By Annie Banerji
TURIYA, India, March 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Bobbing along a dirt track in a central Indian tiger reserve, Varsha Hinge surveyed the landscape for pawprints and listened out for deer calls warning of tigers before holding up a finger for silence – as a tigress appeared in front of her jeep.
Hinge is one of 10 women safari guides at the Pench Tiger Reserve who are earning their stripes through long days helping tourists catch a glimpse of tigers, leopards and wolves.
From entrepreneurs to restaurateurs, dozens of women living near the national park are breaking with tradition in Madhya Pradesh, where village women veil themselves in front of men and are usually confined to their homes as mothers and homemakers.
“In the beginning, I was very hesitant and I doubted myself, thinking I wouldn’t be able to do this,” said Hinge, ahead of International Women’s Day on Friday.
“I live in a village with my in-laws and (initially) I just couldn’t get comfortable with the idea of wearing pants and shirts in front of them,” the mother-of-two told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The journey has not been easy for these women. Girls in Madhya Pradesh often drop out of school young and wed soon after to live a restricted life bound by age-old customs.
