relationships
Of Words and Worlds
Words weren’t always needed – we were content in each other’s quiet company, letting stillness speak. It took me years to realise that their home was my first classroom, and love was the language we spoke.
By Taarina Therese Chandiramani
June 17, 2025
Nothing Lasts Forever
These two films were refreshing because they didn’t have the fairytale endings of girl-meets-boy, they fall in love, overcome difficult challenges and live happily ever after. Instead, they were set in everyday reality where life takes over and choices have to be made.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
October 5, 2020
Not Quite Anything
He didn’t wear his identity on his sleeve, and therefore he seemed more real than most people who did.
By Taarina Therese Chandiramani
May 19, 2025
No expiry date for love or pleasure
It is unusual to find films that focus on older people, especially women, given our obsession with youth, ‘fit’ bodies and beautiful faces.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
June 1, 2023
No Birds No Bees
Aria walked into her school’s auditorium, giggling with the rest of the girls, because they were about to have their very first Sex Ed workshop.
By Aradhana Phadke Sardesai
December 18, 2024
Neither Madonna nor MILF
For me, pregnancy was a strange state of being so present and so aware of my body, while at the same time being separate from it. This experience really did a number on me during those nine months and during the postpartum period.
By Tena Pick
June 1, 2023
MY VAGINA IS DUKHA?
Ageing vaginas in ageing female bodies are joked about. But a vagina shouldn’t have the task of pleasing anybody but itself first. To begin with, we’ll have to love and respect our vaginas in order to pleasure them. Love them just as they are. If they feel a little dry, don’t despair. Use a lubricant or a little coconut oil. If my labia are unshapely, they’re still my labia and respond very nicely to gentleness and tenderness. If I don’t love and respect my ageing body, in need of gentle, loving, patient care, then who will, for God’s sake?
By Nighat Gandhi
July 5, 2021
My Sexuality is My DIY Project
I often imagine if I had been able to access friendly and empowering comprehensive sexuality education from my childhood, how different my life would have turned out to be.
By Surbhi Bhalla
August 25, 2023
Meanings and Meaninglessness
Gender has perplexed me throughout life. I never quite understood femininity or masculinity much – I mostly lived in what other people thought I was. One thing I did know always is that I never, ever, want to be seen as a man. But can I still hold masculinity?
By Sudipta Das
May 19, 2025
Masculinity and Media Literacy – Netflix’s Adolescence
Adolescence manages to highlight the reality of growing up in a world with the Internet where everything – the good, the bad, the questionable – is only a touch away.
By Ambica Naithani
April 17, 2025
Making the most of our lives
I realised that we are constantly thinking about the future and our life as we age, and are afraid of facing the world alone. The uncertainty of future events, of which there are many combinations, makes us feel insecure and vulnerable.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
March 1, 2021
LOVE SEX + ROBOTS
Even with all the risks that AI poses, it seems a safer bet than humans trying to exploit dating apps to make quick money.
By Siddharth Narrain
December 18, 2023
Love matters – A review of Atypical (Season 1)
Sam is an 18-year-old boy who believes that he is ready to have a girlfriend. He is on the autistic…
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
February 16, 2023
Love in May
My birthday is in May, a peak time of summer heat in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh. We knew that it was going to be hot, but did not have any idea of how bad it could get.
By Anahita Koshur
August 19, 2025
Love belongs to me too
I see people and places,
Couples and crushes
I hear giggles and whispers.
These are the secrets untold to me.
By Gayathri
March 1, 2023