Story Writing/Film Projects 1.Dystopia( description) This is a story about identity theft.

A young woman and aspiring writer comes to the city after having spent some time in a small town to find herself confronted with various personal and professional horrors.She finds her life and her personality becoming the subject of speculation and that survival is at stake as her career is threatened by another woman and aspiring writer. She finds herself confronted by a tough psychological conundrum;to carry on despite the absorption of her mental resources.And while all this is happening , her adversary gets stronger , not just through her but also in malice and slander.The story explores the minds of these two women, one a new-comer and the other other, a more experienced and known writer, and the inner workings of identity theft through their relationships and lives.The interactions and the battle between the two characters brings out the difference between them,their views, and their politics.The story thus etches out what it means to be involved in creation and in the literary and art world in contemporary India. Short Extract: Devika came to Bombay with confidence that this was the next step.She admired the bleary eyed sense of possibility that the city gave to everyone who passed by, she loved it for it's vastness, it's sense of hospitality and it's way of making you its own. 'You have to have the energy to deal with laboring city' she mused ,imagining in her mind the card-board boxes that housed a family each, every person living off the collective, gathering what it takes to get by the night, the day tomorrow, the night after.Saharanpur had been an entirely different experience, it's environment had fed and nurtured her mind and body, and she felt keen to take on a field where her work mattered to a larger whole.

2.Transcription of documentary footage for an online archive of documentary footage called pad.ma This part of the footage contains a conversation between Saeed Mirza, the director and a local young man from the Kashmiri Pundit Refugee Camp about the ethics of documentary film making and art in general, especially with respect to places in conflict. The question of whether it might be feasible or safe to travel without security in these regions because the film-maker chooses to situate him or herself in a position of neutrality (Mera dil khula hai-Saeed Mirza), and what this neutrality could mean to the State which is in the process enforcing order and protecting people in whatever way it can. The young man brings up the case of 7 film-makers from abroad who were killed in the valley. Mirza brings up the responsibility of an artist and posits himself as someone committed to bringing out the truth, to whatever end (because politicians are a different breed).The young man then brings up the more important issue of funding (where the money comes from).And then, he briefly touches upon an incident where he with some people went to hoist the Indian Flag at the Valley, a courageous act considering its situation. The crew then moves on upwards towards Srinagar, driving through the valley. 3.Blog Post on a Film Festival of Queer Cinema.

I just attended the Queer Nazariya film festival in Bombay and I loved the experience. In the discussion about queer communities, law and culture, Ponni Arasu, a gay rights activist from Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, spoke of the need for the queer community in India to redefine itself and its goals after the groundbreaking Delhi High Court judgment against Section 377 of the Indian Constitution which criminalizes homosexuality. In some senses only the idea of being queer can actually encompass the reality of sexual processes. Sex is funny and inescapably queer. Ive been a part of the amorphous queer community in Bangalore (via workshops at Sangama) and have witnessed the Queer Azadi city marches (vicariously for various reasons) and then the subsequent mobilization around 377. It feels like a beautiful journey and we have a long way to go. I have claims to this cause, as does everybody. None of us can deny that issues of love and sexuality are wrapped up with belonging and community, and that acceptance is a prerequisite to survival. As a feminist, I have a problem with patriarchal and heteronormative sexual mores. I feel resuscitated and enlivened by such spaces where there is no barrier on love or the exchange of it. I thought that the films represented a raw and challenging new post-modern body of work set to redefine norms of seeing, of sex and sexuality, of history and culture. If you want to see where relationships are going in the future then this movement is one of the places to look at. Among the films that stood out were Rex Vs Singh by Ali Kazimi, Richard Fung and John Greyson, Proteus by John Greyson and Jack Lewis and Journey into Kafiristan by Fosco Dubini and Donatello Dubini. The novel series Fucking Different by producer Kristian Peterson which featured work by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi and transsexual) film-makers on LGBT issues was entertaining. Curators Smriti Nevatia and Sophie Parisse need to be congratulated not just for the engaging fare but also for the pertinent concerns that came through: queer activism in the developing world and the need to engage with larger struggles for identity and self determination and against racism and fundamentalisms, religious and otherwise. Aesthetically, queer practices and perspectives create fresh and new ways of expressing and celebrating sexuality, and the films managed to achieve this. To us! * published in utraviolet.in,an e-zine/ blog for feminists in India.