Sometimes it feels like it was aeons ago and sometimes it feels much closer. The COVID pandemic began in 2019. And then came March 2020 – India’s first nationwide lockdown to contain its spread. So much happened then, and since then. Masking, physical distancing, quarantine. Factory shutdowns. Migrant labourers struggling to return home. Crises in health centres. Shortages of essential goods. Hardship, loss, suffering. And yet, or despite it all, a burgeoning of newer ways of communicating, connecting, crowd-sourcing, networking, reaching out, and touching lives. Of reaffirming the significance of emotional connection and the resilience of the human spirit. This month’s offering of articles, poems and fiction is an eclectic mix that (mostly) reflects what was borne out of the pandemic, and its impact on sexuality, intimacy, relationships, and more.
Could lovers meet where they wished or did they have to meet behind bushes? Gitanjali’s article focuses on class as a factor in access to sexual intimacy – with the lockdowns, what happened to people who depended on hidden nooks in public parks to find a moment of privacy? As she points out, the lockdowns were a great equaliser and even those more privileged could no longer meet and mingle freely. Loneliness cuts across all classes and Andy Stephen Silveira’s short story beautifully illustrates the sense of desolation and the yearning for touch that ensued after days of not being able to feel another body against one’s own. Hitaishi Gautam’s poem brings to life foggy, rainy Manbir Colony and what it was like for a young person to be far from home, eating canned tuna cooked with onion, chillies and tomatoes.
Kaveri’s lockdown logs offer an intimate glimpse into the quotidian aspects of a break-up during lockdown while Carol D’Souza’s two poems leave us with a sense of being joyously startled. Sara Haque evokes with a quiet, almost unbearable, grace what would happen when a lover would die.
The COVID-19 pandemic now seems like an enraged monster that appeared out of nowhere and was finally calmed. But there’s another one that has been around for long and shows no signs of leaving – the pandemic of flashing phalluses that Andal Srivatsan and generations of women have learned to survive.
In Hindi, we bring you a translation of Vani Viswanthan’s article on TARSHI’s self-care and collective care initiatives during the pandemic.
Before you go, see what our respondent Abhishek Desai has to say about the pandemic and sexuality in our new feature, Quick Bytes, and check out Sexy Times, TARSHI’s survey on sexual lives and pleasure in COVID-19 times.
Go gently, go well.
Cover Image: Ed Dingli for Fine Acts
