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Representation of Polyamory and Anger in Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House

“I just – I think I’ve always been polyamorous, and it makes so much sense. I want to be with both of you. I want to make this work. Is that crazy?” (39)   I read Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House as part of a graduate course on queer of color critique. The experimental memoir has found quite a huge following and rightly so, given the ways in which the author places herself within a complex assemblage of queer histories and narratives, their slippages and (mis)readings. This was the first time that I came across a memoir that drew so heavily from familiar queer tropes and theories of knowledge. In short, it blew me away. However, as I kept reading reviews that unanimously appreciated the generic interventions, I realized that nobody was talking about aspects of the book that left me somewhat disappointed – its representation of polyamory and anger.  Early in the memoir, I almost wanted to believe Machado’s partner even though I was aware that she is likely to be portrayed as m
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My Casteism and Privileges: Test for the Upper Caste/ Savarna in Academia and Beyond

Prologue Academia, whether in the US or India is a deeply exclusive space, available to a select few. These few are often picked and pruned on the basis of ‘merit’ which is a pre-legitimizing step toward any production of knowledge. Often liberal students, in particular perform wokeness in order to legitimize their scholarship or appear subversive on social media platforms. I am guilty of perpetuating this performance by seeking to publicize my attempts to address my casteism and access points within academia and beyond. This piece of writing is an attempt to engage with fellow upper caste people by redoing the models provided by Devon W. Carbado  and  Peggy McIntosh . Of course, Hindu upper castes are diverse groups but as historically privileged communities, each one of us benefits by keeping Dalit and Bahujan voices in the margins. Confession as Performance In 2019, I asked my Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) course instructors, NM and PB about the relevance o
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Notes from Darjeeling

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… Sunflower isn’t the most visible hotel at the mall anymore. The McDonald’s outlet has closed down, perhaps. For an 11-year-old, Darjeeling was a rare experience, a privilege bestowed by extended family members whom I had begged to take me along. For the next 15 years this would remain my only such trip. Today, the place remains warm; the people a little too kind. On your way towards the mall – thronged by fellow tourists as usual – you will notice streams of flags stretching across the sky. There might be some boys painting the walls too. World Cup is just a few days away and Darjeeling, as I am later told by Kapil, is crazy about football... much like Kolkata, a city that holds its purse strings tight. Fig 1: Darjeeling Mall It is easy to forget that only 12 months back, the hill station, a former British administrative capital (during summers) was completely shut down reiterating demands of an independent separate state. To describe the event as mere ‘shutdown’, wou
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Intrusion of Corporate Organisations in Pride Marches

In a Facebook post on 26 June, 2017 Shubham Bose Roy argues that Faraz Arif Ansari’s short film Sisak is hardly the first silent film on queer issues in India as claimed by the media. Shubham insists – “please don’t self-aggrandize queer products in the name of novelty, because such misleading publicity erases the history of queer art and cinema that was done in far more challenging times than this”. This intervention comes a few months after another gender non-binary friend Vqueeram Aditya Sahai had lied down at the intersection near Ramjas College to stop what IIT Delhi claimed to be the “first Pride” of Delhi University. The poster that was shared in the Delhi Pride Committee’s google group by Dhrubo Jyoti had the names of Gaylaxy and Humsafar Trust as sponsors of the event. On the day of the march though, their representatives claimed that they didn’t fund it but only provided guidance. The new pamphlets still had the name of Rendezvous, IIT’s fest funded by Reliance. When Vqu
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A Conversation with My Grandfather on the Cycles of Violence in Bangladesh and India

Ranadaprasad Roy Chowdhury is former member of Awami League and was associated with the Mukti Bahini movement during Bangladesh's War of Independence. Here, I speak to him on the current crisis in India and Bangladesh w.r.t. shrinking spaces of dialogue and discussion. Q: Recently there has been a rise in the number of hate crimes against minorities in India. Do you think it’s any different in Bangladesh? Will the majority always be the oppressor? A: I think it’s human nature to assert power. But in Bangladesh the Hindus used to earlier looked down upon the Muslims. Hindus were also more educated and powerful. They were extremely conscious of pollution and purity and would never allow Muslims in the proximity of their well or drinking water. Q: So the Hindus were equally anxious of both Muslim and Dalit bodies? A: Yes. Muslims were also wary of these customs and followed them blindly. You see, Hindus controlled the economy even though there might have been more
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“Hum Bharat Ki Mata Nahi Banenge”: Resistance and Rage

One of the rallying cries of Delhi University women students’ group Pinjra Tod has been “ Hum Bharat Ki Mata Nahi Banenge ” (“We Won’t Be the Mothers of India”). On February 28, when students and teachers of Delhi University and other academic institutions walked in rage and mourning through the familiar lanes of North Campus to condemn the violence perpetrated by members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (the student wing of RSS) and Delhi Police in and around Ramjas College few days earlier, many fellow protesters asked me why I was holding a banner “I won’t Mother India”, that may invite unnecessary censure. In media interviews, the Right-wing students' group had justified their hooliganism by referring to some imagined “anti-national” sloganeering during the English Literary Society seminar on ‘Cultures of Protest’ in Ramjas college. It is not clear which slogans were categorized as “anti-national” – “ABVP se   Azadi ” or non-compliance to the symbol of   Bharat Mata . I
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The tolerant Hindu: Lynchings and Carnivorous Cows

It is raining as usual in Kolkata, quite a respite from the hot dryness of the capital where I have been living since the last three years, juggling between my research work and teaching commitments. Cousins and their partners arrive one by one settling in my room that has recently been painted orange – suggestive only of my beloved fruit.  One cousin who is also a TMC party worker casually asks me – “What are these anti-national things that u have got yourself into in Delhi?”. What ensued was a fiery dialogue over the current state of affairs, that somewhat culminated in admissions like these – Male Cousin: I am a Hindu first. Me: Haha. Much nationalism. Not even Indian? Male Cousin: Being Hindu is the same as being Indian. Me: And Bengali? Husband of Another Cousin: All Bengalis are Hindus. I wasn’t surprised by the flow of this conversation, having long known that the celebrated liberal ethos of the Bengali  bhadralok   is a myth propagated by Bengali nationalists p
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