2022 has not begun well for many women in India.

First January 2022 opened up in India with a singling out of women from a certain religious community and tagging them as “available”. Earlier too an app has been banned for doing the same. And the perpetrators are still to be found and accused. The new app used the same thought process. The question is how long would you continue to fight your battle – political, ideological, economic – over bodies of women? Literally and now virtually. No one is listening it seems.

Sexual violence in times of conflict and war is something everyone knows about – a systematic strategy used by different actors in many different contexts worldwide. ‘Femicide’, the killing of a woman because of her gender, has been a term coined since the late 90’s, since femicide has been proliferating in Guatemala (and in Central America more generally) since the official end of the civil war in 1996. In the early 2000s widespread use of rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and the Balkans, contributed to the increasing attention paid by the international community and non-governmental organisations on this issue. The historic protest by the Manipur IMAs against the brutal killing of Manorama Thangjam, brought the world’s gaze to alleged military excesses in the state and the number of extrajudicial killings in Manipur. Justice for Manorama and 1,528 other victims — who were either killed or went missing in similar circumstances — remains elusive, and the AFSPA is still in place. While rape during war is often used to mock the enemy men’s inability to protect their women, sometimes the rape of “enemy” women are rewards for the winning side.

Now there is a new battleground – the internet – where misogyny continues to handhold marginalisation. Hate speech, memes ridiculing and threatening women, calling all kinds of names, abound in that space. Specially against marginalised women – Dalit and of lower castes, religious minorities and against all women who dare to speak up against any injustices – from farmers protest to climate change – that might allegedly seem against larger interests. It seems that hiding behind twitter accounts and apps gives these people a freedom to spout hate in a way it would have been difficult if these accounts and apps had faces. The anonymity gives you extra strength to be hatefully misogynistic. As men (and sometimes women too) join such actions of misogyny, the act of reducing women to objects of shame, derision and open threats seem to drive some kind of a wild brotherhood of men, egging each other on to see who can come up with the worst abuse, all in the name of nationalism, and or defending one’s religious and political beliefs. There are cyber laws and police, yet many of these crimes go without the perpetrators ever being brought out in the open. Here too the apathy of marking crimes against women as public, and not personal, seems to rule. Femicide, war crimes against women, and this new virtual war can all be actually linked to cultures high on gender-based aggression and where patriarchy and misogyny persist. If the war at home is not going to be addressed the war outside will not be made visible, it seems.

Anger is the usual reaction for many women, like me, at times like this. In many ways our ability to protest against such things are so tied up in many knots and increasingly so, that more visible forms of protests are difficult. Many resort to social media, to be again abused for supporting women at times like this. Some write, some cook. I made a fiery brown stew. And I added more chillies than usual.

The Brown Stew didnt get its name because of any connection to the “brown sahibs” of Calcutta – I guess like any other stews it dates back to ancient times – basically meat and vegetables thrown together with some kind of stock and cooked over a length of time. The first mention of Irish Stew is found in Byron’s writing. The brown stew is traditionally cooked with beef or other red meat with a browning agent like browned flour, stock and red wine thrown in. I got the current recipe from my mother-in-law, a formidable cook as I have mentioned elsewhere in my blog. It is delicious, easy to cook, though has some intricate steps to it and goes down well with adults and children alike. You can add more chillies if you feel more angry. As my anger increases I find myself using fiery ingredients more and more. I add more chillies, and add liberal dash of pepper as if the heat from the chillies will balance out the sense of outrage and injustice that I feel so deeply.

You will need:

Red Onions, 2 large ones, sliced finely, skin kept aside

Celery – one stalk, cut into small pieces (optional)

Carrots – one, cut into small pieces (optional)

Meat – 1 kg – can be beef or goat, I make it with goat meat since that is more easily available in Delhi where I stay.

Butter – 2 tbsp, the Brown Stew is best cooked in butter but since we are conscious of our calory consumption we may also use Oil, any white oil – 2 tbsp

Flour – 2 tbsp

Red chilli, whole – 2 – 3

Red chilli powder + Kashmiri Chilli Powder – 2 heaped tsp, i add two to cut down on the heat and add to the colour.

Red Wine – half a cup – omit if you are making it for children

Salt to taste

In a large, shallow plate mix the flour and red chilli powder. Pat dry the meat and then rub them in the flour-red chilli mix till they are coated lightly on all sides with the mix. In a deep pan, heat oil and fry the onion skins in oil till they change colour, set aside.

Fry the onions till they are crisp and brown, then add the meat and cook till the oil starts coming out from the sides and the meat looks brown. Add the celery and carrots at this point of time and cook till they are soft. Add a cup of water to cover, add salt and the red wine (optional) and put the heat on sim. Cook till the meat is soft, adding a little bit of warm water if needed. When the meat is done the gravy should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. You can add more chilli according to your preference.