The Boxing Ladies \u2013 David Trattles<\/b><\/p>\n
The girl boxers always trained at dusk. They\u2019d come trickling in from slum-crowded Eckbalpore and Khidderpore. To transit, they had a few rupees and a few options.<\/p>\n
To start with, the girls face the same kinds of challenges that women would have to face as boxers in any community, in any country. Friends, families ask: \u2018Are you trying to be a man? Because men box.\u2019 And, \u2018Your face will get messed up, you will never be able to get married.\u2019 Perhaps, with a change of clothes: \u2018Are you trying to change your values?\u2019<\/p>\n
India is such a man\u2019s country. Accordingly, the cards are heavily stacked in his favour. And these girls are Muslim, which carries its own weight as to the position of women in society. And the Muslim population is a mere eight per cent slice of India. Given this environment, it\u2019s tough to be an independent woman. Yet here you have these girls reaching out.<\/p>\n
(from the catalogue David Trattles The Boxing Ladies)<\/i><\/p>\n
Breaking away from the shackles of a conservative society ruled by male hegemony, a number of young girls in the Calcutta try to live out their dream of being secure and independent in a unique fashion. They train themselves to be amateur boxers, not merely to fight in the ring, but to obtain a job at the end of it all. Boxing Ladies<\/i> showcases 70 black-and-white photographs of these girls by David Trattles<\/p>\n\n\t\t