Mercuria!,Tarzia!,Arsenus!!

I propose to make some community initiatives themed  ‘Mercuria’ exploring and proposing means of healing from the toxicity and the ills of the glamour industry and politics.

Did you know that bodies can be cut and exploited to make more bodies?I didn’t until my chronic pain made it difficult for me to move and didn’t know from where to start suing people in politics or Hollywood or Bollywood or Sandalwood or Tollywood.The cult of personality revolves around creating an image then fear and popularity around it.

It will take me a while to heal from where to cut up my identity or body to make who.Honesty and transparency were never commonly found traits in the people around me.

I would hear from newspapers or the media that my father or mother or grandfathers or grandmothers are so and so.My life was all about being exploited by them.

 From parents to grand-parents to sibling to step-sibling to cousins to people I wasn’t aware of…I found myself a victim of popular politics, the Whiteness obsession and female and male beauty industries.

In an ethical world identity would be stable and all people should have a claim on their history and heritage.The colonial ideology is that you can shamelessly exploit and have a claim on other people’s narratives.

The strategies to fight: authenticity is strength.Authenticity can be a source of solidarity when you find support people with a similar locus standi.Resilience is often a formidable trait to fight adamant dictators.

This is a list of personalities who I think are toxic and who may be related to me:

Marilyn Monroe,

Elvis Presley,

Franklin W Roosevelt,

John. F. Kennedy,

Jacqueline Kennedy,

Bill Clinton,

Hillary Clinton,

Chelsea Clinton,

The Obama’s, Barack, Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama,

Donald Trump,

Joe Biden,

Brad Pitt,

Tom Hanks,

Jennifer Anniston,

Jennifer Lopez,

Ellen DeGeneres,

Kate Winslet,

Olivia Newton John,

Angela Merkel,

Aariaana Grande,

Taylor Swift,

Katy Perry,

Miley Cyrus,

The Spice Girls,

Jon Bon Jovi,

Bryan Adams,

Mark Zuckerberg,

Jacienda Ahern,

Richard Nixon,

Vladimir Putin,

Swedish House Mafia,

Nawaz Shareef,

Teresa May,

Helen,

The Kapoor’s, Prithviraj, Shashi, Shammi, Rishi, Randheer, Karishma,Anil,Sonam,Arjun,Boney, Jahnvi, Kareena, Ranbir and Rhea

Jaya Bacchan,

Bhumi Pednekar,

Ayusshman Khurana,

Aamir Khan,

Suchitra Sen, Riya and Raima Sen,

Parambrata Roy

Dharmendra,

Sunny, Bobby and Abhay Deol,

Aishwarya Rai,

Kangna Ranaut,

Sarah Ali Khan,

Soha Ali Khan,

Alia Bhatt,

Ranveer Singh,

Shilpa Shetty,

Yami Gautam,

Fumio Kagashi,

And so on.

I will use writing and photography and video and internet communication technologies to mobilize around the project.

‘Half Boiled Egg’ at Flux Studio

At the onset of winter I had the opportunity to witness a unique dance performance at the Flux Studio in Indiranagar, Bangalore. Going out for a performance is a big deal in these times and it was a special experience for all of us.It was called ‘Half Boiled egg ‘ and was directed by Sahiba Singh who is the creative director at Flux.


Flux is an arts community in Bangalore facilitating a dance school offering dance classes, a photography institute offering photography classes, an art school offering art classes, a design institute offering design classes, a wellness centre offering therapy sessions, a yoga studio offering yoga classes, a children’s club offer year long activities for kids along with activity oriented summer camps and a performing arts theatre for outside artists to rent a studio for rehearsals, shoots, meetings, seminars, classes workshops , courses and events in the heart of the city.


Setup by Sahiba Singh who first came to Bangalore from Delhi to study dance at Attakalari Center for Movement Arts and found reasons to stay, Flux is one year old and commemorated turning one with a day full of events such as Music Jams, ‘Poetry Buskers’ ,a poetry session with Trupti and Sahiba, a workshop on the intuitive body by Sahiba, ‘What’s your Story?’a Portrait workshop by Sheshadri, a design thinking workshop with Aditya Hari, a Hip-Hop workshop by Nivesh Kannan, a Bollywood workshop by Shyam Hemrom, ‘Half Boiled Egg’ a physical theatre performance, and a film screening of the film ‘Birha’ directed by Ekta Mittal.


The performance ‘Half Boiled Egg’ was a treat to watch and also spoke of relevant ideas such as the feminine body…The play of light with choreographed dance movements imbued a positive feminine energy in the viewer.


