Born in a village where there are no schools that teach past the seventh grade, Sarita Biswal had to struggle and persevere to get literate. She wants to be the Community Correspondent of her community so she can make videos on the lack of basic infrastructure which impedes all progress not just in roads and medical services but also in…
In Orissa, men and women gather and choose spouses on the spot, removing the need for a dowry.
Every winter, during the month of January, hundreds of tribal people from all over Orissa gather in Biswanakan village with one goal: to find their life partner and get married. This festival has been going on for more than 250 years, creating opportunities for thousands of tribal men and women to get married, regardless of their age and social origin. The celebration, which lasts for one day, sees couples - who were strangers just a few minutes earlier - coming together and getting married by simply holding hands. These unexpected unions are usually blessed and celebrated by the respective families afterwards, but in certain cases the young couples take advantage of the festival to elope briefly and enjoy some intimacy.
This system is well appreciated among tribal people because it nullifies the payment of a dowry, which usually proves to be a burden impossible to bear by an impoverished tribal family. What’s more is it allows a lot of freedom to young men and women in the choice of their life partner. Many couples actually use the festival as an occasion to make public love affairs that have been going on for some time.
Sarita has been going regularly to this festival, that is also attended by non-tribals who enjoy the joyful and relaxed atmosphere. She decided to make a video on this event that she found rather peculiar: “It is quite a unique event in India. I enjoy this festival because it gives freedom to women to make choices about their marriage. Also, it’s a way of getting rid of the appalling tradition of dowry giving,” says Sarita.
No Cards
The article argues that systematically ignoring and silencing the voices of the poor and marginalized worldwide does not serve society or democracy well and must be countered. While new technologies such as AI could provide an opportunity for change, we contend that these technologies need to account more effectively for...
Impact Story
When the staff at Gannett newspapers in the US coined the term MOJO (Mobile Journalism) to describe new ways of gathering and distributing news using emerging technologies in 2005, they would not have imagined its virality and use ten years later. Ask new media journalists and our Community Correspondents Shah...
