roshomon-jo - Tumblr blog

[roshomon-jo]

Building an Interspecific Queer Utopia or An Eden for Snakes and Sinners

(IQECO) The Institute of Queer Ecology brings a collaborative effort to nurture new environmental trajectories based on the concept of interconnectivity and inseparability. With the guidance of theories such as queer and feminist theories and decolonial thinking the organisation look at the critical importance of things that are happening invisibly and that we are mostly of out of sight. The video explains about a future where we see a tolerant world with full of differences regardless of their colour, creed, sex etc. They enable us to look towards a natural world allowing the entire organism to be itself and not means of a metaphor. The community creates an extended understanding of the essentiality of a future which bothers the biodiversity of sexualities but not the biodiversity of species.  The institute never filters their students which is the highlighting part of their functioning as a successful community. So let’s all collaborate with them and make this world a habitable place which considers everything natural. 

[roshomon-jo]

A. Revathi’s The Truth about me: Quest for Identity

A. Revathi’s truth about me is one among the books that I deal with for my dissertation. She is a fairly well known writer cum activist based in Bangalore. This is her second book as a writer where she documents her own life story of the transformation from a male body to the female body. A major portion of the novel holds her steps to sex work and her choices she made within her hijra houses. From Doraiswamy to Revathi she maintains a very fragile relationship with her family. I find this book to be an honest read giving a self-portrait that makes the struggles of people who dare to deviate from the societal norm that hits you on your face. She does not shy away from informing us everything which includes her flaws in her journey. She often keeps on asking this question throughout her book that why the people don’t acknowledge her feeling of being a woman. As the setting of the book is mostly in Tamil Nadu were she is actually hailed from and Delhi after undergoing the sex assignment surgery. And Delhi especially holds certain historic roots of the hijra community. There is much more about their lives and culture in this book that we realize who we seem begging in the trains makes much complete.

[roshomon-jo]

Pure as Love: Bhima Jewellery’s ad tracing the journey of a Transgender

Here we have the 96 years old established jewellery brand to welcome a special campaign to champion lgbtq rights. But let’s see whether the advertisement is introducing meaningful dialogues on the transgender rights. Giving a quick glance to the concept of the ad in a nutshell we can see a brooding boy transforming into a young confident woman with her family’s support. The vibrant backdrop of Kerala, god’s own country gives an added charm to each and every frame. Unlike from the fair and happy hetero women featuring, it throws opportunities to the possibility of portrayals like these. The primary goal of every ad is to gain better reach and to attract customers. We can even argue on the strategy of marketing the brand adopts to compete in a field like this. In addition, the utopian component in the commercial is that it shows a family accepting their kid which will encourage the public to consider something about this issue.

The change is brought alive by the interaction with jewellery with a pair of anklets that her father gifts to the traditional wedding jewellery that she wears as a South Indian bride. Titled 'Pure As Love,' audiences throughout India have appreciated the commercial. Throughout the advertisement, the protagonist's love support is fully demonstrated by her family and there are no scenes where she is picturized as a victim. Let’s hope that this wipes away the norms of beauty and normalcy of every common person. 

[roshomon-jo]

On Earth we're Briefly Gorgeous- Ocean Vuong

Found this random quote on the internet a few days ago and felt quite interesting about it. Ocean Vuong, the Vietnamese- American novelist and poet’s vivid imagery and emotive language transforms to make a better understanding of his text. The above lines elicit the more intellectual approach to take the inner drive, the inner traumatic forces of memory of his mother and grandmother as well as his own struggle with his sexual identity and bring it all to words. Language is unlocked and born again. His struggles are universal and personal, brutal and beautiful. The main gesture of the novel is a brief true bloom of life and happiness in the early youth, someplace beyond the borders of traditional society, not to deceive, grow-up, establish living. One thing is that there are many pent-up emotions that are released relatively little in these lines. In the shattered past of his mother he tries to make sense of his identity. His maturely-scheduled diction underlying silent monologues of the protagonist makes you articulate words beforehand. These lines in it say “I won’t be afraid if I am already here. Already more than skin can hold” which reminds the threads that address the queerness, class, racism and trauma heritage.  

[roshomon-jo]

Happy Purride!!!

As we know the pride month is approaching and June is well known to be a month which commemorates the struggle for civil rights and ongoing pursuit of equal justice under the law for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities. This year we have India witnessing a surge in Covid 19 infections with over 3 lakh cases which is so devastating. This time let’s focus on celebrating the pride month by following 3 steps

# Adopt a Cat- You might be wondering what is the big deal in adopting a cat during this pandemic period. Having a pet companion makes you feel happier and balanced and moreover there isn’t more entertaining than having a feline friend for you. You can see cats anywhere around your home and therefore it isn’t necessary to buy one from shops. 

# Volunteer or Donate- Let’s initiate a campaign and gather a sum of money to donate to the nearest covid centre for the treatment and also if you aren’t in a state to raise amount it is better to volunteer those activities

# Eco Friendly celebration- Aiming for a sustainable development, let’s make it a point to avoid the use of plastics for this year’s pride month. 

So let us all enjoy pride at our home by celebrating a pride that betters our environment and respects the health of all individuals. 

[roshomon-jo]

Margarita with a Straw: Disability and Representation of a Queer women

We have come across this movie Fire by Deepa Mehta  when dealing with Queer Ecology project and found a myriad exploration the bollywood industry gave at that period of time when mainstream audience had to deal with a topic which was extremely difficult to digest at that moment. In the film Fire, it confronts the agreements which Indian women assume without questioning patriarchy or patriarchal standards, to commit themselves to their fate. The 2014 released Shonali Bose’s film  Margarita with a Straw has also portrayed how we as a society disregard the sexuality of a disabled one. Queer women with a disability is often seen to have no choices of life for their own by the men in India. We see Laila, played by Kalki Koechlin, a woman struggling from cerebral palsy, falls in love with Khanum who is a visually impaired woman played by Sayani Gupta. The film was edited a few times, but Bose encourages to push lesbian romance through censors and to theatrically view the homosexuality in a nation where it was legally a criminal violation at that time. Revathi handling the role of Laila's mother increases the importance of Kalki's character in it. Laila is no different than any other young woman her age, except for the fact that she has cerebral palsy. Margarita asks more questions than she answers with a Straw in certain instances. Without appreciating its cultural background, I cannot comment, but I also wonder how culture overarches: It's too easy to state that due of the unstoppable cast, I found it insulting, but also because of this unmistakable flaw, I am reluctant to commend all that is good.