Oranges for the Girls, or the Half-Known Story of the Education of Girls in Twentieth-Century Banaras

Abstract

The statement, tucked away in one of the many thick Agrawal Samaj magazines I had been perusing, made me smile. Not because the fruit distribution was not an excellent idea; but because the pompousness of the declaration (deshratna- 'jewel of the nation'-and 'kind-hearted' in this context) is in inverse proportion to the interest displayed in the first teachers of the school, the women's conference organized annually by them for the Samaj, and the school curricula and the response of teachers' students and guardians to it. The fact of the girls receiving oranges from a rich and patriotic man being more significant than most other facts about the students was an amusing comment on what is considered important in women's history, and also an indicator of the problems in trying to recover any section of this history.