Meethi Baradari Community Exhibition
Meethi Baradari — our year-long engagement with the youth of our community to challenge the rigid norms of masculinity through art, theatre, music, and textiles — finally culminated in the coolest, sweetest, softest exhibition at a local gym in Kalindi Kunj.
Many many months of hard work went into the making of this exhibition. Many hands, hearts and minds came together to make it happen. The dates kept changing. The gyms kept changing. Plans were made, unmade, and remade. There were countless negotiations, discussions, adjustments, and moments when we wondered if it would happen at all. But it finally did! Here are some memories from our meethi meethi exhibtion.
Poster Illustration by Toshi Singh
Once the dates were finally decided, we got down to making the posters and invitations for the exhibition.
Hariom’s powerful words, ‘Inquilab mulayam bhi hota hai aur mulayam bhi mazboot hota hai’ (Revolutions can be soft, and softness can be powerful too) inspired the artwork above, beautifully illustrated by the very talented Toshi Singh.
A detail from Gulafsha ji’s embroidered artwork, ‘Gulafsha Goes to the Gym’, became our invitation.
Invitation for the exhibition: artwork by Gulafsha ji from Rafooghar
On the exhibition day, we walked into our neighbourhood gym carrying mulmuls and chiffons, wearing shimmering shararas and sherwanis, free-flowing kurtas and achkans.
Phoolon ka Raaja - Ram
We brought baingani and gulabi machardanis, rang-birange phoolon ki ladiyan and soft soft pillows, embroidered artworks, and stories stitched by our women, boys, and girls.
Slowly, the black-and-grey walls came alive with colour. The monochromatic, macho space turned into a satrangi duniya, sabki duniya. On one wall, a delicate sheer net draped itself over Arnold Schwarzenegger's muscular arms. It held photographs of Rafooghar women's day at the gym, with threads and flowers cascading down his body like sweat.
On another wall, an angry Hulk-like figure, seemed to be hiding himself behind men's handkerchiefs embroidered with shayari responding to a simple prompt: Humara mard kaisa ho?
Dumbbells wore gajras. Dolls hung alongside dole-shole banate men. A punching bag held stories of our women's emotional strength. The mean machines looked a little softer every time a dupatta brushed against them as girls ran around the gym laughing.
The young boys and girls of Meethi Baradari performed 'Ghucchad Pucchad' -a song they wrote about the messiness of lives and the mending we all need.
At first glance, these Ghucchad Pucchad installations just looked like a tangle of scribbles and wandering lines. But this chaos held the emotions, thoughts, and inner worlds of the young people of Meethi Baradari, many of whom often find it difficult to express themselves freely and feel caught up in the countless entanglements that the current times bring.
Above: Gulafsha ji’s captured her very first experience at the gym in this embroidered artwork
Below: Shahista ji’s artwork Sair Sapata, inspired by the midnight walk that the Rafooghar women host in collaboration with the fearless women of Women walk at midnight.
Above: Ruksaar shares all the stories behind the memory postcards and Achal talks about the many sensations that make the Sansanahat Scroll and what would our women do if they go a chance to be single in the city in the installation- Ekal aurat
Below: The boys show off the Meetha Jungle- a world without violence, that they spent many days and nights working on.
The gym also made space for hula hoops, a mehndi mehfil, and a Qissa Corner curated by our wonderful friend Riya Parikh, where books like Sadiq Likes to Stitch, Mere Haathon Mein Mehandi, and The Weightlifting Princess were read aloud by Ruma and Gohar.
Jyoti left everyone speechless with her hula hooping abilities. She learnt all this on her own just by watching videos on youtube.
Ashraf took charge of the Mehandi Mehfil along with Anjali, Kanchan, Roohi and Shahzadi.
The women of Rafooghar curated a special protein-rich meal box with sattu ke ladoo, beetroot cutlets, and a peanut-makhana mix. After all, if not mothers, then who knows better how to nourish strong, healthy bodies?
Mehki Mehki memories- A selection of ittars- were curated by Maaz from Shaheen Bagh to fill the gym with some soft, gentle notes.
We also organized a very special walk, on one of the nights - Aadhiraat main Sair Sapata, with Ruksaar and Anjali in the lanes of Shaheen Bagh where we walked through the neigborhood, saw it through the eyes of our young girls, spent some time at the exhibition with a special walkthrough by Hariom followed by khaana, peena, gaana, bajana (eating, singing, dancing) at Rafooghar terrace.
People in the gym responded in different ways. Some adjusted. Some performed their masculinity a little harder. Some carried on, unbothered. Some were curious and asked questions. Some helped us set up. Some participated. Some left their visiting cards behind for possible collaborations. One man brought his mother to attend. Another returned the next day with his son to spend time in the Qissa Corner. A few people questioned what we were doing. But no one was unkind.
