Meet 3 women 'announcers' of Shaheen Bagh

New Delhi: Its 1 am at night when a group of men, either poets or speakers, had lined up in a queue just under the Shaheen Bagh stage. Two women in black hijab were writing their names on a copy which already had lots of names scribbled on it. Anything that came up in writing was quietly sent to Shaheen Kausar for scrutiny.

While adjusting her spects, she read the poetry, signaled with an affirmative nod to the two younger women who then wrote the names of the poets to present their performance on stage. They then held a mike and announced the names of the speakers. This is a routine for these three announcers Shaheen Kausar, Shaheen Iqra and Afreen at Shaheen Bagh who take turns holding mike and announcements.

Shaheen Kausar joined the protest since it began on December 15, the next day she sat there with a table and with some women.

This was the first time she held a mike in her hand and started anchoring the small table stage before an actual ramp was created.

Shaheen Kausar is from an affluent family of Azamgarh. A relative of famous Persian and Arabic scholar Aslam Jairajpuri who was also a professor of Jamia Millia and AMU, Shaheen came to Delhi 55 years ago with her husband. She runs a school in Shaheen Bagh.

"I have never seen such strong women, no one else could sustain the protest for so long. As announcer I am sleeping for just three hours a day," Shaheen Kausar said.

Another woman Shaheen Iqra is from Patna and resides in Zakir Nagar, approximately 3 kilometres from Shaheen bagh.

"I have never held mike in my hand earlier. This is how the situation tunes you. Earlier I helped Shaheen Aapa in writing down names, then I started anchoring too, I wish this is the first and the last time and mu country never goes through such a thing again," Iqra says.

"We take turns making announcements. It's tough to deal with people as everybody wants to speak and that too early. Even famous personalities have come up at the stage to express themselves. We are managing, it's exciting," said Afreen, the youngest of the three announcers, as she picks up the mike to announce the next speaker.