Ok listen I liked what Dhruv R did and I do not at all minimise his role. In fact I am very very happy. But to hand this exclusively to him is a disservice to every one who fought hard. INC, Kharge, Rahul G, DMK, VCK, other alliance partners, and some indie media as well
Multiple things can be true at the same time.
DMK did fail in this and other instants of violence against Dalit people. Especially with the Armstrong case.
DMK has also been the most inclusive party in TN and has actually pushed TN forward.
Seeing a lot of commentary around, post Armstrong's assassination, about TN and DMK and caste and Ambedkar and Periyar.
Again, I'll say, TN isn't an equal society. There's a whole lot of work the DMK must do but to deny its history and its contribution to making TN a better +
Kannadigas built this city and migrants are just here to earn their livelihood. Bengaluru is thriving for decades, soon after independence. Its not because of the migrant workforce, it’s because of the people of Karnataka, Kannada culture, environment, climate and warmth we offer
Call me old fashioned but I'd rather not have anyone at my wedding. In fact I rather not have a wedding at all. Instead I'd love if we all had rights and the ability to chose our family and also who we get to spend our life with.
We are concerned about the levels of Political violence in America. We urge the Americans to resolve their differences peacefully. We will be deploying observers to monitor the volatile situation. All Africans in America should keep in contact with their respective Embassies. We
Those folks at tourist spots who take a P&S photo of you and print it off on an inkjet and laminate it have more art and craft skills than that showoff on church street
I never blinked. He never was a voice for the underprivileged. Man has been shilling Hindu Muslim hate forever and disguised it as some kind of advanced anti caste stuff. Never did like him
We blinked and Dilip Mandal went from being one of the prominent voices speaking for the underprivileged to being a full-fledged enabler of Hindutva fascism.
The media doesn't want to shoot the sweating, dark skinned, not so glamourous queer person who put it all together. Those people from the TNRC who worked and walked the talk. Met the police to get permission. Organised the water bottles. Arranged the drums and the parai players.
It's Pride Month in Chennai, and that is usually reason to cheer. Madras has been doing pride very well since 2009 and the organisers have been way more inclusive and open than other prides in the country. Not a competition, just stating.
Funny how the people who actually will inherit wealth from their parents/family are sitting this debate out but two chutkus who inherited nothing more than obesity/diabetes/trauma and caste are out here taking a bullet for them.
Which means we don't see the others working to make Pride. We don't see people who organised. Who may not be flashy or cool or good looking. People who have relevant questions and demands. Instead we see basic bromide like love has no gender or personal is political.
No matter where we got the word from, Delve is a good word. It means what it means. It's perfectly fine to use it in the ways it ought to be used.
White people don't own English
A 90 sec video of Anand Ranganath on 'Reservation by Private companies' went viral, It was shared by several Brahmin accounts. Anand didn't say a word to them. A few hours later, I shared a 8 minute video to give the complete context. The video went viral. Anand soon realised
Signs like love is love is fine. They are basic. Folks have more specific, more long-standing, more urgent demands that hardly gets seen during Pride because the press is looking for fun pictures. Is looking for rainbows and masks and glitter.
This is also a call out of that queer or Ally parachuter who fully glams up for pride and doesn't have to do anything else. Clothes and wigs and masks and glitter will be safely locked away till the next pride. While the person who is fighting for policy changes is struggling
People thinking philosophers intellectuals, reformers, have to be 100% applicable and specific to all situations and contexts are idiots.
Periyar, Ambedkar, Marx provided frameworks for human societies and individual persons to adapt to changing circumstances.
Dalits can and should question the DMK and hold it accountable for the increasing atrocities and the breakdown of rule of law.
People like Pa Ranjith questioning the DMK does not make them "blue sanghis" as the idiots on twitter claim. It is his right to question the govt.
Amidst all this, we have idiots and assholes who claim to be Dravidian and all that who think queer is bad and evil and calling for our death or exile. Like fuckers, you are a disservice to Tamil
These folks, not taking away anything from their work, are seen as cool and fun and flashy and it ends up stereotyping Pride to an extent. Because they dress up mainly for the photo op. They are flashy. They end up colonizing camera time.
If you've been thinking of not voting, principled stand, dissent whatever, I hope you will be able to reconsider given the speech today. It is easier to hold accountable a party and a government that, not perfect, but at least is not brazen and evil.
Perhaps for the first time I disagree with VCK, who are asking for full prohibition. That will only make the hooch thing more common and more underground. People will seek ways to get drunk whether we like it or not. Just need to make it less a stigma and have better controls
@ruthannaevans
Every night, she checked for shadows before switching off the light. Every night, the shadows huddled and froze till she switched off the light. But that night the newest shadow didn't, and the next day it wasn't there. She turned just a bit more dark, and more powerful.
The only reason we both realised this at 11 30 today (and not like tomorrow or next week) was we both wanted to see if we had time to go get a massage because we were both bone tired.
I'll also say that this is not an anti outsider at pride thing. I'm not doubting their work at all. And we need queer people from everywhere to come celebrate queer Pride every year. The bombay dude and the Kolkata person are fun too. This is a call out of the media
Okay. Here goes. This is mainly about
#ChennaiPride
, not sure about other cities. But in Chennai specially...
