A collaboration between Women walk at midnight and Rafooghar

Once in three months, we walk and stitch at midnight with Women Walk at Midnight-a women’s collective who conduct late-night walks across cities in an attempt to reclaim these spaces and challenge the societal norms that restrict women’s freedom and mobility.

Rafooghar’s women lead these walks in their neigborhoods taking participants through the rhythms of their everyday lives and routines. They also venture into new parts of the city, exploring and experiencing spaces they have never accessed before.

Our very first Sair-e-Zardozi took place at Nelson Mandela Marg. Just a few hours before the walk, we weren’t even sure it would happen. Tensions between India and Pakistan had escalated, Delhi was on high alert and fear hung thick in the air.

After an endless chain of WhatsApp messages… Should we? Should we not?…we finally decided to step out, fully aware that the turnout might be small. It felt urgent and important to be out in the world rather than sit at home, feeding our anxiety in isolation. On our way to the walk, we heard the news of a ceasefire. Relieved and rejoicing, we reached the meeting point, only to find a large group of women already waiting to join us.

As we started walking, the group of women got bigger and bigger. Heads turned to watch this jhund of women loitering through the night. Some came alone, some with their mothers, some with friends and there was one brave soul who came inspite of being on crutches. By the end of the night, we were 30 of us sitting, laughing, eating ,singing and stitching together.

Women from Rafooghar- Pinky, Nahid ji, Shaira ji, Ruksaar, Billo took the lead of introducing everyone to Rafooghar and also teaching them how to stitch. This was the first time that our women from Rafooghar had left their homes to walk at night. Some didn’t get permission but some who did loved being out in the night.

At one point during the walk, Pinky found herself alone at the front of the group. In that moment, she describes observing “huge trees and beautiful yellow flowers” surrounding her on the road. In that brief solitude, Pinky described feeling free and joyful asking us “ Kya yahi hoti hai azadi? Aadhi raat ko akele bina dare ghoomna aur har taraf phool hi phool? ( Is this what freedom feels like? To walk alone at midnight, without fear, with flowers everywhere?”)

Later, she embroidered this moment: a road flanked by flowers. This artwork became the poster for out next walk in Saket.

Here are some beautiful moments from our first Sair-e-Zardozi

Our next Sair-e-Zardozi happened in Saket. We postponed it twice to avoid walking in the rainy weather but the Rain Gods gatecrashed our plans anyway. We walked through the drizzle from the narrow lanes of Saidulajab to the raunak-shaunak of Saket market, stopped for chaat papdi along the way and enjoyed the gupshup with both strangers and sahelis. When the drizzle turned to downpour, we wondered if we would be able to find a dry spot in a public park for stitching. That’s when a nice lady from the group opened the doors of her home to 20 of us - complete strangers!

This time Jyoti, Anjali, Ruksaar, Shaira ji from Rafooghar took charge of the stitching circle and the stories about the night were stitched onto the fabrics.

On 30 August 2024, our midnight walk happened in Shaheen Bagh led by Shabana ji and Muskaan from Yellow Streets. This walk was truly special as we all got to revisit and relive the historic movement that unfolded in the country in 2019–20. We walked with Shabana ji and other women who had been at the heart of the longest women-led non-violent protest. Every few minutes, they paused to share anecdotes from those days: “This is where we made rotis…thousands and thousands of them” ;“This is where the library stood” ;“This is where the mural was painted.” turning an ordinary stretch of road into a living archive.

Though posters have been removed, walls were whitewashed , and structures were dismantled, the remnants of a protest were still visible. The women who sat there for 100 days remembered it all as if it had happened yesterday, refusing to let their bodies and minds forget even the smallest details, reminding us of Aziz Ansari’s powerful words: “Sab yaad rakha jaayega.”

The walk ended with a midnight mehfil on our rooftop with chai , biscuits, atram shatram aur baaton ka silsila der raat tak chalta raha..

Our last walk of 2025 happened in Sarita Vihar +Madanpur Khadar. This time our very bold and batooni girls Anjali and Arti led the walk and gave us a glimpse of their daily routines. Arti also entered a space where no woman from the neighbourhood had ever gone before, a recreation centre used exclusively by men. Her presence there unexpectedly triggered an argument between two men: one who welcomed Arti into the space, and another who vehemently opposed it. We continued our walk, while the two of them stayed behind, passionately debating the actions of a woman who had already left the godforsaken building.