Gaze of the world and I
ABOUT THE podcast
The podcast series, produced by Belongg, is called "Gaze of the World and I". The aim of the series is to bring the myriad of experiences of an individual exploring their sexuality against the facade of the family, the city, the community, and the caste. This mini-series looks at four literary works that bring the complexity and the confusion of the self and the world around. The themes of love, loss, family, and societal expectations have been explored with the authors, with the hope of conversations that help us understand the common human experience against the backdrop of patriarchy and heteronomy.
about the episodes
EPISODE 1: DIRTY WOMEN, Madhumita Bhattacharya
In the first episode, we speak to Madhumita Bhattacharya, one of India’s few crime thriller writers, who has written four murder mysteries - The Masala Murder, Dead in a Mumbai Minute, Goa Undercover, and Dirty Women. With an experience of working in the space of the newsroom, writing and editing across a wide range of subjects, Madhumita weaves in personal experiences of her work into her latest novel Dirty Women, a story about the investigation into the disappearance of a four-year-old Tara in 2002 in Calcutta.
Madhumita talks about her journey as a writer, the trials and tribulations that led to the creation of Dirty Women, and the need for stronger women characters as part of her story. So let us listen to the conversation with Madhumita as she paints her story through the world she created with Dirty Women.
EPISODE 2: DANCING WITH THE NATION, Ruth Vanita
In the second episode, we speak to Ruth Vanita, an academic, an activist, and an author who has contributed immensely to literature around gender, sexuality, and culture. She co-founded India’s first nationwide feminist magazine called Manushi: A journal about Women and Society, which combined academic research and grassroots activism. An author of several books such as Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India, Memory of Light, Love’s Rite: Same-sex Marriage in India and the West and Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans of Bombay Cinema, she has also translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English.
As we speak to her about her book Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans of Bombay Cinema, we explore her ground-breaking study of courtesans and courtesan imagery in 235 films, throwing light on the role the courtesan figure played in shaping the modern Indian erotic, political and religious imagination. So let’s into the world of Bombay Cinema and be a part of a journey of understanding the challenge the courtesan figure puts to the patriarchal set-up of family, of marriage and of sexuality.