A book by Tamil publishing house Her Stories is behind the viral video of school children throwing their dupattas

Her Stories, a Tamil publishing house, has made the journey from being a Facebook page to an organisation showcasing the work of Tamil women with 27 titles and a viral video to its credit. They talk about feminism, sexuality, love and joy in frivolity.

Early in March this year, writer and documentary filmmaker Geeta Ilangovan arrived at a school in Kallakurichi, hoping to address students from eight Tribal Welfare Schools in and around Kalvarayan Hills as part of an ongoing camp focussing on eradicating child marriage.

She was initially shuttled around to different parts of the campus by volunteers from Aware NGO conducting the event. “I was not sure when I would get to address the students,” she says. When she was finally brought to the school playground, she noticed heads bobbing on the corridor. “I waved a hello in their direction. That is when I saw the dupattas raining,” she says.

Students from the schools who enjoyed reading a collection of essays from her Tamil book Dupatta Podunga Tozhi, (Wear dupatta, sister) thought that the most fitting way to greet the author was by flinging their dupattas in the air. A video of this event went viral on social media, eliciting discourse around body politics but was also perceived as a symbol of liberation.

Despite the chatter, heads of the publishing house Her Stories behind Dupatta Podunga Tozhi are keen to ensure that more voices of women are heard through the written word. What began as a Facebook page in 2020, now has 27 titles to its credit. They are just getting started.

Her Stories is a ‘pandemic baby’. The organisation founded in 2020 by Nivedita Louis, JM Vallidasan and Sahaana, came into being because they wanted to create a space for women to add to interesting conversations often gate-kept by men online. In a short period they had over 5,000 followers.

Nivedita says that in addition to discussions and wars on the ‘comments’ section of the page, they also began a weekly meeting called Her Stories conversation and spoke about topics like menstruation, queerness, remarriage, the POCSO act, sex work and even Korean dramas.

This is when the founders observed abundant talent of putting pen to paper among Tamil women, both in India and abroad.