Shikha Aleya

Interview – Kiran Bhat
author pic 10

So I am realising now that for me the space of borderlessness applies to everything. It applies to the physical and topographical border as it does to the borders we create between gender and their expressions. I think I would like to argue for a truly borderless understanding of the world.

By Shikha Aleya
March 17, 2023
Interview – Kiran Bhat
Issue in Focus
daniel-olah-pCcGpVsOHoo-unsplash

There are different narratives where lie hidden worlds of codified feelings, justifications, a reason to buy or not buy into injustice, or othering.

By Shikha Aleya
March 1, 2023
Issue in Focus
Interview – Anjlee Agarwal
Cover_Photo_interview_with_Anjlee

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.

By Shikha Aleya
February 4, 2023
Interview – Anjlee Agarwal
साक्षात्कार – समीरा खान
Photo of Sameera Khan. She has long black hair and is standing in a garden. She is wearing a black kurta, a deep emerald dupatta and a black necklace.

“इन युवा महिलाओं नें तो हमारे विचारों को और आगे तक पहुंचाया है, और महिलाओं द्वारा सार्वजनिक स्थानों तक पहुँच पाने के नए आंदोलन खड़े किए हैं। इसमें उनका देर रात तक बाहर रहना, महिला हॉस्टल में लगाई जा रही समय की पाबंदियों को ठुकराना, और महिला शौचालयों और सार्वजनिक यातायात तक अधिक सुलभता पाने की मांग करना शामिल है।”

By Shikha Aleya
February 2, 2023
साक्षात्कार – समीरा खान
Issue in Focus: The Heart of Being
An abstractly painted image with magenta and blue and splashes of red, yellow, and black colour. In the background, two brown-black silhouettes.

To chase down our own vulnerabilities around sexuality is a short run around the corner, five minutes ago, last night sleeping alone, with a lover, a partner who lost interest, the Insta post that leaves you feeling you’re not good enough for the hug, the kiss, the cuddle and are you perhaps the A of LGBTQIA+?

By Shikha Aleya
January 3, 2023
Issue in Focus: The Heart of Being
Interview – Raj Mariwala
A photograph of MHI director Raj Mariwala; she is playing with a grey-brown dog, squatting in grass.

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.

By Shikha Aleya
January 3, 2023
Interview – Raj Mariwala
Interview – Srila Roy
photograph of Prof Srila Roy leaning against a wall with her hands folded

“Questions of difference should not be a cause for despair. There are examples from history and our own lives that show how we can connect across difference and stand in solidarity with one another…”

By Shikha Aleya
December 12, 2022
Interview – Srila Roy
साक्षात्कार – श्रीनिधि राघवन
A photograph of disability rights activist Srinidhi Raghavan. She is wearing a blue top with a white pattern, black-rimmed spectacles, and a yellow hair-band.

ऐसी जगहों की बहुत कमी है जहां विकलांगता के साथ जी रहे लोग अपने यौनिक अनुभवों या यौनिक जिज्ञासा के बारे में खुलकर बात कर सकें। खास तौर पर विकलांगता के साथ जी रहे युवाओं पर हर वक़्त निगरानी रहती है जिसका मतलब है कि वे यौन अनुभवों से वंचित रह जाते हैं और अपनी यौनिकता को समझ नहीं पाते।

By Shikha Aleya
December 12, 2022
साक्षात्कार – श्रीनिधि राघवन
Issue in focus
Black polka dots of different sizes against a yellow background.

Companions take many forms. Using the word very loosely here, a companion is anyone the self is connected to, anywhere, at any point in time, from a family member, to a stranger on a train. 

By Shikha Aleya
November 15, 2022
Issue in focus
Interview – Prakash
Photo of a young smiling man taken from an upper angle. He has side-swept black hair and a bear. He is wearing a white shirt, black leather jacket and square spectacles.

“I feel that connection is the survival language of the LGBTQIA+ community. The sense of a common struggle makes way for developing quick yet lasting connections among the community…”

By Shikha Aleya
November 15, 2022
Interview – Prakash
Where do we begin?
An office space with rows of desks. At the forefront are two desks with monitors, chairs and desk lamps. There are knick-knacks like a wooden statue of a cat, plan, a bottle containing amber-coloured liquid and cables.
What does it mean to extend acceptance and support in one of life’s most crucial areas – the workspace? How do we unpack the concept of positive discrimination and affirmative action at the level of the organisation.
By Shikha Aleya
September 19, 2022
Where do we begin?
Interview – Deepa Pawar
Training with nomadic tribe women & youth
If a community is suffering such severe challenges that are impacting them mentally over generations, over hundreds of years; if the ways of mentally exploiting them are so easy and accessible to all, this means that it is not they who are experiencing mental imbalance but society that is attacking their mental justice and stability.
By Shikha Aleya
September 1, 2022
Interview – Deepa Pawar
Issue in Focus
An abstract image of waves.

Expanding contexts give the word ‘movement’ different meanings and value. Physical, conceptual, technological, relationship, emotional, mental, power, knowledge, ability, access, may be amongst the contexts immediately identified.

By Shikha Aleya
May 3, 2022
Issue in Focus
Interview – Tishani Doshi
Photograph of a woman with long hair in red sari, sitting with a brown dog against a background of bushes with vines and pink azaleas. The woman is resting her chin on one hand and petting the dog with the other.

I’ve essentially thought of movement as a kind of freedom, but one that has the capacity to destabilise you in some way. My most creative moments are when I’m not moving, when I am in fact rooted and still.

By Shikha Aleya
May 3, 2022
Interview – Tishani Doshi
Interview – Sameera Khan
Photo of Sameera Khan. She has long black hair and is standing in a garden. She is wearing a black kurta, a deep emerald dupatta and a black necklace.

But what has been amazing to witness is how quickly young women in particular, took to the ideas of Why Loiter? and pushed them even further, creating new movements to expand women’s rights to the public, including the right to be out late at night, to stretch the curfew at women’s hostels, to demand extended access to women’s toilets, to public transport etc.

By Shikha Aleya
April 1, 2022
Interview – Sameera Khan
1 2 … 9