SISA spaces

Interview – Raj Mariwala
A photograph of MHI director Raj Mariwala; she is playing with a grey-brown dog, squatting in grass.
Interview – Raj Mariwala

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.
By Shikha Aleya
January 3, 2023
Interview – Raj Mariwala
Interview – Raj Mariwala
A photograph of MHI director Raj Mariwala; she is playing with a grey-brown dog, squatting in grass.
Interview – Raj Mariwala

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.
By Shikha Aleya
July 5, 2021
Interview – Raj Mariwala
Interview – Manak Matiyani
Photo of a smiling man who is wearing a blue patterned shirt and standing in front of a brick wall
Interview – Manak Matiyani

As we grow older, moral codes, conventions of appropriateness and shame, and the utilitarian and income-focused education we get make us lose that stability. The idea of play to me is about bringing back that ability and comfort into the lives of people so that they can actually play.

By Shikha Aleya
December 1, 2021
Interview – Manak Matiyani
Interview – Indu Harikumar
Interview – Indu Harikumar

I was watching something recently that said it was a bad thing to be vulnerable, but I don’t think it is a bad thing. I do see that there is a certain amount of power in vulnerability, it also needs courage, in my experience.
By Shikha Aleya
April 5, 2021
Interview – Indu Harikumar
Interview – Coupledom is a mix of meanings
A photograph of colourful weaves of threads.
Interview – Coupledom is a mix of meanings

Coupledom may or may not be for everyone, and does not mean the same thing to everyone. Importantly, coupledom does not hold the same value or position in our lives, even in the lives of the individuals perceived to be parts of a couple structure.
By Shikha Aleya
February 15, 2022
Interview – Coupledom is a mix of meanings
Interview – Anjlee Agarwal
Cover_Photo_interview_with_Anjlee
Interview – Anjlee Agarwal

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.
By Shikha Aleya
February 4, 2023
Interview – Anjlee Agarwal
Interview – Anahita Sarabhai
A photograph of co-founder of QueerAbad, Anahita Sarabhai
Interview – Anahita Sarabhai

As a queer person, it’s hard not to think right away of chosen family. A term that has become relatively well-known by now, but not always understood I find. One of the primary support systems I personally, like many queer folx, depend on, are ones that we develop and nurture over time.
By Shikha Aleya
November 2, 2020
Interview – Anahita Sarabhai
Interview – Amba Salelkar
A photograph of disability rights advocate and activist Amba Salelkar
Interview – Amba Salelkar

But not every issue of discrimination and conflict can go to a court.Say for example, affording privacy to a young adult with disability to understand their body and sexual responses, or enabling them to access accessible sex toys or assistive devices related to sexual pleasure.
By Shikha Aleya
September 1, 2020
Interview – Amba Salelkar
Interview – #covid19 and conversations online: Listening in
On a black background, binary digits are displayed in white, as if on a screen. In the middle is a red heart shape, made from the binary digits.
Interview – #covid19 and conversations online: Listening in

We are plugged in to all kinds of data from a variety of sources, through technology, and even a window view of this space is like stepping into a global COVID control data centre. We are standing up to be counted, to be seen, to do, to contribute, to advocate, to remind, to rectify and restore, to strengthen a growing network of support and response to crisis on a scale we have neither been able to process or measure.
By Shikha Aleya
May 15, 2021
Interview – #covid19 and conversations online: Listening in
Interview – Prakash
Photo of a young smiling man taken from an upper angle. He has side-swept black hair and a bear. He is wearing a white shirt, black leather jacket and square spectacles.
Interview – Prakash

“I feel that connection is the survival language of the LGBTQIA+ community. The sense of a common struggle makes way for developing quick yet lasting connections among the community…”
By Shikha Aleya
November 15, 2022
Interview – Prakash
Interview – Parmesh Shahani
Parmesh Shahani speaking at LOUD 2024 at SIBM Pune.
Interview – Parmesh Shahani

The larger question is, who gets to bring all of themselves to the workplace, and who is either not allowed, or feels scared, or is bullied for doing so?
By Shikha Aleya
September 18, 2024
Interview – Parmesh Shahani
Interview – Dr. Ketaki Chowkhani
A photo of Ketaki Chowkhani standing at a podium and dressed in a sari.
Interview – Dr. Ketaki Chowkhani

I feel that parents, teachers and CSE can make room for these disparate realities of adolescents by first acknowledging the limits of formal sexuality education, that the curriculum imparted formally fails in providing the kind of learning that happens through other sources.

By Shikha Aleya
December 18, 2024
Interview – Dr. Ketaki Chowkhani
Interview – Chand
A photo of Chand dressed in a red sari with a white blouse, holding a mike on a stage and reading out from their phone.
Interview – Chand

Safe spaces in the way that they often circulate are depoliticised and the assumption is that there won’t be any conflicts, but there can be no safe space without an exchange of ideas, which will create some bad feelings leading to conflict.
By Akshita Singh and Pragya Solanki
November 19, 2024
Interview – Chand
Innovating Sexuality
An image of a laptop and a cup held up close to it. A video conferencing platform is open on the laptop’s screen, divided into squares displaying the participants’ faces.
Innovating Sexuality

How might we think of sexuality as innovation, before we jump onto producing new technologies? Does the language of innovation, that of newness, invention and change, have anything to offer in rethinking structures of intimacy?
By Ishan
August 3, 2020
Innovating Sexuality
In Appreciation of Singlehood
A photograph of a woman facing a water body lined with blades of grass. The sky is tinged with orange and blue.
In Appreciation of Singlehood

Growing up, for me, has been about accepting that the loneliness and sadness woven into the fabric of my being do not go away with entering conventional arrangements like monogamous relationships or marriage.
By Siddhi Pandey
February 1, 2021
In Appreciation of Singlehood
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