Why are people scared of feminists? Why do even those who have been exposed to this complex world of ideas, have an infantile re-set button where they keep rehashing stereotypes of feminists as scary, ugly and aggressive? I feel the answer lies in something the feminist Sonal Shukla, popularly known as Sonalben, who passed away at 80 last week, said to me when I interviewed her for my film Unlimited Girls: “It doesn’t matter what people go round saying about feminism, but when a feminist speaks, women listen, you know.” Why? Because feminists describe the unspoken truths about women’s lives when they describe the world speaking to, with and as women. They also reveal the power structures which prop elite men up. And that’s difficult, right? Which is why feminist women are often called difficult women.

There are many ways of remembering Sonalben. She was one of 50 people who attended a historic meeting to challenge the judgment in the Mathura rape case propelling a movement that changed rape laws. She began Vacha, a feminist library with two friends (among them Nina Himes, whom Wilson College alumni would remember) and remained invested in people’s movements through her life. She wrote many feminist songs and a column in Gujarati for many years.