to look for in this report are the

    * Diversity of Small Scale Industries in Telangana and their Employment Generation capability

    * Integration of these industries into Telangana Geography and Culture

    * Farmanas issued by The Nizam about Hyderabad State's contribution towards Industrial Research in IISc, Bangalore

After formation of Telangana State highest priority should be given for revampification of these industries.

Batukamma Panduga

[An excerpt from “The girl in the rock-A Telangana tale”]

An annual ritual in Telangana—Batukamma pandaga—is entirely devoted to wild flowers, which the villagers pick in the forest and then use to build a high, circular mound, the "Life Goddess," Batukamma, an embodiment of life-force, batuku, itself. Each household builds its own Batukamma and brings it into the open village space. Women take the leading role in this festival, although men may help in building up the mound. Dozens of songs and stories accompany the ritual, which also includes a dance, by women, known as boddemma aaDaDam. At the festival's end—after a week—the Batukamma flower-mounds are cast into the river. Warangal city is especially known for its magnificent Batukamma celebrations. Interestingly, this ritual lacks any deity—apart from the wild flowers themselves, which pass from the forest into the village and thence into the flowing water. It is as if human, social life takes place in a space between these two domains of forest and stream, a space that has to be ritually and repeatedly opened up to the life that naturally flows in the wilderness.

The flowers embody the Telangana life-force and serve as a key to the future.

Death of the waters

                      Vimala.K

Beyond my imagination,

A thin silver line agony

Shines

With

Crispy bitterness.

heavy movement

Seeps in

harsh stillness.

unbearable beauty

murmurs

into reflection.

Unmixing agonies

Draws water color

With oil mixtures-

Dip your body

&rinse it with rich gray sorrow

Beyond the imagination-

Nothing touches you,

As if you are not a living being

Like a being in dead sea.

Dead waters speak to you

‘I reflect you oh golden mountain

But don’t mistake me as your other,

I am the dead self, am here just to remind you

Life is eternal’

One has to cross the vaitarini

That’s all.

death is eternal

In dead waters.

[visiting the dead sea in 2009;Palastine]

Introduction

Mukta [the collective voices] was formed a couple of months back by some Telangana women with varied backgrounds. It was more than necessary because there was no single place exists for Telangana women where they can interact with their fellow people, where they can express their feelings, where they can sharpen their intellectual abilities, simply where they can speak out loud freely in their own tongues.”Mukta”-a Telangana women’s collective for culture studies has formed out of such socio historical context. First and foremost this collective strives to create a space where women from all corners of Telangana can meet and interact with each other. A well equipped library and some intellectual support for the researchers, organic scholars [both women and men] who are interested in issues relating women and adivasi studies can be facilitated through this collective. Publishing every year at least one work from Telangana region relating literature, art, nature, women & adivasi studies is one of the main agendas of Mukta. Organizing  a little theatre group for women, conducting monthly lecture lunch-ons by well known scholars, poets, writers from all across the country is another task to which mukta committed to do. Mukta wants to create a space where art& literature, humanities& humane experiences, Life& drama complement each other in order to bring self esteem to our identities, self sufficiency in our lives. Simply for us “the movement, the rhythm is everything, the goal is nothing”. Mukta is a registered group   [jayasree foundation for culture studies] run by individuals & by families personal level support. Our monthly activities include the monthly lecture on a selective topic & a discussion on a book selected for reading by members themselves. Discussions with the author, literary scholars ‘inputs, poetry recital& gazal singing are also scheduled as part of our   regular monthly meetings.