s Kamla Bhasin, who delivered the keynote address to open the Forum on Monday, prepared to leave for her home in Delhi, we asked her what actions she will take that will reflect her experiences here.

"As a feminist, I want to know what I can do at my own level. I am personally finding that the distance between what I am saying and what I'm doing is very great. I need to come to these meetings and listen to people and see how I can bring that distance down. I'm talking against a whole consumerist culture. I strongly believe that we need a cultural revolution - and that will come about once we transform ourselves and stop consuming.

"So many of us have too much. I have ten times as many clothes as I need. People have cars, more than they need. We have televisions. Nobody needs more than one. We drink things like Pepsi and Coke, eat foods like McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. We need to embrace the kind of culture where people reject these things. Without us, the multinationals are zero. Five years ago, there was no Coke in my country and we were perfectly happy. 

My children were perfectly happy. How come in five years it seems as if my children cannot live without Coke? Our governments have gone on their knees under pressure. The first thing I need too do is take a look at myself and do what I tell.

I believe that the world is in the mess it is today because of all the people like me - middle class so-called educated, so-called modern, so-called scientific people. They are the ones who are the burden on this earth, not that so-called illiterate Indian woman. She lives with a global consciousness because she is not overconsuming energy. She is not overconsuming the resources of this world. This whole notion that the Indian and Chinese are overpopulating is nonsense. Every American consumes over 100 times more than a Chinese, so the American population has to be multiplied by 100.

So you are up to 2.5 billion people in that country in terms of consumption. And me: my child consumes 100 times more than a normal Indian woman's child consumes.

• "Breastfeeding connects all these things so beautifully, if we would make those connections. The main thing is, remain in touch with yourself, with nature. That is the most political statement you can make. 
• "Breastfeeding says remain in touch. It's the most natural process. But you can't stop with the breast. You have to relate to the trees, to the air, to mother earth, to nature. The second thing breastfeeding says, is do not depend on things produced by big companies. This does not mean we will not give things to our children. Give them things which are available locally. 
• "Breastfeeding also means you take time with another human being. These are important political messages in today's world.