Evenings of Equality: Hema Rawat and the Girls of Chundi

In Chundi village of Rajasthan, the days move in their usual pace, but the nights, they witness something unusual. The small room beside the village temple holds a quiet pulse of change. Every evening, a group of adolescent girls gather there, some still behind their ghunghats, others with uncovered heads - to learn, question, and challenge the restrictions on their mobility in their own way. The walls are old, but what happens here is new. They watch films, hold discussions, share stories, and for the first time, share food across caste lines.

At the center of this change is Hema Rawat, a 28 years old woman, her energy filling every corner of her work and her village. It’s hard to contain Hema’s world in one description. In a single week, she might be helping an elderly widow re-register her pension, guiding a villager through the RAJ-SSP app, drafting a petition to the Panchayat for water restoration, and still making time for her girls’ evening sessions. In a place where change moves slowly and conversations on equality are often whispered, not spoken aloud, Hema has become a familiar figure of resolve.

Having earlier worked with MKSS (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan) and as a fellow with Nirantar Trust, Hema now works independently with 28 adolescent girls from her village. Her focus is to help them build a constitutional and civic understanding rooted in lived experience. With the help of songs and slogans, she holds structured discussions with them on the core constitutional values of equality, justice, liberty, and fraternity - connecting each to real situations: caste-based discrimination at water sources, restrictions on girls’ movement, and unequal treatment at home. For example, when talking about equality, she asks the girls to reflect on why certain families in their village are not allowed to fetch water from the same well or to enter other people’s houses.

Slowly, the girls began to internalize these values. They now meet regularly, sometimes even at night, an act that itself challenges long-standing social restrictions. “When we began, families objected. But when they saw that nothing ‘wrong’ was happening, more started joining,” Hema says. For her, this simple act of gathering after dark represents a profound shift in the community’s mindset.

Her approach has evolved through experience and training. It was during her time with School for Democracy, where she was working as a coordinator that she took a training with We, The People Abhiyan and in the training, she learned to find the roots of problems - to ask, “Why does this problem exist?” That question changed her way of working. “Until you try to solve a problem, you won’t truly learn,” she says. She applies this by guiding girls to think critically and find collective solutions.

The impact of her work is visible everywhere. In 2024, when 55 families in Chundi were denied their monthly wheat ration for months, Hema used the Jan Suchna Portal to trace irregularities. She collected signatures from all affected families, filed a written petition, and within two days, 1,051 kilograms of wheat were released to rightful beneficiaries. She also led efforts to restore the village water supply, push for streetlights along unsafe roads, and get a road constructed for ten households who had waited nearly a decade. Each success became a reminder of what persistence and unity could achieve.

Hema’s journey has changed her too. She admits that earlier, she saw progress through political loyalty, but her experience with organisations has reshaped that understanding. She says she once used to put herself first, but now she thinks about everyone.For her, true connection begins when people look beyond caste, religion, or gender and begin to see their shared humanity.

That belief guides her every day. For Hema, work isn’t duty - it’s a way of being. She often laughs softly as she admits that if she doesn’t work for a day, she feels uneasy. And so, she continues her creative resolve, nurturing a generation of girls who can ask questions and stand up for themselves.

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