Latur’s Kushwarta Bele, Haryana’s Manik Devi and Orissa’s Pratima Behra may not be your conventional pin-up girls, but are the faces on Redefining Politics—an annual calendar which has been created in their honour, thanks to the efforts of Aalochana, a Pune-based resource centre.

Aalochana’s calendar will feature 12 emerging women leaders from panchayati raj institutions, who are making a visible difference in grassroots politics.

Aimed at ‘breaking stereotypes’, the calendar has been conceptualised to demonstrate that rural women can surpass the barricades posed by illiteracy, poverty, gender and societal norms, if they have the will and the vision to look beyond, explained Medha Kotwal, a founder-member of Aalochana.

“The average village woman is still envisioned as a silent, passive personality, adhering to societal norms and wifely duties. In reality, the women’s reservations have opened up a new world of opportunities for rural women nationwide, who are not just voters, but also leaders in active politics,” she said.

Once the concept of the calendar was formalised, the onus of translating it into reality fell on freelance writer-cum-photographer Vidya Kulkarni’s shoulders. Kulkarni, who spent an intensive month traveling across the states in order to photograph the women, narated the challenges she faced while capturing the achievers on camera.

“The photographs had to express the essence of the women and my greatest challenge lay in capturing the strength and the confidence that the women exuded, on film,” recalled Kulkarni who has also prepared the profiles of the women, including quotes, describing experiences that bring to life, the personalities of each of the women.

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