The I Column

For the Joy of it
An illustration of a person’s face and neck in drab shades. They seem to be in great agony: there are scars and marks on the face, and the inside of the mouth as well as the neck are sketched in a web of overlapping vertical lines.

Of course, I knew I wasn’t the only person in the world writing about Sherlock Holmes. I, however, thought I was the only one in the world writing about them like that. You know.
Romantically.

By Saswati
November 1, 2021
For the Joy of it
If you want safety, you must toil for it.

‘Take charge; build safe spaces for yourself.’ ‘Be the change you want to see.’ ‘Inclusion starts with I.’   My…

By Samarth Khanna
October 4, 2021
If you want safety, you must toil for it.
The Space to Be

Every year since I was 20, I’ve been visiting an entirely new place on my birthday as a way of…

By Apphia
September 15, 2021
The Space to Be
Haunted by Shame: The Struggle of Being Rendered Invisible

Where did my body go? This is a question I have asked myself repeatedly over the last two years. My…

By Reva Puri
September 1, 2021
Haunted by Shame: The Struggle of Being Rendered Invisible
Camouflage
An illustration of a blue flower. The tips of its petals are dark blue and lighten as they meet at the yellow-brown centre. A long spindly green stem supports the flower and has three dark and light green round leaves and a dark green bud.. Behind it, on a grey-blue background is a cityscape dotted with buildings and palm trees with muted colour and grey overtones.

I cannot let anyone see the stretch marks, the cellulite, the saggy breasts. I cannot reveal my hideous body. I feel anxiety well up inside me even as I visualise this eventuality. I read about ten ways for a fat person to have meaningful sex. I learn that throwing a cloth over the bedside lamp will help hide my flaws.

By Sharada Vinod
August 2, 2021
Camouflage
Burnout, Boundaries, and Better Self-Care
A photograph of a water body. The sky is tinged with pink-mauve-yellow and is reflecting yellow on the different shades of blue of the waves.

My self-care journey has only just begun and I have a long way to go. I do have bouts of self-doubt, anxiety, and panic, and I still go through periods of feeling overwhelmed. However, more than anything, I have learnt that self-care, for me, is a subversive act, and caring for myself gives me the strength to challenge the status quo and play my part in social justice movements.

By Devika
July 19, 2021
Burnout, Boundaries, and Better Self-Care
Dear Diary: The radically feminist creative journalling practice that nobody talks about
A photograph of a person's arm and hand. The background of a couch with a blue duvet is blurred, and the focus is on the person's hands, with brown nail-paint, and a blue pen in their hands. They are writing in a spiral bound notebook. Beside them is a black cup.

My journal has many entries that are speculative and fantastic. Writing about the mundane leads me to question the way the world operates and from there I frog-leap into a world of ideas where I imagine a radically different way of being. In my journal, I imagine a politics of care, community, and compassion. I become grand, valuable, and unstoppable, even in a world where I am sometimes made to feel small.

By Sheena D'Lima
July 5, 2021
Dear Diary: The radically feminist creative journalling practice that nobody talks about
Following Aladdin’s Genie
A photograph of a white bedsheet with blots of maroon-burgundy lipstick stains smudged across it.

The lip colour then enters into a rather queer state of existence as it refuses to stand by the label it is expected to conform to. It moves and escapes categorisation. In its queerness, it renders itself as a paradox. At the heart of paradoxes is the understanding that something is what it is also not. Similarly, the colour of this lipstick is nude, but it is also not. It is possible that it is because of this slippery nature of the paradox that my sexuality as my identity too remains slippery, in motion and fluid.

By Muskan Nagpal
June 15, 2021
Following Aladdin’s Genie
Are they people or just a number?
A photograph of a smartphone on a wooden surface. The sides of the phone are black, and the display has a white background with a kissing-face emoticon in the centre and two red heart emoticons on either side.

You see, numbers are tricky, data is tricky. More importantly, data is dehumanising. Add sexuality and intimacy to this and the waters get even murkier. Maybe it’s good to leave a few things unaffected by too much data. Maybe we do not want to talk about data and sexuality. Maybe we instead want to talk about why data around gender and sexuality must not be recorded, and instead, maybe focus on why we should honour every kind of sexual preference which is within the purview of the safe and consensual.

By Asmi
May 15, 2021
Are they people or just a number?
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces
A zoomed-in photograph of a wall with differently coloured flanks.

It took me some time to realise how important being vulnerable or, for that matter, being vulnerable during sexual engagement was for me to have great sex and how empowering it is for my sexuality. After much thought, I decided to open up to my partner about my past experiences and other things I never used to openly talk about.

By Grishma Trivedi
April 19, 2021
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces
Maybe age is more than just a number?  My discovery of my sexuality and sexual preferences over the years
A photograph of pomegranates on a black background, one of them is cut.

Age is not just a number, like it is often said to be. It is a lot combined together. It is about grace, it is about exposure, it is about knowledge, it is about the ability to fight back. And yet, in endless other ways, age IS just a number.

By Asmi
March 1, 2021
Maybe age is more than just a number?  My discovery of my sexuality and sexual preferences over the years
 Whatever it takes…walking life as single women
A photograph of a woman’s silhouette against a pink and purple sky.

What I am proposing here is to look at being in a relationship and being single together because what is important here is the idea of ‘be-ing’ as opposed to the stereotypes and perceptions attached to our relationship with ‘the One’ or to singlehood.

By Gurpreet Kaur
February 1, 2021
 Whatever it takes…walking life as single women
In Appreciation of Singlehood
A photograph of a woman facing a water body lined with blades of grass. The sky is tinged with orange and blue.

Growing up, for me, has been about accepting that the loneliness and sadness woven into the fabric of my being do not go away with entering conventional arrangements like monogamous relationships or marriage.

By Siddhi Pandey
February 1, 2021
In Appreciation of Singlehood
Steering Through Singlehood

I am 27 now and marriage is the most brought-up topic of conversation by my parents and relatives. Now, choosing or wanting to stay single is inversely proportional to my reputation, respect, and worthiness.

By Nidhi Chaudhary
February 1, 2021
Steering Through Singlehood
HOW I LEARNED THAT I DESERVE TO LOVE MYSELF
A pattern of many illustrated flowers interwoven together

“I feel comfortable with who I am,” he responded. “I’m at ease with myself. I don’t wake up and hate myself. I can’t tell you how amazing that feels.”

“I know how that feels,” I told him.

By Guest Writer
January 4, 2021
HOW I LEARNED THAT I DESERVE TO LOVE MYSELF
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