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Chillibreeze Interview with Anuja Mirchandaney
1. Our readers would love to know about you. How did a lawyer get drawn to writing? I believe that your work is an expression of who you are, that’s especially true if writing is one’s calling. I qualified in law because I was keen to acquire quality education. My long engagement with the law opened up a world to me. The vibrant community of students and teachers facilitated this. 2. You have eight years of experience in giving legal research support to marginalized groups? Can you elaborate a bit about it? Who all constitute these marginalized groups? My legal research support was primarily to garment workers and more recently to domestic workers. I work with groups of activists since I am not fluent in Kannada. I contribute as a resource person at workshops with workers. I have drafted fliers as propaganda materials. These have information about the non-availability of basic human rights such as payment of decent wages, weekly holidays, and social security measures including pension to name a few. I have made presentations at some workshops meant for activists as opposed to workers. In a few cases I have provided pre-litigation support. 3. You have also written socio-legal features. What were the typical challenges you have faced? One of my biggest challenges was writing a socio-economic feature on call centre employment when it was still relatively new. It was very difficult to get a call centre employee to speak with me about their working conditions. I had heard about various abuses at the work place but to actually get someone to talk about it was difficult. I got the sense that this workforce was wary of doing any little thing they felt might jeopardize their jobs. I ultimately got material from ex-employees of call centers. Regarding other features, what was immensely helpful in getting interviewees was actually working in an organization where colleagues were able to put me in touch with people. However, even after being referred and having much goodwill on both sides, language was a barrier. On occasion, interviewees could not quite understand some of the questions and time was spent beating around the bush until I got my feedback!
When I first took up this work, what interested me was the unavailability of laws that directly impacted those for whom that law was intended. For example, very often, unorganized workers who received paltry remuneration had no clue about laws relating to wages. Knowing that my work would need to be translated into Kannada and perhaps other languages, I still needed to ‘demystify the law’ by converting the said law into plain English. Easier said than done! As I realized, in order to be truly effective, the subtleties of the law in question had to be understood and presented briefly- focus on the important elements and discard the rest. I feel that my work was a small part of what many have already done. Activists have appreciated my booklets and a few organizations have bought multiple copies of their translated versions. More than that, the impact they have made is hard to say - as social change comes about slowly, in increments.
I wouldn’t know whether the course adds to professional competency. Personally speaking, I was interested in learning to write for mass media publications without legal jargon on topical issues. 6. What kind of writing do you specialize in? How have they been received? Any tips or words of advice for our readers who are treading a similar path? In my research work, I have focused on laws that apply to unorganized labor. However, in my feature writing I have also written on other topics including environment and gender, touching on the legal aspects. Regarding words of advice - there are several issues out there, where the legal angle can be woven with other information in a simple and interesting way. If you wish to combine your legal knowledge with your love for writing, there are many takers for it!
I am a lazy but ardent advocate of Yoga. Apart from the obvious health benefits, I remember a time when I was attempting to improve the readability of one of my labor rights booklet - law can be dry and boring! A good session of Yoga gave me some ‘eureka moments’, and enabled me to creatively convey particular concepts. Check the results of the writing contest for the First Quarter, 2012 Check the results of the writing contest for the Second Quarter, 2012 Related links: Indian Law for Working Women
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A law graduate, Anuja has been engaged in several years of legal research work and writing. She believes that her research work and feature writing work complement each other.
