Queerness and Storytelling in India

Rajorshi Das
Queerness and Storytelling in India

This podcast hosts writers, readers, artists, and activists who listen to, read, or document "queer" stories and their afterlives. This space hopes to hold conversations that question what queerness in India feels, looks, and sounds like. It may push Indian writers and publishers, especially upper-caste Hindus to check their cultural and social capital and interrogate the Indian dominance in South Asia and studies on South Asia. It is an attempt to share joy or discomfort, suspicion, or solidarity, or just gossip and flirt. Though this podcast is an extension of my research interests, it is neither funded by my current institution nor meant to be an academic engagement as such. As a curator who is upper-caste, I hope to work harder to not replicate Savarna ways of producing knowledge. I also recognize the labor of sharing stories and intend to compensate some guests, either with honoraria or by other means, depending on what they may desire.

  1. 2023-12-30

    Episode 33 with professor of English, Niladri R. Chatterjee

    In this interview, Dr Chatterjee shares why he decided to translate Krishnogopal Mallick's work. The book, Entering the Maze: Queer Fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick opens us to questions about age, desire, and masculinity. Chatterjee also reflects on the need to give more visibility to Bengali literature that addresses queer issues. Additionally, he shares his experiences of being a professor at Kalyani University and collaborating with Sappho for Equality. Note: This interview was specifically requested by the publisher, Niyogi Books. এই সাক্ষাত্কারে, নীলাদ্রি আর চ্যাটার্জি শেয়ার করেছেন কেন তিনি কৃষ্ণগোপাল মল্লিকের কাজ অনুবাদ করার সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছিলেন। বইটি, এন্টারিং দ্য মেজ: কৃষ্ণগোপাল মল্লিকের কুইর ফিকশন আমাদের বয়স, আকাঙ্ক্ষা এবং পুরুষত্ব সম্পর্কে প্রশ্ন উন্মুক্ত করে। চ্যাটার্জি বাংলা সাহিত্যকে আরও দৃশ্যমানতা দেওয়ার প্রয়োজনীয়তার প্রতিও প্রতিফলিত করেছেন যা বিচিত্র বিষয়গুলিকে সম্বোধন করে। উপরন্তু, তিনি কল্যাণী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের অধ্যাপক হওয়ার এবং সাফো ফর ইকুয়ালিটির সাথে সহযোগিতা করার অভিজ্ঞতা শেয়ার করেন। দ্রষ্টব্য: এই সাক্ষাৎকারটি বিশেষভাবে প্রকাশক নিয়োগী বুকস দ্বারা অনুরোধ করা হয়েছিল।

    42 min
  2. 2023-11-28

    Episode 32 with activist, organizer and educator সুমি দাস (Summi Dass)

    In this episode, activist, educator, and organizer Summi Dass shared how she started the Moitrisanjog Society, Cooch Behar, and collaborated with donors and academics. We also discussed the centricity of Kolkata in queer and trans organizing and how that impacts the community in rural Bengal.   Rajorshi Das (RD): Today, we have Sumi Das with us. She established the Moitrisanjog Society in 2009. It is the only organization in North Bengal, which works for the rights of koti, hijra, and transgender communities, particularly fighting for their livelihood and right to work. Her organization also made a documentary named Alpo Jana Golpo Guli (The Lesser Known Stories) (2018), portraying her journey as an intersectional marginalized Bahujan transgender woman. She also runs a gurukul now and is associated with many struggles including students’ and anti-caste movements. Thank you, Sumi. We were supposed to have this interview for quite some time, and finally, it’s taking place.   Sumi Das (SD): Greetings everyone. I’m Sumi Das. I am speaking from Cooch Behar, North Bengal, from the state of West Bengal.   RD: Oh yes, I am in Iowa City now. Like most of my podcast interviews, this is being done virtually via Zoom. I am keen to know, and you must have shared this in other interviews, but how did Moitrisanjog begin, and why in Cooch Behar? Were you born in Cooch Behar? Were you always eager to work for the koti-transgender-hijra community in Cooch Behar?   SD: I was born in Bonkoma subdivision of Dinhata, Cooch Behar. It’s a more of rural area. I was brought up in a middle-class family. When I was growing up, nobody used to talk about the issues regarding the trans-koti community, and even if it was there, it was limited to the town of Siliguri. We used to hear terms like homo, somokami and homosexual a lot at that time. And my journey started…yes, I wasn’t thrown out of the house, but a situation was created that would have led to that. Hence, when I was around 14-15 years old, I left my house. My mother expired at a young age when I was in Class I, and my father got remarried. Living itself had become very challenging. After leaving my house, my initial destination was New Jalpaiguri station, Siliguri, and there I got involved in sex work, to meet my economic needs. Afterward, a person from the community, associated with the hijra occupation took me to her home. That’s when my journey started. At that time, there was this organization called Manas Bangla, which since 2006 had been working on HIV-AIDS intervention in Bengal, particularly with hijras, homosexuals, and the community in general. Back then, the word was MSM, men who have sex with men. It was the technical language of TI- Targeted Intervention. Our journey started with sexual health, but later I felt that we were losing our rights. Within the global crisis of HIV-AIDS crisis, we were identified as a high-risk group. Back in 2007-8, I felt that nobody was discussing our rights and demands. Koti, somokami, hijra: no matter which name you use, we all are stigmatized. When the condoms were being distributed with our hands, we were being doubly stigmatized. Hence, I left the job in 2009 and returned to Cooch Behar. I didn’t have any idea regarding NGO as I didn’t have any understanding of it, so I tried to make a collective of people from the community. People used to come, dance, enjoy, chitchat and gossip at the place where I lived. We used to go for outings and picnic together. I took the initiative to create a sense of bonding. Finally in 2011, 2 years after starting it, we registered Moitrisanjog. We started to do it systematically. This was the start of Moitrisanjog’s journey and the beginning of the consciousness that we should stay united.   RD: You spoke about the HIV organizing work that Manas Bangla was doing in West Bengal. Whenever we talk about any kind of representation, be it news, Bengali cinema, or LGBT activism, it is very Kolkata-

