© Murali Krishnan

Deepa (who only has one name) is sitting desolate in the corner of the busy Thane railway station in Mumbai. She looks exhausted, weary and frightened after a long train journey that lasted 8 hours …

Chai, or tea, they say, is an important part of Indian society. And, in every region, it has its own unique story to tell.

Women in India assert their identities in the face of a patriarchal society – in the arts, too. And they cross boundaries, as an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg shows.

In public transport, women fall prey to hooliganism and harassment almost every single day. Almost every woman in India’s commercial capital Mumbai who has travelled by the local train will have a horror story to tell about being harassed sexually or verbally. Dipesh Tank, 33, an activist, is on a mission to make Mumbai local trains and stations harassment-free for commuters.

Anshita Koul said that. She is also known as ‘Anshita Crazy Koul’, a rising YouTube star who divides her time between India and Germany is breaking stereotypes and fighting patriarchy by making people laugh. She is tickling India’s funny bone and putting the State of Jammu and Kashmir, a place always associated with conflict, on the world map in a new light. She recently starred in the first ever comedy show exclusively for women in India – The Queens Of Comedy and recently organized Jammu’s first open mic. Koul spoke to WTO Reporter Roma Rajpal Weiß on the comedy scene in India.

© AFP/Getty Images/D. Dutta

The narrative of sex in India tends to have got stuck on the issues of violence, rape and harassment. This is not surprising considering that India is a country in which a majority of the women face sexual violence on a daily basis.

20-year-old Hasina teaches street children in Mumbai. She has big plans for the future.