Every pride, there are photos of Gay/Queer "celebs" and "activists" not from Chennai. People who specifically travel from city to city only to attend pride.
Not to brag or anything but today I successfully sent off two invoices that I've been procrastinating on for like 2 months. It's over for all you biatches.
Sunday's
#ChennaiPride
#வானவில்சுயமரியாதை March was great fun. My 10th pride. Happy to be there. It got a bit loud for me and I was overwhelmed but that's fine. Need that sound, need that energy. Also need a single, unified, queer, inclusive policy.
#WhereIsMyPolicy
This June, Queer Pride Month, sign up for a workshop on how to build queer characters who are more than just props for your story. Learn how to give depth, dimension and agency to your characters. Sign up today. Email me: nadika[dot]penpol[at]
And only the BSP/VBA are the solution.
I disagree but yes I don't have a standing to comment and you may discount my views.
I do however think that politics isn't a X or Y zero sum game. It needs multiple ideas and systems and processes and policies to come together.
There are other political forces, in TN and outside, who are trying to capitalise on the death of Armstrong and are trying to force some kind of widespread action against the government and perhaps that is backed by media in the service of the BJP/others.
Ambedkar's Navayana Buddhism is one way.
Periyar's Rational Atheism is another.
To say only Ambedkarite Buddhism is caste annihilation and Periyar didn't allow that is a tiny bit stupid.
By all means criticise DMK, DK, and even Periyar (as he would have wanted) but to hold
Listen I think I've done a bit for society and it's time society paid back.
I am at a stage where as an older queer I'm exhausted working for my living everyday. And my mental health has taken a bit of beating.
Plus having to work everyday is not letting me spend time on art.
Tbf, I also now live in Bangalore and perhaps this is also who I am... But I don't know how many photos I have of me in glitter. And I don't have heels
It is a young woman who realises her ancestors, her foremothers, were magical woman who could listen to time, and lived in the Indus, and their lives and death still have echoes today.
Got that perfect essay you've been thinking of for ages, but not the motivation to begin? Got an idea for a book but been staring at the same empty Google Docs page since 2018?
This residency, a writer's retreat, is for you. Come, work on your long-form piece, this March.
One method superior and beyond criticism is not really helping anyone.
I deeply deeply hold and believe in the values that Thiruma professes: inclusion. Power sharing. Socialism. Equity. Liberation. Of all in the margins.
You may think this isn't the way forward for Dalits.
The kind of perhaps uninformed commentary flowing here, saying Periyar didn't let Ambedkarism flourish etc is kind of silly because a) Periyar was the first to translate and publish Ambedkar in Tamil and b) there isn't one single way to attain casteless, equal society.
Fantastic. I hope the self described trans elders and leaders who have no hesitation in taking "lead" in pride and who get international LGBTQI+ funding to travel to UK etc to speak of queer rights are very very happy with the outcome
A big thank you to top trans activists and top lawyers for ensuring LGBTQIA+ persons in Tamil Nadu don't get their rights. Your anti-queer propaganda will be remembered 🤗
This was something I wanted to say yesterday. I think it is the other way around. TN reports more crime, and perhaps shows up higher in stats of crime against marginalised people because it is reported/it is questioned. I have anecdotal info of anti-dalit crime suppression in +
DMK followers believe that systematic underreporting of crimes equates to fewer crimes against Dalits in the state.
But, Tamil Nadu is deeply casteist, with caste atrocities on the rise, and manipulated data can't hide this reality.
+ state is at best ignorance and at worst evil of a certain kind.
I hope we can all work together to hold the DMK now and the ADMK (when they come to power) accountable. And I hope VCK and Thiruma have more of central role. I know he will be the counterweight in things.
Had a little crisis of belief/faith etc in myself and wondered, what exactly have i done in the 40 odd years I've been around.
Figured. Nothing much. No crisis now. Just surety. In myself. And my absolute lack of impact
So if you see some that (and follow
@livingsmile
and
@BumpAhead
to see the hate they get) please, report them, block them. Do not engage. Do not retweet.
Ought not be but kinda surprised by the number of people who have zero standing for/in/with TN and who don't know the history of, the contemporary politics, the society and the language, who come on here and talk about the state and the people with so much confidence.
Why there was a mismatch in voting data? GCC commissioner Dr J Radhakrishnan explains:
“ECI had released the voting % data based on data uploaded on app by election presiding officers to them. In last two elections, these were precise with the final tally that’s usually
My first proper Imampasand of the season.
Big fruit, almost 1.2 kilos by itself.
Bitter skin but with an undertone of tang/acid
Firm flesh, sweet, but not one note.
Loved it
I would like the world to know that
@rgmlk
is very jealous of my ability to pun and do it very fast but pretends like they are not and thus won't acknowledge it when we talk but can't stop laughing.
It has rained. And well.
One puddle has formed in the grounds at college and so students have lined up to a) get wet in the rain and b) have a go at jumping into the puddle.
Most unSJU of all things because kids are forming queues of their own volition.
