In the years when she was pursuing a post-graduate course in Gender Studies from Ambedkar University, Pallavi would go for a stroll almost every evening. When she realised that she was (usually) the only woman walking alone on the streets, while many like her ensured they travelled in groups, Pallavi consequently questioned the gender disparity closely linked with walking habits especially in a country like India.
“Every time a woman goes for a walk, she has to be constantly alert. I wanted to make them [women] feel at ease, and try to make the city their own,” shares Pallavi (28) who currently shuttles between Vasant Vihar and Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. Seeking an answer to this question is what prompted her to partner with Hidden Pockets, a Bengaluru-based platform that creates awareness about sexual health and gender equality, and the Delhi Chapter of Reclaim the Night march.
As part of The Delhi Walk Festival, together, they conducted their first ‘walk for women’ in 2016. It was an endeavour to accompany participants in and around Mehrauli including the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. “I had once been stopped by a few men from entering the Park in the evening. It wasn’t even dark. The Mehrauli walk was more out of my curiosity to explore a space at a different time and with a different perspective,” elaborates Pallavi.
After this successful walk, Pallavi founded ‘Delhi Galiyara’ in 2017. The idea emerged from her need to reinforce gender equality with the help of curated walks. Her prime objective remains to provide a space for women, where they can enjoy the everyday delights of the city without being afraid. Focusing on how the localities in and around Delhi are not intimidating for women but are only made to seem so, these walks are Pallavi’s response to the rumours about women safety in the city.
Reclaiming spaces
Keeping gender and society her main focus, Pallavi has collaborated with Delhi’s Ambedkar University and the South Asian University, Chanakyapuri, to organise walks for ‘Delhi Galiyara’. Keeping in mind the specific college programmes of these participants (they are often students), Pallavi curates these walks centred on their course structure.
In a city where everyday life is teeming with historical significance, her aim is to juxtapose the past with the present while integrating a gender perspective. “One of the walks I conducted was focused on violence. It was curated around violence that has been faced historically as well as in today’s world. While on one hand, I elaborated on the history of violence, I also specified that the fact that one cannot enter a space post-sunset because of their gender can be declared a violent act,” she mentions.
Capturing cityscape
‘Delhi Galiyara’ is serving a double duty; apart from curating walks, it is also an archival project that curates photographs of “Delhi’s lesser-known spaces clicked by a female street photographer”. A sister project of this initiative, ‘Studio Flâneuse’, started in 2021; it chronicles tales around Dharamshala. Talking about the Delhi-based photography project, Pallavi says, “Earlier I felt uncomfortable calling myself a female photographer. But I have realised gender is part of my existence.
The tonal difference when people ask me ‘Hamari bhi photo lelo (please click our photographs too)’ in comparison to when they ask a man is very evident.” A self-proclaimed flâneuse (female wanderer), she captures the everyday life as experienced by a woman living in Delhi. “Once you start looking at the space you are inhabiting through historical stories, you connect with it more, hence making everyday important,” she concludes.