The audience, consisting of about thirty women, was then asked to stand up individually and introduce themselves to the guests of honor, to Begum Habibullah and to each other. Tea was served and the meeting ended. During the meeting, as I looked around at the women, I noticed that only three women wore bindl marks on their foreheads: Smti, Shivani and two others. During the refreshments, I turned to one of the two and asked her how long she had been a member of the Bazm. Her response seemed to be a non sequltur, "I am Hindu." Thinking perhaps she had not heard me correctly, I asked my question again. This time she replied that she was not a member, but a friend of Smti. Shivani, and had been invited to attend the meeting. Apparently, she was extremely conscious of being an outsider. The above description of a meeting of Bazm-e-Urdu illustrates certain points about the nature of the organization, and raises a number of questions. Based on external details like dress, modes of transport utilized, language spoken and furnishings of the meeting place, one may conclude that the general ambience of the association is non-western. The members are middle and upper class women, representing different degrees of traditional to modern life styles. The vast majority are Muslim. And finally, the speech given by Begum Habibullah suggests that there may be political overtones to the otherwise non-political -ly oriented meeting. During my participation, a few basic questions came to mind. What is the position of the organization in the present Urdu literary-political scene? Why is there a need for a women's Urdu literary association in Lucknow? What do the existence and activities of the association reveal about the values, attitudes and tastes of the women it represents? In order to explore these questions, I became a member of the Bazm, attended some of its functions, interviewed some of the members of the executive council, and administered a written questionnaire in Urdu to the members at one of their sessions. The findings described below are based upon that data and some supplementary material. (1) According to its constitution, Bazm-e-Urdu was founded in 1973 as a women's association whose aim is to promote Urdu education and literature. Its stated goals are to establish an Urdu "Sunday" school and a library, and to arrange seminars and discussions on Urdu literature, history, culture, and other relevant subjects. Its membership consists of "mature women whose mother tongue is Urdu or who are interested in Urdu."2 Funds come from membership dues and grants from the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy, a government agency which is part of the National Integration and Education Department.^ While the constitution gives a simple statement of the purpose of the association, it does not express the necessity for a women's Urdu literary association, nor does it describe its activities. Upon further probing, I discovered that only a few of the women had been involved in the school and library projects, which, in any case, had achieved only minimal success. -90-