Just a few minutes before wrapping up, an impromptu dance party broke out in the gym, and the sheer diversity of the people who danced together in the room showed us all what art can do. By the end of two days, the gym had made space for everyone.
Hariom with his questions around softness, challenging the rigid notions around gender and masculinity.
Main meetha kyon hoon?" (Why am I considered 'meetha'?; "Agar main meetha hoon to kya yeh buri baat hai?" (If I am 'meetha,' is that a bad thing?); Mujhe silai kadhai ghar ke kaam karna, mummy ki kitchen main madad karna acha lagta hai, kya isliye main meetha hoon?"(Am I 'meetha' because I like stitching, doing household work and helping my mother in the kitchen?
And perhaps none of this would have happened had one young boy not insisted on remaining soft, gentle, and sweet despite being bullied for exactly those qualities. His refusal to harden and courage to turn an insult into a celebration, became an invitation for an entire neighbourhood to imagine that strength could look different.
Meethi Baradari is inspired by the story of Hariom, a participant at Rafooghar, whose experiences and ideas became the starting point for the project. The initiative is supported and incubated by Rafooghar – The House that Mends and Compassion Contagion which have provided the mentorship, and ecosystem for the project to take shape and grow. They also supported the project in securing funding through the FICA–Serendipity Arts Foundation - Futures in Formation Grant, enabling Meethi Baradari to run a year long module with the youth of the community and bring their work into the public realm through a community exhibiton.
बेशुमार प्यार
To all our friends, supporters, well-wishers, mentors on this project.
To the community members without whose presence this engagement wouldn’t have been possible.
Meethi Baradari Gang: Abhishek, Akash, Anjali, Anjali Yadav, Arman, Ashraf, Ayush, Dania, Jyoti, Mantsha, Md. Faizan, Mujeeb, Raja, Ram, Rida, Rohan, Ruhi, Rukshar, Sadika, Saif, Sahil, Salman, Samaira, Sarfaraz, Shadab Aslam, Shehzadi, Sohel, Sudanshu, Tushar, Utsav, Vikas, Zahid, and Zubair Khan, Hariom
Rafooghar Gang: Anjali Yadav, Billo, Fouziya, Gohar, Gulfsha,, Jyoti, Moni, Nahid, Nida, Pinky, Preeti, Rehnuma, Roshan, Rukshar, Ruma, Sania, Shabeen, Shahana, Shahin, Shahista, and Shabeen
Facilitators and Mentors: To all the facilitators, thank you for bringing your talent, expertise, and unique methodology to our community. We thank you all for your हौसला अफ़ज़ाई
Achal Dodiya
Shivangi Singh, Reshma Khatoon- Artreach India, Rah Naqvi, Harmeet Basur, Malika Taneja, Pooja Dhingra, Harshita, Mansi Maheshwari, Madhuri Adwani
Venue partner
To Munawar Zaman and the entire team of Wow gym for offering us their gym बेझिझक, creating history with us in Shaheen Bagh.
Exhibition Production
Putting an exhibition together is no easy feat specially in this heat. We thank the dream team- Hariom and Kalaa for taking care of everything that goes into putting up an exhibition from sourcing to printing to planning to installing to running up and down the stairs several times a day!
Exhibition Support team
To the giggling gang who made it all easy breezy with their unique ‘we sing, laugh, work’ work life balance mantra: Arhan, Ibrahim, Jyoti, Ruhi, Ruma, Ruksaar, Sharik, Dania, Shehzadi, Chotu Anjali, Saniya
Food for the event has been very lovingly prepared by Nahid, Sania, Shabeena
Art Team: Promotions Posters by : Toshi SIngh (@toshisingh_), Gulafsha ji, Shaheen ji, Ruksaar, Roohi, Shehzaadi, Anjali . Billo . Gohar. Moni . Nahid . Pinky . Preeti . Ruksaar. Shabeena . Shabnam . Shaheen . Shahana . Shahista, Spiti with Pooja Dhingra
Programming Support
Shaheen Bagh main Aadhi Raat Par Sair Sapata by Chotu Anjali, Ruksaar with Women walk at Midnight -Spiti Renjini Sheena Mallika Drishti Ananya
Hula Hoop by Jyoti and Kanchan
Kasrat Korner by Gohar Iram
Mehndi Mehfil by Ashraf , Anjali, Ruhi , Shehzadi
Qissa Corner with Riya Parekh, Gohar, Ruma
Mehki Mehki Memories by Md.Maaz
Ghuccchad Pucchad song with Manzil Mystics- Anurag Hoon, Preeti Arya ,Rahul ,Humza Khan
The exhibition - Meethi Baradari has been conceived and curated by Hariom Srivastav and Pooja Dhingra