Interview
Interview – Madhu Mehra – Part 2
I think that the level of power that law makers, opinion builders and stakeholders wield over the more vulnerable and younger people in society is enormous. Yet, these actors have chosen to focus only on building a policy regime of sexual violence, even to the extent of allowing juvenile offenders to be treated as adult accused – without any corresponding effort to build a sex positive culture within which they may exercise agency.
By Shikha Aleya
July 16, 2018
Interview: Madhu Mehra – Part 1
In this issue of In Plainspeak, we interview Madhu Mehra, lawyer and feminist activist. She is a founding member and the Executive Director of Partners for Law in Development (PLD), a legal resource group on women’s rights.
By Shikha Aleya
July 2, 2018
Interview – Ratnaboli Ray
See, whenever people speak about sexuality, they speak of violence; that seems to be the only recognised form of sexuality in the lives of people with mental health conditions. But there are so many happy, sexy, lovely, delicious stories in there.
By Shikha Aleya
June 1, 2018
Interview: Nandini Rao
Feminist, activist, writer, counsellor and trainer, Nandini Rao, focuses on issues of gender-based violence and discrimination, sexuality and disability and on incest and child sexual abuse.
By Shikha Aleya
May 1, 2018
Interview: Satya Rai Nagpaul
Satya Rai Nagpaul, award winning cinematographer and FTII graduate, trans man, and trans rights activist, speaks about the influence and role of memory in his own life.
By Shikha Aleya
April 2, 2018
Interview: Sridhar Rangayan
In this Issue of In Plainspeak, we speak to Sridhar Rangayan about dimensions of friendship and sexuality. Sridhar is an…
By Shikha Aleya
February 1, 2018
NIVEDITA MENON: ON FEMINISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Nivedita Menon is a feminist writer and a political and social activist. She is a professor of political thought at…
By Shweta Krishnan
January 2, 2018
Interview: Shilpa Phadke
‘Why would you want to loiter?’ is an excellent question to ask feminist researcher, parent, educator and activist Dr. Shilpa…
By Shikha Aleya
December 18, 2017
Interview: Devdutt Pattanaik
Devdutt Pattanaik writes on relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of management, governance and leadership. Trained in medicine, he worked for 15 years in the healthcare and pharma industries before he focussed on his passion full time. He is author of 30 books and 600 columns, with bestsellers such as My Gita, Jaya, Sita, Business Sutra and the 7 Secret Series.
By Shaifali Agrawal
November 1, 2017
Interview: Dhrubo Jyoti
In November 2015, during the Delhi Queer Pride March, three individuals held up signs that read, ‘Dalit, Queer, Proud’, establishing…
By Shikha Aleya
October 16, 2017
Interview: Manjula Pradeep
Manjula Pradeep is a lawyer and former Executive Director of the Navsarjan Trust, a grassroots organisation working to empower Dalits…
By Sonia Dhawan
October 3, 2017
Interview: Shohini Ghosh
Both fiction and non-fiction are capable of great complexity if the making is in the hands of someone capable and complex. I have always held that good films – fiction, non-fiction or hybrid– emerge not from a familiarity with the subject, though that’s essential – but an understanding of the language of cinema.
By Radhika Chandiramani
September 1, 2017
An Interview with Disability and Sexuality Rights Activist Kiran
He is the founder of a number of support organisations that focus on sexuality and disability issues at the grassroots. Over multiple conversations conducted in Hindi and English, Kiran and Shikha Aleya discussed issues of sexuality, access and disability based on some of Kiran’s life experiences.
By Shikha Aleya
INTERVIEW: PAWAN DHALL ON HIS OWN JOURNEY OF BUILDING COMMUNITIES – PART 2
Shikha Aleya: What are some of the biggest barriers you have faced in your efforts to create dialogue and visibilise…
By Shikha Aleya
Interview: Pawan Dhall on his own journey of building communities – Part 1
In this issue of In Plainspeak, we interview Pawan Dhall, Founding Trustee of Varta Trust, queer activist, writer and social researcher. He is also the editor of the Varta webzine, promoting and sustaining dialogue on gender and sexuality, across diverse groups of people. As Pawan says, “We are all strung together on a spectrum of gender and sexuality, and we don’t have to be fixed at a single point on the spectrum throughout our lives.”
By Shikha Aleya