{"id":28943,"date":"2026-01-16T12:17:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/?p=28943"},"modified":"2026-01-19T11:45:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:15:36","slug":"when-i-grow-up-i-want-to-be-a-list-of-queer-possibilities-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/when-i-grow-up-i-want-to-be-a-list-of-queer-possibilities-2\/","title":{"rendered":"When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Queer Possibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>After Chen Chen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio aligncenter\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Aakanksha-IP-June-Queering-Queer-Possibilities-Recording.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Listen to a recording of the poem read out by the poet.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be a gentle<br>friendship breaker for S. To be<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a candle-lit confetti apology for S. To be a casket<br>of apologies for anyone keening<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>by the river. To be sign language<br>poetry for R. To be \u2018poem<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>of the day\u2019 for no one in particular. To be an interest-free<br>loan for H Didi. To be for H Didi, somehow,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a son who returns home before 3. To be Delhi<br>metro for my sister, who will be<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ScotRail for me. To be a fiery Edinburgh<br>sun spilling through her window. Sometimes, just to<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>be a burnt-out sun. To be online-shopping<br>companion for mum, who is an obsessed<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>grocery orderer for me. To be,<br>a <em>barni <\/em>full of giggles in her kitchen. To not<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>let her be \u2013 just the kitchen. To be, for my father,<br>a Hindi language computer. To be a little<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>less of computers. To be, for me (finally),<br>an early morning girly and <em>Raat ki rani<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>in one body. To be <em>Gurbani<\/em>, and <em>langar <\/em>and<br><em>phulkari<\/em>, all things faithful and free. To be<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Punjab for Y. To be fluent in Hindi<br>for Y\u2019s mother. To be for Y, alkaline coffee and<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>silky wonton skins. To be everything that Y<br>puts in her mouth \u2013 mint toothpaste, plastic seals,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Combi-flam. To be for Y, everything she wants me<br>to be \u2013 poet, tidy, housewife, coffee machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article was originally published in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/editorial-queering-as-a-way-of-life\/\">July 2024: Queering as a Way of Life<\/a> of In Plainspeak.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Glossary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Barni<\/em>: A ceramic jar with a lid, traditionally used for storing pickles.<br><em>Raat ki rani: <\/em>Night-blooming jasmine. It literally translates to &#8220;queen of the night&#8221;.<br><em>Gurbani:<\/em> A Sikh term very commonly used to refer to various compositions by the Sikh Gurus and other writers of Guru Granth Sahib, the central text of Sikhism.<br><em>Langar:<\/em> The communal meal shared by Sikhs and all visitors to the gurdwara.<br><em>Phulkari:<\/em> The folk embroidery of the Punjab region and Gulkari of Sindh in South Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><em>Cover Image: Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@johnmoeses?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">John Moeses Bauan<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/house-miniature-arrangement-Oj-G9GYlLr0?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To be a gentle \/ friendship breaker for S. To be \/\/ a candle-lit confetti apology for S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":515,"featured_media":26931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5148,3401],"tags":[4539,4538,3536,367,4132,40,3912,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-28943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anthology-issue-january-2026","8":"category-fiction-poetry","9":"tag-being","10":"tag-chen-chen","11":"tag-expression","12":"tag-identity","13":"tag-promise","14":"tag-queer","15":"tag-queering","16":"tag-queerness"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28943"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29005,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28943\/revisions\/29005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}