The road from Periyamet to Moore Market behind Rippon is called Allikulam Road and folks are surprised about seeing a pond there? And in the reply someone is saying they see Nehru stadium. It wasn't constructed till like much much after 1950s
Over the last 6 odd months that I've been back on twitter, it's taken me extra effort to control my rage and whatever to reply "shut up bitch" to the likes malinip, tavleen, shehla r, khushboo, etc.
It being abusive and misogynist, bitch is something I very rarely use.
Listen I am really surprised I am tweeting so much today, everything I didn't want to do when I went off this lousy transphobic queerphobic, racist, bigoted space in 2022
But,
I have a workshop to shill and I need you to help me shill it.
Over the last year, I've realised +
Some Tamil Nadu trans activists, who back in the day were fully anti jamaat, have now jumped ship and joined up with them, and other power/clout chasing activists and began fighting a unified queer policy. The "leaked" voice notes from these people a few months ago were so bad...
Savarna means those who fall into (and whose ancestors agreed to) the four varna system of classifying/separating humans. It's not an actual caste name.
Just, general fyi.
A journalist main character madam who cannot hold on to any thought for more than the length of a sentence, and who is savarna but not savarna claims they left a group over disagreement on political affiliation. Except madam left in a huff because group asked her one question
I believe I have a pretty good deal going on here. 4 nights (and accompanying days) at a pretty, lovely, and pretty lovely resort in Yercaud. Meals. Stay. Workshop. All for 34, 499.
On one side we have silly stupid trans panic created by right wing assholes based in some bizarre biological essentialism over gender categories.
On the other we have trans people here hating queer-lgbqia people (& trans men) based on some nonsense lies & fear of loss of power.
Bangalore, very quickly tell where I can get decent flavourful aromatic biryani for lunch. I'm right now in Shanti Nagar.
Please don't give me the usual tips. I've tried most of them and they fall a bit short.
A dating app for historians that can show things happening in various parts of the world simultaneously. Enter a date, say, 1066 AD. Shows Norman conquest of England as well as battle between Virarajendra Chola and Chalukya/Pala/Vengis as well as things in China, Africa etc
This is strong delulu talking of course but if all seat+power+govt+cabinet calculations tomorrow work out in INDIA favour, I hope
@arivalayam
insists on Telecom ministry to
@dmk_raja
. That would be justice. It would be apt.
I also hope for
@thirumaofficial
to have MoSJE
This Saturday, I am going to be more than a little starstruck and very tongue tied.
The amazing poet, writer
@SukirtharaniS
will be at
@LitFestMeta
to talk about caste, gender and writing.
Not going to call for your resignation but this is definitely on you. His death is your responsibility and cross to bear. Get the police into shape, exercise better control and listen to your critics.
பகுஜன் சமாஜ் கட்சியின் மாநிலத் தலைவர் திரு. ஆம்ஸ்ட்ராங் அவர்கள் படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்ட சம்பவம் பேரதிர்ச்சியையும் பெரும் வருத்தத்தையும் அளிக்கிறது. கொலையில் சம்பந்தப்பட்டவர்களைக் காவல்துறை இரவோடு இரவாகக் கைது செய்திருக்கிறது.
திரு. ஆம்ஸ்ட்ராங் அவர்களை இழந்து வாடும் அவரது கட்சியினர்,
There's one house opposite the Mylapore tank that (as of 2014) still had its number plaque say "Brodie's Castle Road. That road changed name and no one realises it led to Brodie's Castle.
A very, very good human and a fantastic friend and all round amazing person has said they will sponsor ONE spot for the workshop. Friend would like this to ideally go to a trans/queer/disabled or otherwise marginalised person. Please do DM/email if you want to take up this offer
Because people have been asking and because 34.499 in this economy (you kidding bruh?) and because I am kind like that, a little price drop.
Yercaud residency at INR 24,999. Everything else remains. Get stay and food and writing. Email to sign-up today. nadika.penpol
@gmail
.com
Pierce Brosnan returns to Bond not as Bond but as M and basically complains about the young 007s being idiots and too caught up with socmed and how he has to do the actual running around and killing people himself to his therapist.
To hang bedsheets after the wash. To put a chair where we can deposit clothes we wore once but don't want to wash. To place a small cupboard that will never have the things we originally assigned it for. A saami room. To sit here when ED takes over your day.
Ritual post re my tl. My timeline will be mostly retweets. And you may think they aren't connected. That I retweet economics, archaeology, teg, gender, random stuff, music, news, politics. Puns. Lots of puns.
That's just how my brain is.
Yes there is a law that says something like you can't bury in a non designated area if it is close to residences or water sources but the govt relaxed this for Vijaykanth I don't see why they can't do for Armstrong. Pettiness simply
I with a faint whiff of meat hanging on me
And my house, where from eaves hang bones stripped off all their flesh
Or my street, where strapping young fasten leather to coconut and make parai music
Belong outside the town, they believe.
Do they know that we are how cities begin?
Trans men are policed for trying to escape the femininity ascribed/assigned to them and trans women are punished for not being feminine enough or masculine enough or whatever catches the transphobes fancy at that moment.