(This book review was first published in Business Standard.) “In the tug of war between the demands of the traditional conception of society and the rights of an individual to their identity and dignity, the Supreme Court has come down firmly in favour of the individual,” writes Saurabh Kirpal, a…

(This piece was first published in Business Standard.) When was the last time you had a meal without using an electronic device for company, either to check notifications from friends and colleagues or to click on items recommended by algorithms for your consumption? What makes social media platforms the default…

(This piece was first published in Deccan Herald on 20th September 2020. Not Only But Also is a fortnightly column with a fresh take on gender, sexuality and more.) When you have grown up in Mumbai, like I have, the poetry of the monsoon can hardly leave you untouched. It…

(This review was first published in Business Standard.) Parmesh Shahani’s new book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace has all the ingredients of a Bollywood blockbuster. There is a strong emotional core with dramatic tension, foreign locations, background music and special appearances. A cross between memoir and manifesto, it…

(This book review was first published in Business Standard.) We are in the middle of a rapidly changing discourse around gender and sexuality. Old definitions appear narrow. New vocabularies seem out of reach. The truth of the matter is that multiple realities, often incompatible at first sight, coexist in our…

(This book review was first published in Business Standard.) Why would you want to read a book about love? Do you care to learn from people who can theorize about this subject? Are you trying to be a better lover? Do you think that life has passed you by, and…

(An edited version of this piece was published in Business Standard under the headline ‘A Different Dissent’.) It is easy to characterize activists as angry, flag-waving troublemakers who oppose everything merely for the sake of drawing attention to themselves but this perception erases the crucial role they play in shaping…

(An edited version of this book review was first published in Business Standard.) What are the ideas and tools needed to imagine and create the world we want to live in? Can we move from blaming people to scrutinizing arrangements that normalize forms of power and practices of discrimination? …

(An edited version of this piece was first published in Mid-Day on 22nd February 2020 under the headline ‘Fails to present queer love with sensitivity) One does not go to Bollywood looking for nuanced representation of queer characters but, when a film markets itself as a crusader against homophobia, it…