So, we all know the big hullaballoo at the US Open Women’s Final’s last weekend. Serena Williams, 23-time Grand Slam singles winner faced off against newbie and rising star Naomi Osaka…and lost. Emphatically. Because Osaka outplayed her. She beat Williams – her idol, who won her first Grand Slam when Osaka was two years old. The crowd – in an act of unsporting childishness -– drowned out the award ceremony with boos. Serena shut them up. Heartbreakingly, a distraught Naomi apologized for their favorite losing. Not your happy finale: certainly not for Naomi. Poor girl. She deserves better…
Oh, what a happy day to be back! The title of this piece, a quote from Goethe, is the opening line of the historic verdict delivered by the Indian Supreme Court today. A five-judge bench ruled unanimously that Section 377 of the IPC – that criminalizes homosexual acts – was unconstitutional. It violates the fundamental rights to equality (Article 14), non-discrimination (Article 15), and privacy (Article 21.) The anti-homosexual sex laws were imposed in India as part of laws against public vice and immorality instituted across the British empire. Section 377 was over 158 years old, a Victorian…
It’s not “female competition”; it’s self-abuse “It’s common for a girl’s parents to ask her prospective in-laws if she will be able to work after marriage.” For women who come from slightly progressive Indian families, often marriage is a regression to an older time. The rules have always differed for the daughters of a house and the daughters-in-law [unless they are all equally oppressed]. In the same house, daughters are ‘given freedom’ to go to University, earn degrees and build a career, while the mother or daughters-in-law are…
Three decades ago, my grandmother washed her hands off people. She decided to wage a silent rebellion against the world. She made friends with plants and dogs. Wept over wilted flowers. Every night she’d get high on Xanax and we’d listen to music together. I’d pester her for stories and she’d weave the most beautiful ones: but only if I promised to switch the tape when its side played out. A single thread ran through all her tales: she would take the mundane and make it magical: a broom would turn into a wizard, a book…
Creator of Living Stories Sanchana Krishnan writes about her journey to honesty about mental health. * * * The Tamil word for ‘dawn’ (“vidii”, with an emphasis on the ‘d’) is suspiciously similar to the Tamil word for ‘explode’ (“vedii”). Between the ages of two and four, I spent the better part of too many nights waiting restlessly for the explosion of dawn to bring the world back to me. Hours were spent jamming my curly head annoyingly close to my parents’ sleeping bodies, checking for breath. For some inexplicable reason, I was absolutely terrified that my parents would just stop breathing if…
The Rarr Woman’s Story and an analysis of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act in India: How Free are We? My piece, published in TheBeacon.in If you already read the Rarr Woman’s story, scroll down to Part II If there is a beginning to this, it is probably the night that the Rarr Woman told me her story. You could, if you’re the sort of person that likes to visualize things, imagine her to be any woman. Someone with the face of the lady you saw while you were stuck in a traffic…
I entered the hospital with my older man walking behind me, ignored my nerves, and approached the reception. “Pregnancy test ke liye kahan jau?” (Where do I go for a pregnancy test?), I asked the man at the desk in a very non-dramatic, casual way. He looked like he’d seen the devil -shocked and horrified. I ignored him, as he called over a female nurse. She walked me to a lab, and what a walk it was! A true walk of shame. Think Cersei in Game of Thrones, on her walk of atonement. It felt that demeaning. I…
Every week in ‘Brief Notes’, I follow-up on the In Her Words post, exploring parts that I found novel, uniquely enlightening, or just worthy of repeating! Last week I posted an interview with fashion blogger and body positivity icon Meenu Goel. Here are some aspects that really stood out to me. Firstly, Meenu spoke about how difficult it is for women to feel confident about their bodies, even when they so badly want to. Much of what fascinates me about feminism is this situation, right here. How does one navigate a situation where the environment is just…
‘In Her Words’ showcases the stories, experiences and interviews of women who have something to share. Here’s presenting the first in the series. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting up with fashion blogger and body positivity champion, Meenu Goel of Shesasixteen. We talked for hours about fashion and of course, feminism. With an Instagram following nearing 20k, a successful blog, and numerous features in various media, Meenu has been a trailblazer of the body positivity movement in India for about a year and a bit now. She’s a (size) sixteen, which was also the…