    42 min
  3. 2023-08-01

    Episode 30 with activist and organizer অরি রায় চৌধুরী (Ari Roy Chowdhuri)

    In this episode, Ari explains why she wants to make a documentary on the trans and queer community in the Nadia district which is located at the India-Bangladesh border. The link to the fundraiser can be found here. We also discussed the hierarchies that govern the relationship between academics-researchers and grassroots activists. Please find the English translation and transcription of the interview below. RD: Today, we are joined by Ari Roy Chowdhuri (ARC) from Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India. Ari is the secretary of Nadia Ranaghat Sampriti Society. This organization works for grassroots hijra, Kothi and trans people. She was also the project director of the NETREACH project undertaken by Sampriti. She has also worked with several organizations in the past such as West Bengal State AIDS Control Society and Pechhan Trust. Thank you, Ari for joining. I know that you have started a fundraiser for a documentary. Can you tell us if this documentary is specific to the work done by Sampriti or will address broader community issues in the region? ARC: Thank you. Firstly, this is not so much about the organization itself, but rather about the language of the community. This documentary will be based in the Nadia district. Nadia is along the border of two countries, India and Bangladesh, and it consists of a number of historical and important heritage sites. We can see the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a holy site for Sanatan Dharma. Similarly, we can see the important sites of Matua Mahasabha in the Nadia district and nearby regions. Also, there is a significant number of people in Nadia from the (LGBTQ+) community. During the year 2010, the number of people belonging to the community started to get increase and become more visible, and there was a huge lack of awareness within the community. During that period, if someone faced any problem from the police, administration or authorities, they found themselves helpless and weren’t able to do anything. People who didn’t want to indulge in or stay in certain professions didn’t have any opportunities for alternate livelihood. Then, some of us, my friends and seniors created an organization. In 2013-14, we got our registration, as it takes some time to get registered. After that, I got busy with my studies for a while. Then in 2016-2017, I created the first transgender toilet in our college. Afterwards, I realized that to work for the community, I need to work through my organization. Gradually our organization was growing, and the base of the community was getting stronger. Back then, the members of the organization asked me to take charge of it. On the other hand, I gradually started to get acquainted with people with political power and background. Today, standing in this position, starting from the COVID-19 pandemic to bringing a number of different small projects for Sampriti to helping people from the community to stand on their own feet, I gave my whole life to the queer community. I remember that during the pandemic, our organization worked in all the districts in West Bengal, starting from Uttar Dinajpur in North Bengal, Murshidabad on this side, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, and the whole of Nadia district. People from the community in our district have received food and rations at every moment, that’s our achievement, through the help of crowdfunding. But sadly, to this day, no one has ever come to see and hear the voices of our community.  There is a history behind my decision to make the documentary. What’s the history? We can see day by day, there’s an effect coming upon the cholla occupation. It can also be seen in badhai occupation, where kothis and hijras dance with the baby. But how will Kothis and Hijras will get their bread?! If you can’t provide food for someone, you shouldn’t take away the means of earning their bread. For that, we should look into the history of the origin of cholla and badhai occupation in the Nadia district.  Today

    32 min

About

This podcast hosts writers, readers, artists, and activists who listen to, read, or document "queer" stories and their afterlives. This space hopes to hold conversations that question what queerness in India feels, looks, and sounds like. It may push Indian writers and publishers, especially upper-caste Hindus to check their cultural and social capital and interrogate the Indian dominance in South Asia and studies on South Asia. It is an attempt to share joy or discomfort, suspicion, or solidarity, or just gossip and flirt. Though this podcast is an extension of my research interests, it is neither funded by my current institution nor meant to be an academic engagement as such. As a curator who is upper-caste, I hope to work harder to not replicate Savarna ways of producing knowledge. I also recognize the labor of sharing stories and intend to compensate some guests, either with honoraria or by other means, depending on what they may desire.

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