Shikha Aleya
I COLUMN : FICTION AND SEXUALITY
Her eyes are open now, she looks at him. There is sadness there. “What my love? What happened?” he asks….
By Shikha Aleya
January 2, 2018
I Column : Fiction and Sexuality
What is fiction? Is it born of reality? Or does it birth reality, reflecting it back at me until I see the things I do not see? Until I find the person that is me? Until I dance my horse dance under moon, under stars, in a room full of people who like horse dancing just as much as they like the swirly skirt and the pot-bellied person doing the Bhangra.
By Shikha Aleya
September 1, 2017
Does Sex Equal Grape? How Sexuality Relates to Money
As soon as you add sexuality to a piece about money, the first instinct generally is to reduce it all to sex, leaving the “-uality” like a little invisible tail feather that flutters away into the unknown.
By Shikha Aleya
CSE and Online Hot Bath Scenes
No matter how many optional ways I’ve considered for starting this piece, I keep returning to ‘hot’ and ‘masala’. I’ve…
By Shikha Aleya
February 1, 2015
Bridging the gaps in an evolving language
Of pockets, piercings and vocabulary A long time ago in a land far away, on a cold and foggy winter…
By Shikha Aleya
October 19, 2023
Biscuit tin
I keep on hold the colours and prints to wrap you in gentle delicate flowers or little cartoon lions and boys with fists that say Bam and Super / until I know what lies between your legs the cigar or the smile of consolation if you’re the first
By Shikha Aleya
December 1, 2020
Beyond Acceptance and Rejection
Tolerance and space for another who is not like oneself is important. Without such tolerance and space we risk becoming perpetrators of injustice, forcing everybody into a mold that is not their shape.
By Shikha Aleya
March 5, 2017
An Invisible Diversity of Gaze
There are a number of different ways to approach this theme, Films and Sexuality. One way is through the eyes of the popcorn-eating, samosa-chomping, money-paying audience member who chooses to see or not see a film, who likes or dislikes it, who makes the film a box-office hit, or pans it.
By Shikha Aleya
January 5, 2017
An Interview with Disability and Sexuality Rights Activist Kiran
He is the founder of a number of support organisations that focus on sexuality and disability issues at the grassroots. Over multiple conversations conducted in Hindi and English, Kiran and Shikha Aleya discussed issues of sexuality, access and disability based on some of Kiran’s life experiences.
By Shikha Aleya
A time to #metoo or not to
Time and sexuality, neither is one-dimensional, neither is neat and both have a way of being always in a state of movement, whether we like it or not, flow with it or not.
By Shikha Aleya
November 1, 2017
A Swirly Skirt on the Expressway
Who is this person? What does this person want? Is it random cruising? Is money the goal, is it adventure? Why does it make me think of selling strawberries by the dusty roadside? I don’t have a single answer. Sex work is a lurking unknown in the world of sexuality.
By Shikha Aleya
April 5, 2016
A Self-care Approach to Life – and Sexuality
Not everybody, everywhere, learns self-care, though most people learn how to wash their faces, brush their teeth, wear clean underwear, and lock the door to keep themselves safe.
By Shikha Aleya
February 3, 2017
A Disruptive Sexuality
People’s movements and sexuality. There is dissonance in this. Hugging trees, protesting dams, Swadeshi and boycott, anti-apartheid, anti-psychiatry, anti-war, child rights, flags, banners and marches. What does hugging a tree have to do with sexuality? Women’s rights, gay pride, these movements are people’s movements quite regularly seen in the frame and context of sexuality. But the others?
By Shikha Aleya
December 5, 2016
A Chicken Tikka Roll For Real Men
Bakasura Chicken Tikka Roll. 100% Wholesome. Made for Real Men. In the home delivery menu card of a local restaurant,…
By Shikha Aleya
October 1, 2015