{"id":28944,"date":"2026-01-16T12:16:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/?p=28944"},"modified":"2026-01-19T11:50:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:20:23","slug":"anjum-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/anjum-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Anjum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>After Arundhati Roy*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Sara-IP-June-Queering-Anjum-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>You dreamt of your pink <em>dupatta <\/em>flying over the Lal Quila last night.<br>It was only yesterday when Maulana <em>saab <\/em>asked you \u2013 where do old birds go to die?<br>Your scowl escaped his clouded eyes but he sighed when you said<br>you&#8217;d build a graveyard for them in your home count their feathers as they shed them off wash their bodies when they&#8217;re cold;<br>You said you&#8217;d do their <em>janaaza<\/em>.<br>He taught you to spell your name and you said how you are Anjum and Majnu and both and neither<br>You are the lover and the beloved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You dreamt of your pink <em>dupatta <\/em>flying and heard <em>jisne gulaabi rang deenaa dupatta mera<\/em>,<br>You danced to the song and the sound of the hundred bells of the <em>ghungroo <\/em>Kulsoom Bi tied around your ankles<br>you felt like the rain on the roof and dust swirling around<br>the <em>dalan <\/em>of Khwabgah \u2013 the house of dreams.<br>You sing, you sing Anjum, with the dying song in your throat<br>with the after-taste of Rooh Afza with the sting of the sweet syringe,<br>the riot inside your body, the man and the woman in your voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes. Sometimes you feel like the pink stain of cheap lipstick on your lips when you smudged it the first time \u2013 pink, but not pink enough<br>When you wanted to be like Razia \u2013<br>Razia who slapped you thrice when you lost your way<br>when you walked in three hours late and felt every bit like<br>the <em>khushi khor<\/em> of Khwabgah \u2013 like you preyed on their happiness<br>Anjum,<br>remember. The smoothened calluses of your palms the stench of Hamdard ointments the brown of your eyes the poem that you are the <em>badtameez shayar<\/em> could never do justice to.<br>Remember, the attar you wore, the braid with pink roses that choked the <em>imam&#8217;s imaan<\/em>, the fire that still kindled in your heart and your eyes and your ribs.<br>You lived through the convulsions in your bowels when you felt yourself but not yourself and it was your body but not your body you clawed at your skin because it did not feel like your skin that you wanted to worship but you never could Anjum,<br>you never could worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, you forgave the <em>duniya<\/em>, Anjum.<br>You held the patchwork quilt your patchwork body the patchwork voice.<br>You calmed the riot.<br>You, with your pink <em>dupatta <\/em>flying over the Lal Quila and your crooked brows<br>are both the squalor and the sequins of Chandni Chowk, the lanes of <em>puraani <\/em>Dilli,<br>the <em>adhaan <\/em>from the Jama Masjid, the blasphemy you laugh at,<br>you love your <em>fitrat <\/em>Anjum<br><em>Theher<\/em>!<br><em>Theher<\/em>, because you own a heart too large you are your own <em>mazhab <\/em>and people,<br>people, Anjum, should hear you say \u2013<br>\u201cI am, I am not Anjum. I&#8217;m Anjuman. I&#8217;m a <em>mehfil<\/em>, I&#8217;m a gathering.<br>Of everybody and nobody, of everything and nothing.<br>Is there anyone else you&#8217;d like to invite?\u201d<\/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\/\">June 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>*Anjum is a character from Arundhati Roy\u2019s second novel, <em>The Ministry of Utmost Happiness<\/em>. She is an intersex transwoman, and joins a community of <em>hijras <\/em>(trans\/intersex people who follow a kinship system in the Indian subcontinent) situated in Old Delhi. Khwabgah is their home and Kulsoom bi is their <em>guru <\/em>(leader\/head).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Glossary: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Adhaan<\/em>: the prayer call in Islam<br><em>Badtameez shayar<\/em>: rude\/audacious poet<br><em>Dalan<\/em>: an open courtyard usually in the centre of the house<br><em>Duniya<\/em>: world\/universe<br><em>Dupatta<\/em>: a long scarf traditionally worn across the Indian subcontinent<br><em>Fitrat<\/em>: one\u2019s innate disposition<br><em>Ghungroo<\/em>: an anklet with small metallic bells stitched into it, used in many classical dances in India<br><em>Imam&#8217;s imaan<\/em>: faith of the imam (the prayer leader of a mosque)<br><em>Janaaza<\/em>: the funeral ritual in Islam<br><em>Jisne gulaabi rang deenaa dupatta mer<\/em>a: line from the song <em>Inhin Logo Ne<\/em> from the movie <em>Pakeezah <\/em>(1972), literally translated as, \u201cthe one who stained my scarf pink\u201d<br><em>Khushi khor<\/em>: one who feeds on somebody else\u2019s happiness<br><em>Mazhab<\/em>: religion\/faith<br><em>Mehfil<\/em>: a congregation where usually recitals of poetry\/song\/dances take place<br><em>Puraani <\/em>Dilli: old Delhi<br><em>Rooh Afza<\/em>: an Indian origin herbal drink used in the making of non-alcoholic sweet concoctions<br><em>Saab<\/em>: honorary title (informal), equivalent to \u201csir\u201d<br><em>Theher<\/em>: halt\/stay\/wait<\/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\/@joranquinten?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Joran Quinten<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/red-and-black-stadium-chairs-8M-kXkncZuc?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You dreamt of your pink dupatta flying over the Lal Quila last night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":513,"featured_media":26881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5148,3401],"tags":[4536,4537,2111,46,367,2061,40,3912,261,1400,1105],"class_list":{"0":"post-28944","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-anjum","10":"tag-arundhati-roy","11":"tag-faith","12":"tag-hijra","13":"tag-identity","14":"tag-non-binary","15":"tag-queer","16":"tag-queering","17":"tag-queerness","18":"tag-the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness","19":"tag-trans"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28944","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\/513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28944"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29006,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28944\/revisions\/29006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}