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While Indian cinema buzzes about the star studded film Gulaab Gang,Patcy N gets the story of the real Gulabi Gang from its founder
Fifty-year-old Sampat Pal Devi is a force to be reckoned with. It's in her body language (even when it is only on the screen). It's in her voice. But more importantly it's in the force that she created - the Gulabi Gang.
The former child bride is the founder of the group of pink sari-clad vigilantes who fight on behalf of abused women in the brutal Indian heartland where laws often remain in the books.
The gang has been a subject of books and documentaries, but has been thrust back into focus by the film Gulaab Gang, which released March 7. Though the filmmakers insist that Madhuri Dixit-Nene's character in the film is not inspired by Sampat, the similarities are too many to ignore. And Sampat is naturally aggrieved. In a telephonic conversation with India Abroad from her village Badousa, Banda district, Uttar Pradesh, she tells us her story and talks about how television and films distort her truth.
On her early Life
I was born in Kairi village in Banda, Uttar Pradesh. My parents were farmers.
I did not get an education. I mostly studied from my brothers' books at home how to read and write. There was no school in my village and my parents would not send me outside the village to study.
My uncle, who was educated, taught me to read and write. I went to school for just two years.
I was 12 when I got married and was sent to Raoli village in Kalyanpur, UP, where my husband lived.
My husband was 25, I think. I don't remember because I was so young. He was a farmer; my in-laws had a farm. Later he started selling ice-cream from a cycle.
I had my first child at the age of 15, a girl. We named her Prabha. I had four more children - Prabhavati, Champa, Kanta Prasad Pal, and Nisha. All my kids are married.
On forming Gulabi Gang
I started the group when I was 20. Our village is very remote and underdeveloped. People were not educated. Men did not treat women well -...