I had my first doctor’s visit today and I am stumped. Why do people want to move to the US from India?! Like an X-ray back home costs 250 rupees? 500, maybe? Or 2000, also? It’s a freaking 200 dollars here. And I have to call atleast 10 people to explain things, which no one will understand, and I have a complicated name?! B***ch, take me back to Karthik scans at Moorthy Nagar.

You know what we’ve done? We have replaced political ideology for humanity. We have incorrectly assumed that if someone comes with the right set of progressive political perspectives, then they’d also be good people. So foolish, so naive. In the hands of power-hungry narcissists, politics (leftist, Dalit, feminist, and every other) is nothing but a tool. A weapon to gain more control - over another individual, a community, a group, a country even.

If you’re a partner to or is involved with someone that suffers from anxiety, please know they may have trouble while travelling. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’re not the one with travel anxiety but is travelling with someone who does. Travel anxiety comes in various shapes and forms. For some, it is about getting lost, or falling ill, or losing valuables, or being stranded, or even dying. For me, it’s border control, missing trains/flights, and wondering if my home is safe/secure.

The good savarna project: A thread The last few years of political rumination on caste has somehow led us to believe that this is about savarnas becoming better allies, and by extension better people. It’s not.

The way upper castes are ferociously admonishing #IndianMatchmaking, one would assume that they’d all be fully anti-caste when it comes to love marriage. Lol, but y’all still want the same things in both unions. Lighter skin, slim & trim, and similar social locations. So you saying that if India and the Indian diaspora gave up on arranged marriages, you will be open to dating and loving people across caste and class lines? Convenient to put the entire blame on the system when caste is a lot more inherent.

I finally watched Fleabag. And I have thoughts. Not important in the time of corona. Not urgent in this time of crisis. Come back later, it’s cool. It’s an odd thing, really, to be this person - a dark-skinned, Dalit Christian woman, who has lived most of her life in post-colonial India, caught in between shifting feminist politics, sitting in the middle of a pandemic, facing the risk of losing her job,

I have a few things to say. If Dalit women want to tell their story, they will tell their story; in the form of a book, a movie, a tweet, on the mike, at their wedding, at a rally, on social media, wherever and however, in the pace they choose to, in the way they want to. Simple because we all share a collective identity, that is Dalit, doesn't mean that as individuals, we don't have any claim to that identity. Just because I say I'm a Dalit woman, doesn't mean that I represent an entire community of Dalit women (or others).

As a Dalit woman, I have never at any point felt intensely patriotic. This was a country that killed my ancestors, this is a country that continues to kill my people. Why should I swear allegiance? Why love this land? But today, I've realised that India, even the idea of it, does not belong to its rulers. It never has. It belongs to the people. To every single one of us. And especially to the minorities, the poor, and the oppressed, who work and toil for this land, on this land.

The fact that you keep centering the intellectual needs of Savarnas, by turning every atrocity against Dalits into a ‘learning moment’, for them to get how caste works, says a lot about who you think still matter. You are doing a lot of damage by reducing our lives (and deaths) to mere stats, just so your friends can (finally) understand how brutal caste is. We are not data points. We are human beings, whose privacy and dignity matter.

Are you a diversity & inclusion professional or an Indian corporate interested in addressing the caste question? This thread is for you. #IWD2019 may seem like it's only about gender, but Indian workplaces are no less casteist than they are sexist. Here’s some help. I don’t represent all of what my community thinks. I only write as a Dalit woman that has been working in the corporate for almost a decade now. This applies to both international and Indian companies. If you ain't into D&I, share it with your HR, yes?

In these woke times, when there is so much hurry to be casteless and caste-blind, it is easy to forget that our caste contexts shape pretty much everything in our lives. But when one becomes aware, it gets harder sustain friendships and relationships. I think this ‘awareness’ makes life particularly difficult for Dalit kids. At high school, I was always made to feel conscious of the misfit that I was. The savarna girls that I studied with constantly made fun of my oily hair and the side partition I’d take for my two plaits.

As a Dalit woman, the last few days of India’s #MeToo have been both triggering and confusing. I’ve tried to follow it as much as I can and the more I do, I realise how important it is to have a conversation on value. How are we (as women/non-men) valued in relationships, at work, inside our homes, and in our communities? And who are the ones determining this value? #MeToo

#Dalitwomen are most often victims/survivors of sexual abuse, including of those that are not always legally identified as crimes. And the law has failed us. Progressive communities haven’t responded adequately either. It has been a lonely battle and will continue to be so. Stories of sexual abuse, especially those that name Dalit men, are therefore uniquely triggering for us. We stand by the survivors, like we all need to, unequivocally, because we are victims ourselves.

I’m aware that my twitter thread on #intercastemarriages has caused a bit of a stir amongst many who identify as progressive. I expected it to. From whatever I’ve read, I feel compelled to state a few things clearly. A (new) thread. First, I don't believe that all those who get into #ICMs are doing it for the sake of being woke. There of course could be many reasons but let’s trust that the biggest one is love. Nothing political about it, no?

Who is paying the price for #intercaste marriages in India? And why is this being touted as an anti-caste strategy? Questions and Thoughts.
Disclaimer: Twitter is obviously not a great place for nuance, but I'm going to try. Also note that I'm not against #intercaste marriages. Ideally, we should all get married to whomever we please as long as they are an adult and are consenting. If you conclude that I'm casteist or pro-endogamy from any of my tweets, it's on you.