We’ve been taught to believe that desire is the root of all pain and harbinger of much suffering. “Drop all your desires” is the mantra to a happy content life. Our perpetual quest to forgo all our desires and have no expectations has only led to unresolved confusion and chaos.

Think out of the box, and we might see desire as the very essence of the imagination, as the longing of the soul and as the catalyst for success. Without desire there’d be no real existence. Henceforth, when this understanding moves us to performance, it no longer seems unfeasible to think that we can have whatever we want, whenever our heart desires.

When we were deliberating about ideas for the upcoming issue, the design of creating content around sex, desire and carnal passion in the queer realm made perfect sense. Sex takes center stage quite often in our narratives. Intimacy is the ultimate barometer for comfort. In the bedroom, you can find yourself hesitant and anxious, or at complete ease. Our desire seeks sanctuary in others, exploring the unfathomable difficulties of opening up to someone when you’re busy fighting the fears, confronting the demons in your own head.

However, we realized that this issue might become a mere collection of erotic stories, further stereotyping and generalizing the queer community within the parochial perspective of sensuality and lust. This myopic focus on queer lives might stifle the Zine.

Therefore we thought about our lives, and the lives of others who have shared their stories with us; reflecting on what constitutes us and one crucial key word surfaced from the cogitation– Desire. It is the force that has led us to create immense possibilities for ourselves in the current social, political and economic climate.

The burning desire to destabilize the notions of the marginalized communities, have a tolerant and inclusive society, experience the feeling of belongingness in one’s own country, enabling friendly organisations and institutions, right to marry, enjoy the comforts of a family life, pursue the bliss of children and be legal citizens of the nation.

The need to draw the mainstream into one’s orbit without loosing one’s distinct identity!

The relentless desire to love freely, travel around the world with your partner, express the inner child with pride and ease, seek comfort in the mundane routine of things, enjoy the normalcy of things without any feeling of guilt or shame, and sing ballads about learning to desire in the wake of still relevant IPC 377.

But how do we come to what we desire? How do we further explore the world of its multiple nuances? How do we negotiate with our desires? How do we express the “taboo” it is embroiled in without being judged? Do desires, which destabilize norms, question the status quo become queer by default?

Have you ever wondered what and how your desires lead you to cross the obstacles of class, social status, and sophistication? Would it be fair to bring boundaries in their realm? Should identities be associated with them? Should the chains of societal normative structure tie them down?

The fact that a person who desires other same sex persons – is a critical political identity in this country, and acknowledgement of this desire holds the power to shame it. Punish it.

Are desires just things that we play with? Less about us and more about what they are – in that moment – in that situation – and we do whatever we can with them.

With the upcoming issue of The Gaysi Zine, our endeavor is to seek meaningful insights into exploring the polyphonic, multiple, nonlinear, political and vibrant realm of the desire in the queer domain. We seek to document and historicize the silence around this interdicted reality and present the immense possibilities and potentials that it generates.

So send in your original work of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, illustrations, photo essays, art, graphic stories, scribbles, notes, quotes, scripts, memoirs that reflect your deep desires.

The deadline for the submission of abstract/idea of the above is October 30th, 2016. So hurry up and write to gaysifamily[at]gmail[dot]com.

Unfulfilled expectations may sometimes lead to disappointment, but chances are, we may surprise ourselves with what we can achieve. It is this desire, and the need for more, after all, that pushes us to break doors, isn’t?

Are you turned on? We are…