It was a rainy Wednesday night in 2016, Sonali had some movie tickets for the 8PM show in Promenade Mall. Unfortunately, something had come up last minute and she couldn’t make it. As she sat racking her brains, thinking about whom to offer them to, she thought wouldn’t it be amazing if we had a neighbourhood group where we can offer movie tickets, ask each other for help etc.! And just like that the Vasant Viharis (now VV Rockers) group was born. Sonali added a few people and within days that group had a few hundred members.
However, once the group was formed, the girls were much more active than the boys! Domestic help, childrens’ classes, colony issues, bartering amlas for broccoli – all started getting discussed! So, it was decided to have a separate girls’ group to discuss all day-to-day matters freely. The name VV Divas was coined for the girls’ group as a spoof on the word! Diva’, according to Wikipedia, is the Latin word for a goddess (which we are!), has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent (which we have!) and Diva can also refer to a person with a reputation for being demanding (which we do!).
Over the last 7 years, the VV Divas Whatsapp group(s) have taken on a life of their own and become a movement. It started with one group that quickly grew to the maximum limit of 256 members and then we started a second one and when that maxed out then a third and even a fourth and there was a waitlist despite that! So much so that the group ‘Admins.’ had to set the group’s age and geographical requirements to try and curtail the membership and maintain relevance, and add chat guidelines. The group asked and answered all kinds of queries from medical advice to children’s ballet classes, domestic help’s salary queries to where you can buy avocados! It became a go-to for “Where can I order Chinese food from tonight” or “Where can I buy sari falls from?”. But there was also purpose that was found with the geographical proximity. A 2 am wheelchair need, a medicine, upcycling books & furniture – You name it and VV Divas had the answer. A VVof the Yellow Pages, of numbers shared by VV Divas members, which Aparna Dhawan very kindly catalogued and filed for easy access for all. The Divas community brought together many like-minded women who wanted to improve the colony, their surroundings and their lives. Common prupose and interests sprouted many pop up groups further to this. Cooking groups to Book clubs to Workout gangs, theres a community for it all within the VV divas.
Many VV Divas own and manage their own businesses and the group gave them a fantastic platform to promote their own talent and support each other. From stationery, to jewellery, to linen, to clothing, to salons, to cosmetics, to food, our community covers just about every aspect and we try and support each other whenever we can. For many women, the VV divas connection has led them to participate in the community RWAs, and today there are more women in the RWA than men! The access ceated by the group, democratised participation to truly move above the gender gaps due to access and deep patriarchal control.
The VV Divas is a phenomenal example of women supporting women, and how that supported the community, especially during Covid. There were doctors helpines, legal helpliines, pantry & stationary runs, medical and wellness webinars, information and medicine banks, concentrators shared, vaccination driver, seniors support etc etc, that was born out of VV Divas to support the RWA in the pandemic.
The VV Divas have, over the last six years, built a fierce community of strong, smart, enterprising women who have come together like a force to form friendships, forge alliances and come up with ideas to better the community and the world as we know it. Sometimes these initiatives percolate to their children and family members as well. What started out as a small Whatsapp group amongst friends has now become a movement and if you don’t get swept up in the change we are bringing, you will get swept aside.
