Shruti Sharada

I am not the most original thinker to state that This Quarantine (TM) has been a weird beast to be forced to befriend. Fully aware of my immense social privileges, including the privilege of being able to protect my life, I risk stating that this has been a phase of great mental churning.

Thank you, Women's Web for the #PrideMonth shout-out today.

When I wrote the piece last December about my 'coming out' to my wonderful Mom, I didn't expect it to resonate so much. I did hope for it to be my declaration to the world of my truth, and it achieved that end beautifully.

I hope that more and more of us engage in conversations about the #LGBTQIA+ communities and #queer realities this month. I also hope that we continue to raise voices for what's right, fair, and just.

https://www.womensweb.in/2019/12/being-queer-and-coming-out-to-mom-has-been-quite-an-emotional-journey-dec19wk1s

Oh you thought the kitchen counter was cleaned by a fairy last night! You’re wrong. And here are NINE other things we do but no one really notices.

I spoke a bit about my life and about starting and building @thefeministreadinglist, touching upon subjects like:

1. Creating and curating #intersectional spaces online which encourage reading and engagement

2. Being feminist - journey and challenges

3. Bringing in a diverse online audience, and amplification of voices

Exhaustion is a silent spectre all around us. Capitalist ideas of productivity have made us indifferent to its signs. Our ideas of work have come to celebrate non-stop output, no matter what the costs. The focus is on being 'superwomen' and 'superworkers'.

R. Kalyanamma, a pioneer journalist and activist from Karnataka, wrote in an era where women’s voices were never given the centre stage, policed, and often, silenced. Despite the pervasive patriarchal norms, R. Kalyanamma not just defied societal expectations, but through her work, set a new standard for women working outside of their homes and for journalism itself.

We are in the midst of a 21-day lockdown in India, announced in response to the frightening spread of COVID-19 infections in the country. This means that we, at least a lot of us, are exercising social distancing, and physical distancing when stepping out to quickly pick up essentials.

I read 'We Are Each of Us Refugees' by Tehran-born poet, Kamand Kojouri. And, I spoke about any great movement being an amalgamation of multiple tracks of rebellion, voices, actions, and commitments.
In a revolution and a democracy, all of us have a role to play and we have to make sure that all groups of people find representation - Dalit womxn and persons, #LGBTQIA+ folx, womxn from all groups of social realities and professions, womxn from all age groups, communities that are understood to be 'minorities', and more.
We are the revolution! Not a token, not an afterthought!

On Women's Day this year, I was so happy to have been at #BilalBagh and even happier to have been able to speak in front of some of the most loving and determined women I have ever met.

I spoke of 'nari shakti', that almost throwaway term that has become diluted and usurped by capitalist nonsense. I spoke of the courage every woman shows every day, and how the world is still incapable of appreciating the depths of that power.

I spoke in Hindi. Of where I come from. About the women from my own family. Of the expectations of womanly silence. Of our place in the revolution.

Do we really have any dialogues around child and sexuality? Do we think there should be an age of consent for young people to engage in romantic relationships?

What is your occupation, and your identity?

I am a film school student and a freelance film maker.

Where do you stay?

Making people aware and giving them a sense of gender, like gender is not a binary, cis-gendered men and women aren't the only two sub-species of the species homo sapiens.

4. What can you do, or you think can be done about it?

Spread awareness, show them something that helps them realise it, the urgency to accept. The acceptance overall maybe just beginning but needs to move a...

I conceptualised, realised and hosted the LGBTQHIA+ speaker series at Vimochana - Forum for Women's Rights in Bengaluru. 'Tarangagalu' means 'ripples' in Kannada, and signifies the ripples of change we hope to see in the world as we work towards more inclusion.

As 2019 winds up, the extended Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz team is looking back at a year of remarkable radio production and picking a show/episode/series that is close to their hearts, and stating why that's so.

Listen in to the favourite episodes of RJ Shruti Sharada from this year!

"I loved speaking with Narelle about women, sports, and gender stereotyping. It was a spur-of-the-moment interview that turned out to be free-flowing and fun!"

The Winner in the Writing with Social Impact category.

A year has passed since #MeToo galvanised online gender activism in India. But as defamation cases rise and the accused remain powerful, activists need to look back at what made online activism so powerful in the first place.