A voice in my head said: It’s a review; tell what you’ve read. Ask them to buy this book if you liked it, or ask them to stay away from it. The other one said, inspired by Joan Didion: If you’re not sure about this paragraph, place it in the middle; no one will notice it. Who knows what people do and do not notice, anyway?
By Saurabh Sharma Apr 14 2021 |
Kirpal, an out gay man, who played an instrumental role in getting Section 377 scrapped, if appointed, would become “India’s first openly gay judge,” the Indian Express reports. But he laments whether “this (non-elevation) has probably got to do with my sexuality.”
By Saurabh Sharma Apr 8 2021 |
With this listicle, I try to present books that contain within themselves a myriad of experiences of being a woman. I have read these books, which is why they are included in this list. The business of recommendation is tricky, and murky sometimes.
By Saurabh Sharma Mar 8 2021 |
This heteronormative gaze allows the straight account to take the centerstage at all times. Any marginalized narrative—in particular, the stories of and by trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people—remains on the periphery. A queer story’s literary merit, economic viability, readership, and cultural value, are all decided by the barometer of the successes of established ‘straight’ narratives. It is expected to be calibrated as a response to this overculture.
By Saurabh Sharma Jan 20 2021 |
Queer cinema has been treated outlandish, never mainstream. But it changed in 2020. From miniseries to documentaries to movies, and mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of great streaming content was released on the OTT platforms.
By Saurabh Sharma Dec 31 2020 |
The Indian queer is sure to find semblances of vulnerability arising out societal oppression and disgust toward queer people, making it watch-worthy.
By Saurabh Sharma Dec 28 2020 |
Burbidge’s personal, sexual-exploration accounts were published in an Australian magazine in 1987 without his knowledge. But, later, he took upon himself and told his story of coming to India and embracing himself as is.
By Saurabh Sharma Dec 14 2020 |
Karen and Barry Mason ran a gay pornographic bookstore, which was perhaps one of the largest and the only one of its kind in the 80s and 90s in the US. Soon, it also became the largest distributors of gay magazines and DVDs, until, as they said “the digital took over.”
By Saurabh Sharma Sep 25 2020 |
Naming one book after the other Saikat’s celebratory tone about the fact that much gay fiction and nonfiction is getting published he misses one more point: diversity. How many fictions, nonfictions by trans writer, Saikat? Or for that matter by any gender nonconforming person? Or anyone under the sun except gay man or woman?
By Saurabh Sharma Aug 24 2020 |
Lovely is a hijra who works at traffic signals for a living. She lives in a slum in Kolkata and dreams of becoming an actor. Not only that she dreams it, but is working toward it. The setting is a breath of fresh air as most of the novels, when describing the movie world, are obsessed with the tinseltown, Mumbai.
By Saurabh Sharma Jul 23 2020 |
Subramanian Swamy’s homophobic tweet is making rounds. No one knows how he thought to share a piece of filth from the past. It’s posted two years ago, when Section 377 was read down. No one seems to learn from their mistakes, certainly not Mr Swamy.
By Saurabh Sharma Jun 27 2020 |
I always wished there could be as many books by queer authors or books on subjects concerning queer lives, but after reading The Other Guy (Leadstart Publishing, 2017) by Aakash Mehrotra I don’t know if this book, and its likes, help us achieve the function of literature.
By Saurabh Sharma Jun 22 2020 |
The opening shot couldn’t have been more dramatic. Waseem is waiting at the platform for a train to come, he looks left and smiles at a woman who leaves; the next moment his phone beeps.
By Saurabh Sharma Jun 5 2020 |
Today, I’m out to everyone; except my mother and grandmother (for reasons I wouldn’t like to share). My brother thinks that homosexuality can be treated. Thanks to Baba Ramdev, who, according to him, has a cure for everything. I do know, as a matter of fact, that my brother and my sister-in-law did go to watch Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan; however, I don’t know what it taught them.
By Saurabh Sharma Apr 23 2020 |
Yesterday, I finished reading this in an hour, and basis my current political understanding of the feminist and queer discourse, I thought to again indulge in a conversation with this book and assess the magnitude of its contents.
By Saurabh Sharma Apr 21 2020 |
When I finished browsing through this heavy pink-covered hardcover book that has Paolo Sergio de Castro’s image on the front – who died of AIDS and the book is dedicated to him – with “wish you were here” in golden color, I was overwhelmed with emotions. These 128 pages, cover to cover, carries the making of someone; multiple landscapes that change as abruptly as does the subjects of assessment of Sunil.
By Saurabh Sharma Mar 19 2020 |
Being a collection of vignettes doesn’t mean that this book doesn’t have a structure. It does. Divided in three part — bucketing several private events that happened between 1968–1997, 1997–2006, and after 2006, and juxtaposing them with the social reality in France — this memoir takes us through the author’s internal dilemmas and struggles.
By Saurabh Sharma Mar 18 2020 |
There’s a way in which nation works. And some nations believe in their “greatness.” They believe in their masculinity, their powerfulness, their unbreakability, their purity.
By Saurabh Sharma Feb 25 2020 |
It didn’t take me a while to understand why this tweet against him started trending. Now I can connect the dots: Kaushal made them — the upper-caste, heterosexual and patriarchal regime — uncomfortable by being a Dalit, queer and, on top of that, being from JNU, now DSE.
By Saurabh Sharma Jan 20 2020 |
