Stories that Matter

For Muslim women Eid means more work Submitted by admin on 17 November 2010 - 6:12am Features India News Indian Muslim Women By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net ‘Usually I work the whole day and there is always no time for me to go out of the kitchen on the day of Eid’, said Mumtaz Begum when asked about how she celebrates Eid. She is 38 years old and mother of three children and is living in Sonapur, Guwahati, Assam. Her husband remains out the house whole day to meet family and friends and she has to look after the guests on the day of Eid. What adds misery to Mumtaz is that even her house maid will not there to help her as the maid takes leave to celebrate Eid with her family. Among the guests who visit the family, Mumtaz said, are mostly her husband’s friends, family members and neighbours. Apart from these she also entertains a lot of first time guests looking for a good meal that Mumtaz loves to provide to the marginalized community of her village. Sahana Parvin, an MBA work...

Imphal: The Khwairamband Bazaar, Imphal, Manipur is a marketplace with peculiar smell, sweat, cacophony and busy movements of shoppers and as well the shopkeepers. There is hardly anyone who does not require visiting the market. Khwairamnand bazaar or the popular name Ima market or Nupi Keithel is the world’s only all-women marketplace and one of Imphal’s main tourist attractions. This is because the most important feature of the market is that 4000 odd shopkeepers are women representing the greater mobility and economic participation of Manipuri women. Women vendors selling dry fish, a popular food in north east India What is not sold in the Ima Market? One can easily find items ranging from food items such as fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and dried fish to local herbs to clothes and woolens, and traditional costumes. Metal and bamboo items are also found in the shops. The market consists of two main sections -one where the vegetables, fruits and necessary items are sold and...

Irom Sharmila: the 10-year fast against the AFSPA Submitted by admin3 on 2 November 2010 - 9:47pm Articles India News Indian Muslim Special series on Irom Sharmila--Part-1 By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net, Irom Sharmila personifies struggle to protect civil and human rights. Here is Independent India’s unmatched tireless selfless movement for the noble cause. As she completes 10 years of her fast against excessive powers to khaki, TwoCirlces.net presents a 3-part series on her struggle and life – Editor On November 2, 2000, ten people were killed when a paramilitary force opened fire at a bus-stop near Malom in Manipur. Most of those killed were women and students. The firing was followed by a brutal combat operation also. A young lady, too shocked at the anarchical act of the state agencies, decided to begin a fast unto death demanding the repeal of the Act responsible for such brutality on the part of the state – the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. Thus began the figh...