friendship

Walks, Braids, Miranda, and Memories
grey concrete surface with patterns of swirls

This was the time we were growing up, learning new things, reading new books and discovering something new almost every day, and this all-women space provided an opportunity to do that without requiring any pretence or catering to the male gaze.

By Ambica Naithani
November 15, 2022
Walks, Braids, Miranda, and Memories
Two Poems: ‘A room of one’s own’ & ‘Sunshine’
Photograph of the roots of a tree
You couldn’t begin to say the self Before someone helps you finish — Self-centred Self-serving Selfish
By Carol D'Souza
September 19, 2022
Two Poems: ‘A room of one’s own’ & ‘Sunshine’
Two Poems: ‘Only sometimes’ & ‘No filter’
Photo of a trees in a forest. There is little distance between the trees. At the centre is a singular tree with twisting and gnarly branches.
Sometimes my love is as expansive as the earth itself Patient None of the restlessness of a filly
By Carol D'Souza
May 3, 2022
Two Poems: ‘Only sometimes’ & ‘No filter’
Dancing around each other: Conversations with a Tween
A green pin badge with a rainbow on top and right below it is a text that reads: “Let me be queer” in white font colour.

As a generation X-er I grew up in a world that was challenging sexuality but only encountered the instability of gender as an adult in radical new academic texts which were not then yet part of our everyday narratives. My daughter born between Gen Z and Gen Alpha is growing up in a world of gender fluidity and multiple pronouns.

By Shilpa Phadke
March 15, 2022
Dancing around each other: Conversations with a Tween
Loving My Dysfunctional Body: Lessons In Self Love After A Decade Of Self-Loathing
An illustration of four people on a beige background. Each person has multicoloured bouquet of flowers instead of hair, and flowers wrapped around different parts of their bodies. Each person is performing different acts of self-love - the one on the far left is applying is shaving flowers from their forearm, the one next to them is hugging themselves with their eyes closed, the next one is looking into a round hand mirror and the one on the far right has one leg on a chair and is shaving flowers from their leg. A branch of thorns and flowers threads through the background.

My body presented to me the first paradox in my feminism that I would encounter. How could I claim to be a feminist if I was not proud of the body I was born in? My advocacy as a sixth grader seemed to fail when it came to my own self.

By Feminism in India
March 15, 2022
Loving My Dysfunctional Body: Lessons In Self Love After A Decade Of Self-Loathing
‘A Promise to Stand By’: The quiet feminism of Nathicharami
Nathicharami

Nathicharami takes sexuality and sexual desire away from upper-class, Gucci-clad women and makes its viewers acknowledge its existence in the lives of women (middle-class wives and widows, in the case of this film) who are invisibilised, both in the society they live in and as subjects of popular content.

By Srishti Gupta
March 1, 2022
‘A Promise to Stand By’: The quiet feminism of Nathicharami
What Polyamory is and what it could be
A multi-coloured kite with multiple tails flying against a deep blue sky

Practicing polyamory comes with the struggle of breaking down value systems and non-acceptance that may lead to ostracism not only from the heterosexual world but also from the queer and trans community. Claiming oneself as queer depends not only on how one identifies, but also, in society’s eyes, on who one’s partner is; being single does not qualify and neither does being polyamorous as the latter is considered ‘non-serious’.

By Abhiti Gupta
February 15, 2022
What Polyamory is and what it could be
On the Sustainability of (Non) Romance
A photograph featuring two women with their backs to the camera and their arms entwined, looking at a blurred scenery of a neighbourhood.

Contemporary and predominant imaginations of intimacy focus primarily on a sex-centric (romance-centric?) model which assumes that sexual desire exists and holds the same value for every person and every relationship regardless of their subjective positions. Sexual intent and desire are often the cruces of how relational aspects such as intimacy are socially constructed.

By Fariha Sameen
February 15, 2022
On the Sustainability of (Non) Romance
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

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
On Looking for Love
An illustration which depicts three heart-shaped pieces of wood suspended from wires, one of them clearly in the foreground, the other two a little smaller and in the background

I wanted to be one of those people who decide to never date again and actually follow through. Indeed, I decided that a lot. A resolution that was broken so many times that it became a running joke in my head.

By Wesley D'Souza
February 1, 2022
On Looking for Love
Editorial – Sexuality and SISA Spaces
Close-up of a sunflower field and the sun rising over hills in the background.

We envision SISA spaces as non-judgmental, inclusive, rights-based and affirming spaces wherein people’s sexuality, their identities, wellbeing, choices, desires and pleasure are respected.

By TARSHI
January 3, 2022
Editorial – Sexuality and SISA Spaces
Interview: Shruti Arora
A photograph of a woman’s face with a mural in the background. The woman has short black hair and a nose piercing. She is smiling.

There may already be another organisation in the community to share resources with but for community-led initiatives, a shared perspective on Safe, Inclusive, Sexuality-Affirming (SISA) spaces is also important. Sometimes when the shared perspective is not there, that becomes a challenge.

By Shikha Aleya
January 3, 2022
Interview: Shruti Arora
Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
A photo of the throat, clavicles and shoulders against a black background. The body is highlighted with golden brown light and there is a mole at the base of the throat.

The desire for intimacy might rob one of the intimacy that one shares with oneself and thus, being with the beloved can leave one feeling even lonelier because of the continuing struggle for validation and comfort.

By Anonymous
January 3, 2022
Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
The Birds and the Bees: On Play and Sexuality
A screengrab from the Hindi movie Padosan showing a man holding a pillow.

How would we see the world really, if we were open to the idea that it is not purpose but play that drives us to seek companionship, be it an orchid seeking a pollinator or a human seeking another?

By Shweta Krishnan
December 1, 2021
The Birds and the Bees: On Play and Sexuality
Interview – Manak Matiyani
Photo of a smiling man who is wearing a blue patterned shirt and standing in front of a brick wall

As we grow older, moral codes, conventions of appropriateness and shame, and the utilitarian and income-focused education we get make us lose that stability. The idea of play to me is about bringing back that ability and comfort into the lives of people so that they can actually play.

By Shikha Aleya
December 1, 2021
Interview – Manak Matiyani
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