अहं निर्विकल्पो निराकाररूपो
विभुत्वाच्च सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम् ।
न चासङ्गतं नैव मुक्तिर्न मेयः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम्
“What is it about your skin ,my dear, that you love the smell of flowers ? What is it about your skin, my dear, that you weep, laugh and fret? Who was it that even drew the line between ‘this and that’? Right and wrong? Between ‘normal’ and whatever the fuck the other is, that they term you to be? Who was it that chose to label and contain love, My love, my dear, that I have for you? When was it that you traded off your soul, only to be branded, tagged and defined?”
Working on a project for a course here at the Young India Fellowship , some of us decided to address the issue of Toxic Masculinity. Words and Visuals began piecing together. It turned into a film. A film that would later turn into a sacred project for us.
A lot of things are visible to us, we see them, we listen to them, we feel in our hearts that something is just not right. It isn’t fair. We hear the pangs and screech of helplessness. But we decide to not speak about them, we decide to ignore them and continue striding forward to the beats of our mechanical conditioned clocks. Being a human and trying to understand being one is one of those quests to which there is no end. We can only travel for as long as it lasts. Then we all turn into the same dust. But there are some things that bind us, that hold us together and keep reminding us of the interconnectedness and the heritage that we all share and live by. From a film, Gender of the Moon has turned into a dialogue that we wish to initiate and take forward using this thread, this thread of ‘love’.
On 29th March, we also curated an event at Ashoka University with art, music, photo story, dance, theatre, spoken poetry, standup performances which addressed issues like Femininity, Masculinity, Sexuality, Identity, Love and more.
We are grateful that Shashi Tharoor showed us his encouragement by sharing our film and help increase its visibility.
And we are also glad that we could teach him a new word too!
Kind is the Gender of the Moon
Brave is the Gender of the Moon
Touch is the Gender of the Moon
Flower is the Gender of the Moon
Language is the Gender of the Moon
Human is the Gender of the Moon
Love is the Gender of the Moon
Expression is the Gender of the Moon
Pain is the Gender of the Moon
Truth is the Gender of the Moon
If not now, then when? We can keep our eyes buried in the earth, lips sealed and eyes shut. We can forget that we are beings who were once all made from the same stardust. We can choose to ignore those in pain. We can keep denying others of what makes them happy and human only because they are different from us or because we are ‘told’ they are different from us. We can keep fighting our tears and screams with masked faces and coloured weapons. We can keep feeding the fear with our flesh and bones on the altar of time. We can keep living a lie.
Or, we choose to be human and listen.
Here’s to love, truth and revolution. And to many more stories to tell!
@thesobermaniac