Rupa, a psychotherapist and mom of two says ‘It was an overwhelming experience for me because of the genuine honesty and passion of the performers. As a concept , I thought it was a beautiful and poignant perspective to the feminine’.A lot of what was said in the performance resonated with me because of the way that feelings came out in the words spoken by the performers although there was no script.The performers ask the audience not to intellectualise the abstract narrative.They spoke of the feelings of women, from fear and anxiety to repression and anger. The dialogue reverberated with feelings of free will and disgruntlement with being forced…

Homelessness in Auroville

I’ve been homeless many times before…

The reasons for my homelessness are varied and I warn readers about the pathos in this post.The worst spell of homelessness I had was when I was in Shantiniketan, West Bengal; it lasted for a month and I was quite mad at the end, when I had to go to a cousin’s place in Chennai from Kolkata by train.It was a miracle that I made that journey, given my mental state.

I was deficient in mental resources because of the nature of my family.Many of them are not Indian and I wasn’t aware of that. My uncles were greedy and thought they could pillage and get away with it by denying me any knowledge of my brothers or of my father’s side.It was like I was promised to them and they stole my colour and carried on stealing it because they were keeping me poor.

Bald is beautiful

#baldness,#hair,#politicsofcolour,#skin

I have been bald twice in my life and both times it was bcoz of coming to know/coming of age about facts about myself.

Bald in Pondicherry.

Some thoughts on my victimhood…here’s a new shortform I created, WIDOMT
…!! which is short for ‘When it dawned on me that!!’…so I try to create a timeline for my abuse history so that its not too late before you address and handle your issues and the violence around you.The reasons are colour theft, beauty and glamour industry, genocidal and violent attitudes in the family…

Pondy after Auroville last year…

I spent a lot of last year in Pondicherry trying to live on a tight budget.I have some advice to give to novice travellers on cheap and best places to live in in the union territory of Pondicherry.

By a lamppost in White Town. White Town is picturesque but expensive, ideal for dreamers to get lost in.

‘Villa Laboudranais’ where I shot this is a backpackers hostel costing about Rs 300 a day.The rooms are spacious in this 3 storey villa, and you’re given a mini fridge with attached bath-rooms.

View of corridor at Hotel Seasons, Vellala Street
Promenade beach at night, I went there with a friend from Coimbatore, called Albert.
At Hotel Royal Palace, Kassim Street near MG Road.

Aurovillean experiences

This is the first in a series of posts I will write about Auroville and Pondicherry, about the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and my experiences with the same.#auroville,#aurobindoghosh,#mirraalfasa,#matrimandir,#pondicherry

At Cinema Paradiso, the theater at Town Hall.
at the crossroads inside Auroville, somewhere near Solar Kitchen.

‘Joy of Impermanence’ Community in Edayanchavady
at a gathering where there was a talk on legalising Cannabis and a poetry recital in Carnatic by Bala
Posing with the elements during my stay in Buddha Garden.
The amazing Aurovillean flora and fauna…
Chilling at Time Travellers Hostel in Edayanchavady
After a long morning of farming at Buddha Garden
After a presentation on ‘The Venus Project’ by an Israeli organiser.I’m seen with Rajivji, a teacher from Benaras and two Aurovilleans.
Our villa at Mango Leaf Guest House.It came with a kitchen and a bedroom on the first floor and a dining area in the ground floor.

Defaming fake glam dolls

Ever thought what life would be if men were good grandfathers, fathers, uncles brothers, cousins, husbands, boyfriends…? If they were not after the easy buck taken from killing women in every aspect of life be it social, political or personal? I have seen this attitude take on gruesome colours in my own life and that of women around me.

The positive male influence in my life was next to none and for the longest time I didn’t even know who my father was, I was only to find out later on that he was an uncle, a crossdressing cousin…My life is in shambles due to being exploited for my colour and femininity.From grandfathers to fathers to brothers, I got killed by all generations of men in my soddy family.After a point I was in so much pain that it became a way of life.

The few successes I have had are because I was astute and resolute and prompt and never gave in.Here’s my advice on dealing with bad families: be independent…I can keep fighting my bad parents who deny me every right because I’m retaliating their violence with my good ideas.I can make them look stupid!My parents are hugely popular and so are so many people in my family, but underneath it is the greed and hunger for power and money and sex.Some men and women were so patriarchal and greedy that they would’ve taken away your limbs!

Criss cross patterns in your dilapidated vision

Don’t you just love RJ Kay on Radio One? (See https://www.instagram.com/offairwithkay/).I’m using lip sync and performance as a means of therapy to recover lost face…a consequence of crossdressing by guess who? your own near and dear ones!! My face and body and whole system are a big mess and it feels like it’ll take a year for me to recover.
 
 
My family takes dynasty a little too seriously and grown people with better use for their time will see it fit to cross dress, just to take away the life and chances of their offspring! Reason being, their ‘khatara’ comfort system is under peril.

#crossdressing,#venkateshwara,#dynasty,#crime,#fear