Shweta Krishnan

Interview: Anita Ratnam
Anita Ratnam in an orange saree doing Bharatnayam outside an old temple.
Interview: Anita Ratnam

In December TARSHI interviewed Anita Ratnam, who is a leading Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer based in Chennai. In her own…
By Shweta Krishnan
January 15, 2015
Interview: Anita Ratnam
India’s Daughter: When Men Come Together, But Women Stand Divided
Poster of a documentary. On a black background is written, "India's Daughter - The Story of Jyoti Singh", with "Daughter" in red and everything else in white. The tittle of two i's in IndIa are flames, making the I's look like candles.
India’s Daughter: When Men Come Together, But Women Stand Divided

Two weeks before India’s Daughter made it to the headlines, I came across this new pledge for Delhi school kids,…
By Shweta Krishnan
March 16, 2015
India’s Daughter: When Men Come Together, But Women Stand Divided
I-Column: A Trip To The Ladies’
Two blue doors against a white wall, one having 'gents' and the othe rhaving 'ladies' written over it. beside them, there is a white sink.
I-Column: A Trip To The Ladies’

Remember Simone de Beauvoir said, one is not born a woman but rather becomes one? A trip to the ladies’…
By Shweta Krishnan
November 1, 2014
I-Column: A Trip To The Ladies’
Friendships, or, That in which we decouple coupledom from the economies of marriage
An abstract image of colourful silhouettes of multiple dancing people with squiggly lines around them
Friendships, or, That in which we decouple coupledom from the economies of marriage

I was not simply stuck within the binaries of “same-sex” or “opposite sex,” assuming that any reference to “same-sex” is in itself already revolutionary. But the call to recognise friendship, is a call to recognise so many forms of community that are made invisible by the emphasis within a liberal or conservative framework on “marriage” as the only path to family making.
By Shweta Krishnan
January 11, 2024
Friendships, or, That in which we decouple coupledom from the economies of marriage
Friendships, or, That in which we decouple coupledom from the economies of marriage
An abstract image of colourful silhouettes of multiple dancing people with squiggly lines around them
Friendships, or, That in which we decouple coupledom from the economies of marriage

I was not simply stuck within the binaries of “same-sex” or “opposite sex,” assuming that any reference to “same-sex” is in itself already revolutionary. But the call to recognise friendship, is a call to recognise so many forms of community that are made invisible by the emphasis within a liberal or conservative framework on “marriage” as the only path to family making.
By Shweta Krishnan
February 1, 2022
Friendships, or, That in which we decouple coupledom from the economies of marriage
Freak Shows: Looking at Human Bodies on Exhibit
Illustration of a woman with larger blodily proportions and short hair carrying a shorter person on her back
Freak Shows: Looking at Human Bodies on Exhibit

No two human bodies are alike, and our different bodies arouse curiosity. But our fascination for the aesthetics of the perfect human body has historically created a space within art, science and religion for the examination of the ‘abnormal’ and the ‘imperfect’. As a result, some bodies are normalised while others become oddities.
By Shweta Krishnan
May 1, 2014
Freak Shows: Looking at Human Bodies on Exhibit
Freak Shows: Looking at Human Bodies on Exhibit
An illustrated poster depicting a black woman with exaggerated body parts, wearing a yellow bandana, carrying a stick in her left hand, and facing sideways. She is wearing a patterned half-robe and smoking. On her hip rests Cupid, toying with their bow, and a speech bubble saying 'Take care of your Hearte' in cursive. They are on a green path of grass.
Freak Shows: Looking at Human Bodies on Exhibit

No two human bodies are alike, and our different bodies arouse curiosity. But our fascination for the aesthetics of the perfect human body has historically created a space within art, science and religion for the examination of the ‘abnormal’ and the ‘imperfect’.  As a result, some bodies are normalised while others become oddities. Freak Shows, and to a large extent, circuses and even exhibits in medical or anthropological museums particularly stand out for dehumanising and objectifying these different anatomies, and oftentimes subjecting these bodies to violence and discrimination.
By Shweta Krishnan
June 15, 2021
Freak Shows: Looking at Human Bodies on Exhibit
Finding Lit’s Political Potentials
an illustration showing the solar system
Finding Lit’s Political Potentials

Fiction is often relegated to a secondary stow because fact-based forms of knowledge are becoming more and more valued. To be informed is to stay with the facts. Yet I think fiction allows us to stay just about as informed.

By Shweta Krishnan
March 2, 2020
Finding Lit’s Political Potentials
Desire: An Intersectional Perspective
Desire: An Intersectional Perspective

“As a tool of social control, women have been encouraged to recognize only one area of human difference as legitimate,…
By Shweta Krishnan
September 1, 2021
Desire: An Intersectional Perspective
Dances of Desire: From Devadasis to Modern Storytellers
A man and a woman perform Kathakali on stage, wearing typical Kathakali costumes of red and white and elaborate headgear. A lamp is lit on the stage. Their makeup and dresses show beautifully in contrast to the darkened stage.
Dances of Desire: From Devadasis to Modern Storytellers

It is not entirely impossible to imagine that classical Indian dance is timeless or that the stories narrated in these…
By Shweta Krishnan
January 1, 2015
Dances of Desire: From Devadasis to Modern Storytellers
DANCES OF DESIRE: FROM DEVADASIS TO MODERN STORYTELLERS
Photo of a Bharatanatyam artist Anita Ratnam in traditional bharatnatyam dance pose and dress-up.
DANCES OF DESIRE: FROM DEVADASIS TO MODERN STORYTELLERS

It is not entirely impossible to imagine that classical Indian dance is timeless or that the stories narrated in these…
By Shweta Krishnan
November 1, 2017
DANCES OF DESIRE: FROM DEVADASIS TO MODERN STORYTELLERS
Cinema’s Unintentional Counter-Narrative on Marriage
Review: Cinema’s Unintentional Counter-narrative on Marriage
Cinema’s Unintentional Counter-Narrative on Marriage

Reviewing three films (or the subplots of three films) to see how subplots show that marriage isn’t a destination or a single story that begins and ends in the ‘happily ever after’.
By Shweta Krishnan
January 3, 2023
Cinema’s Unintentional Counter-Narrative on Marriage
Book Review: Come As You Are
Book cover with white background. Line drawing of a woman from waist to thighs, naked. On top is written the author's name in black "Emily Nayoski". Below it in red in cursive is written, "COME as you are".
Book Review: Come As You Are

You should venture to read Emily Nagoski’s book, Come As You Are in public. Not because you want to make…
By Shweta Krishnan
November 15, 2015
Book Review: Come As You Are
Bodies Intercepted: Inside Medical Wards
A amn lying in a hospital bed, while a nurse stands near him and says 'I don't need informed consent to give you a sponge bath.'
Bodies Intercepted: Inside Medical Wards

The medical ward is often continuous with the world around it. One would like to think of it as an…
By Shweta Krishnan
June 17, 2015
Bodies Intercepted: Inside Medical Wards
Beyond The Simple Formulas
Illustration of a woman with her kids and a man with kids, joined together by hair and beard
Beyond The Simple Formulas

‘Woman? It’s simple, say the fanciers of simple formulas: she is a womb, an ovary; she is a female –…
By Shweta Krishnan
March 1, 2014
Beyond The Simple Formulas
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