Devadasis Organizing -- 19
vouching to totally refrain from selling their bodies. However, during the weekends and in the darkness of the
evenings some of these women engage in commercial sex work. Clearly, the women conduct such activities either
of their own choice or for lack of other economic avenues to make their basic living. However, they do not expect
this to be public knowledge, at least at the level of the KSWDC-MYRADA personnel. Some of these women knew
that the employees were aware of their activities, but nonetheless the awareness was through second person and
third person reports rather than first person accounts.
Similarly, I encountered occasions when I felt that some of the women were performing for me. Even though
for the most part, I thought that the women identified with me and trusted me enough to be able to speak with me, I
remember meetings and field visits when women would giggle during conversations or share a joke and get a big
laugh. On one such occasion, one of the women even reported to me privately that during the meeting the women
were curious if I was married or not. I inquired to know the importance of this information. She said “in the minds
of these women it is uncommon for married women in the cities to let go of their husbands alone to talk to village
women.”
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It was not uncommon that on some occasions women asked me to bring my wife over the next time I
visited them. In some instances I did not know (and probably will never know) what transpired but on rare
occasions one of the women did explain to me what they spoke and I would also laugh with them.
On one hand the notion of discursive spaces provide the women with a certain sense of autonomy and control.
On the other, discursive spaces are problematic still, especially when they are uncritically assumed to be so powerful
because such spaces are constituted within available resources for conversation and dialogue, and often they are
hidden but not in the sense where they have the potential to initiate a mass movement for social change. Such a
condition exists because not always are the KSWDC-MYRADA personnel totally ignorant of hidden transcripts. I
sensed willingness among the employees to concede to the demands for space as long as the performed transcripts
did not in any significant way become detrimental to the cause of their organizing efforts for social change. For
instance, Katyavva was getting trained to hold the office of member-secretary of MASS, a position being held by
Shubha for three years. Katyavva’s task included shadowing Shubha as she performs her routine tasks. Katyavva
often absented from her work, which was of concern to the KSWDC-MYRADA personnel because she was to hold
a responsible position, and was also receiving an honorarium from the MASS fund. On inquiring with the
employees I was told that Katyavva continued to be involved in commercial sex work (based on reports from peers
Convention