womanhood

On Learning and Becoming: “To Whom Do I Owe the Woman I Have Become?”
On Learning and Becoming: “To Whom Do I Owe the Woman I Have Become?”

We become women before we become a woman. Of course, we don’t need to try hard to do so…We learn the sides and folds of the gendered box we are in before we gain the perspective to decide we don’t fit in and build a customised box or choose to have no box at all.

By Anjali
January 16, 2026
On Learning and Becoming: “To Whom Do I Owe the Woman I Have Become?”
Three Poems: “I dreamt…”, “The day…”, and “Wedding Album”
A blurry, stylised image of people walking down a street
Three Poems: “I dreamt…”, “The day…”, and “Wedding Album”

I always thought I’d get married in a white mekhla-sador, the paht soft and warming, so in cool weather please.

By Unmana
October 17, 2024
Three Poems: “I dreamt…”, “The day…”, and “Wedding Album”
Questions I want to ask!
Wall painted with a large coloured jigsaw puzzle pattern.
Questions I want to ask!

If you’ve got a body, in which you’re going to negotiate this life, you have to know how it works.
By Suchitra Dalvie
June 18, 2024
Questions I want to ask!
Barabar Kha: Recipes of Transition
A photo of Pith ka Chaawal ka Puttu, black rice steamed with fresh coconut and kneaded with jaggery.
Barabar Kha: Recipes of Transition

Through the rituals of cooking, prayers and sharing our complaints of menstruating, we came together to give space and hold space for each other.
By Afshan Mariam
July 5, 2023
Barabar Kha: Recipes of Transition
The Queerness of Fandom in Bollywood
Poster of Bollywood movie ‘Ek Ladki ko Dekha toh aisa laga..’ Two women in traditional Indian attire are hugging a man in a white suit. The women are facing the front, while only the back of the man can be seen. The title of the movie “Ek Ladki ko Dekha toh aisa laga” is written in the bottom center, followed by text that reads “Directed by Shelly Chopra Dhar.”
The Queerness of Fandom in Bollywood

People looking for queer plots in Bollywood are sometimes disappointed, as the focus on marriage in many films seems to suggest that Bollywood is a conservative genre invested in sanctifying reproductive heteronormativity.
By Ulka Anjaria
November 1, 2021
The Queerness of Fandom in Bollywood
नारीत्व ≠ मातृत्व
An illustration of what makes a family using stick figures. Several different scenarios is sepearate circles. One shows two men and a child; another - a man, a woman, and a child; two women and a child; a man and a child; a woman and a child; two men; a man and a woman; two women; a man, a cat, and a dog; and last - a woman, a cat, and a dog.
नारीत्व ≠ मातृत्व

इस बात के अनेकों कारण हो सकते हैं कि महिलाएँ बच्चे क्यों नहीं चाहती हैं, ठीक वैसे ही जैसे इस बात के अनेकों कारण है कि वे बच्चे क्यों चाहती हैं। बच्चे होने के कारणों को सामान्य करार दिया जाना जबकि बच्चे ना होने की इच्छा को ‘सामान्य से अलग’ माना जाना, शर्मिंदा किया जाना और संदिग्ध की तरह करार दिया जाना, सभी के लिए नारीत्व का ‘एक ही अर्थ’ बनाने वाले है।
By Sheba Remy Kharbanda
October 17, 2016
नारीत्व ≠ मातृत्व
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood
An illustration of what makes a family using stick figures. Several different scenarios is sepearate circles. One shows two men and a child; another - a man, a woman, and a child; two women and a child; a man and a child; a woman and a child; two men; a man and a woman; two women; a man, a cat, and a dog; and last - a woman, a cat, and a dog.
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood

I love children and have at various times in my life flirted with the idea of adoption. But I have known since I was a child that I did not want to birth children. I have never been vague or ambivalent about this decision. I have been consistently clear and concise that this is not my calling.
By Sheba Remy Kharbanda
October 3, 2016
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood