Chandigarh-based DJ Varnika Kundu became a household name after speaking out against two stalkers who chased her last year. She now features in a short film that retraces her steps that night. She talks about progress in the case and the film to Pragya Singh.
What motivated you to go behind the camera?
It’s a five-minute film that took a day and a half to shoot. We went over the route I had taken that evening and then asked people’s opinions on the episode. Honestly the only reason to do it is that I am beginning to understand that what I say about the incident affects a lot of women, so I accepted when Population Foundation of India asked. Women have been telling me that my speaking out against stalking helped them become more assertive in their own houses. More women will stand up for themselves if we speak out.
You still live in Chandigarh—is that a constant reminder of the incident?
I am not worried in the sense that if I am on the same road I don’t get flashbacks or anything. It is just that I am more careful since then. It was an eye opener for me and for a lot of other people because nobody expected it to happen in Chandigarh. I still go out, because I feel like the moment I stop doing that would be changing who I am. I might feel the fear but I am not going to do anything contrary to myself just because of that.
Were you lucky, in a way, in how people responded to your being stalked—there was an outpouring of sympathy in your favour?
I was. I can count on one hand the negative messages I got whereas the ones in my support were countless, literally. Even the negative messages, say from some elderly people, were more a reflection of concern.
Do you feel concerned about the attention your video might get?
I do but I am going to share the video on my facebook page but I will not promote it too much. I feel self-conscious, I guess, because it is about me and I am seen in it. I’m not used to that.
Is the video a step towards other plans?
I hope to eventually do something to help women. I think, based on how I was brought up I suppose, that it is not so hard for other women to internalize their own right to make choices. I’m not sure yet of what, but I know I will do something, write a blog maybe.
In Chandigarh?
Not really. Chandigarh has limited opportunities career wise for me but maybe Mumbai, or both places. Right now I cannot make clear plans because the court case is on.
You have to attend hearings in court now, how is that going?
The men have now got bail, Vikas Barala first, then Ashish Kumar. Our legal stand was that as long as the witnesses and families don’t face any pressure we take the bail as a matter of course. We recently testified and the defense cross-examination started. I felt as if even in court the defense was playing to the media and gallery by raising the political angle, that we are trying to take the BJP down and that we support the Congress. A lot of people told us to demand Mr [Subhash] Barala’s resignation because he is in the BJP and his son is involved in the case but we didn’t do that—our fight is not with the boy’s father. I feel it doesn’t matter if it is BJP or Congress. If the circumstances were reversed the opposite side would have still tried to take advantage of it.
Your father mentions in the video that you are a Jat family. Did that matter after the incident?
Nobody picked up on the Jat thing last year because I think it was ‘Jat versus Jat’ in this case…
Yet the Jat khaps supported you. Was that surprising—if you were not a Jat they would have no reason to speak for you?
I’m sure that it was part of the khap’s thing that I am a Jat and so they supported me but that said khaps have been notorious in banning cellphones and things like that. They say noodles cause hormonal swings and such nonsense. If after that they came out—and 25 villages is not small khap—and support me, it was a huge thing for me. I felt, why not, at least they are not talking about not letting girls use phones or wear jeans.
It must have been a big surprise still, to get their support?
I relate to where I am from and I am happy when something good happens but honestly, till a couple of years ago, I thought that the caste system existed only somewhere in history books or in backward villages. Only in the last few years did I realize that it is extremely prevalent and makes news daily. Otherwise, though I knew we are Jats and we cracked Jat jokes and so on, I didn’t think much about caste until I realize that apparently it matters a lot to some people.
So you look at being a Jat differently now?
I feel it is not just about Jats being exclusively regressive or others being exclusively progressive. I have met people from all backgrounds, even before the incident, and seen educated households in which women don’t have the same privileges as their brothers, where daughters go abroad to study only to become trophy wives. Also I have seen villages where families were broadminded. Dangal, what else is it about? I think Nirbhaya was the awakening for my generation, when we realized the truth about many things women face. So I really don’t think women are just suppressed by one caste.
Is there someone who inspires you?
I think it is Sumit Samos, a young rapper whom I met at a show and got to know. I am so inspired by him and his story of coming from a village, not speaking English growing up, they did not even have a TV at home, and he is not from an affluent background and Dalit and is now a rapper, a great student, extremely talented—he makes me wonder why I am even here [in Chandigarh]!
