masala-and-thunderstorms

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

Okay, having received one thoughtful message from a hijra and approximately two hundred hostile and ignorant messages from white people, I'll clarify further:

1) Hijra are at once an incredibly specific and incredibly diverse community. There are plenty of trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming Indians (myself included) who are not members of the hijra community. There are plenty of hijra who do not identify as trans women.

This is because the term trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming are Western terms. Most Indians who use these terms for themselves are either immigrants or are wealthy enough to have studied in Western schools.

(Note: this does not mean that BEING what a Westerner would call trans, nonbinary, or gender non-conforming is a Western construct. Just about every culture in history has had people who did not fall into what we think of as standard binaries. But the terms themselves are Western, and therefore rarely used by those who have not heavily been influenced by Western culture.)

Prior to making this post, I had exclusively heard from hijra who feel deeply insulted and erased by the way Westerners insist on calling them "trans women" rather than respecting that hijra identity cannot be summed up by Western queer theory.

THAT SAID, I have now been informed that there are people who identify as both hijra and trans women. So it was wrong of me to say "hijra are not trans women," because that erased the people who are in fact both.

I am deeply sorry for that, and deeply grateful to the woman who took the time to correct me.

What I should have said was, "Some hijra identify as trans women. Most hijra do not. Trans women and hijra are not interchangeable, and to call all hijra trans women is to erase hijra identity."

2) That said, I'm really struck by the sheer number of white people who are frothing at the mouth to tell me in all caps HIJRA ARE TRANS WOMEN and I'm a terrible terrible person for thinking otherwise.

I reiterate my above note: I am a nonbinary Indian person. I am not a hijra and I am not a trans woman. I am more than happy to accept correction from those who are members of or who have a deep understanding of the communities I am speaking about. I am profoundly grateful to the person who provided that.

But when you, a Westerner who is eagerly jumping on the "someone is wrong on the internet" train, start screaming HIJRA ARE TRANS WOMEN, you are erasing the vast majority of the very communities who you tell yourself you're defending. Which is, in fact, the favorite hobby of Westerners. So consider why your idea of social justice is just to replicate the same systems of oppression and silence that you think you're fighting against.

I'm so glad that y'all are so into Monkey Man and the badass hijra priestess army, but friendly reminder that hijra are NOT trans women. Hijra are their own distinct gender; trans women are women. India has both :)

#Monkey Man #Dev Patel #hijra #trans women #LGBT #colonialism

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

(me, my parents, my sister, and the baby are sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch)

baby, pointing at the light fixture over the table and signing "on": o.*

my sister: we actually can't turn that light on right now, because the lightbulb inside is burnt out! it needs a new one.

baby: ighbu.

sister: yes, lightbulb! granddaddy said after we eat he's going to climb up there on a ladder and change it, and then the light will come on!

baby: gadada! adda, uuu! ighbu o!

sister: exactly!

baby, signing "on" and pointing at the light and then my dad, with increasing urgency: GADADA ADDA UUUU. O.

my sister: we're going to finish eating first though, ok?

baby: nonono. O. gadada adda uuu.

[a split second goes by]

baby, pointing to himself: ba. adda uuu. ighbu.

me: you're going to climb the ladder and change the lightbulb yourself?

baby: dzyeah. *pointing to the buckle where he is buckled into the high chair* ububu.

me: unbuckle you? so you can change the lightbulb?

baby, highly businesslike: dzyeah.

*pronounced like "on" without the n

#adorable for the sake of adorability #this makes me giggle

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

"I have spent many days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung." Rabindranath Tagore.

Dev Patel promoting Monkey Man, 10 April 2024

#Dev Patel #Monkey Man

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

#for me one of the big tells (beyond actual just straight up Jew hatred) is that there's often also a complete dehumanization of Palestinian #not treating them as people but instead just as like. completely abstract victims #or like. bargaining chips in the game of “who are we dogpiling this week” #no efforts to actually help make anyone's life better #just wielding photos/stories/statistics of death and suffering as cudgels against people they don't like

feeling especially exhausted today by the parallels between "cis male trans 'activists' whose trans activism seems to start and end with hating 'transphobes' (often sliding seamlessly into just outright hating women)" and "non-Palestinian goyische pro-Palestinian 'activists' whose pro-Palestinian activism seems to start and end with hating 'Zionists' (often sliding seamlessly into just outright hating Jews)"

#MOOD

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

I have just learned that Mountain Goats are NOT, in fact, actual Goats.

#this makes me giggle

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

(via meanboysclub)

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

#enormous goddamn mood

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

#They are my favorite one braincell duo

#this makes me giggle #Doctor Who

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

Apparently turmeric is full of lead so I am my own grandfather 🙃

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

I have just learned that Mountain Goats are NOT, in fact, actual Goats.

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

Total Solar Eclipse l April 2024 l U.S. & Canada

Cr. Deran Hall l Rami Ammoun(236) l GabeWasylko l OThingstodo l ZachHolderWx l Joshua Intini l Alfredo Juárez l KuzcoKhanda

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

some of my favorite comments from dev patel for the monkey man AMA he did on reddit recently! x

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

DEV PATEL as THE KID

Monkey Man (2024) dir. Dev Patel

#Monkey Man

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

I'm so glad that y'all are so into Monkey Man and the badass hijra priestess army, but friendly reminder that hijra are NOT trans women. Hijra are their own distinct gender; trans women are women. India has both :)

#Monkey Man #monkey man 2024 #Dev Patel

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

one moment that really stood out to me in monkey man was when dev patel’s character was training and he took off his shirt and the hijras watching him started hooting and hollering and it was very…it meant very much to me that this film showed them openly showing attraction and desire, without their attraction and desire being portrayed as creepy or predatory or completely written off as a joke. it was just fun and joyful.

#it true #Monkey Man #this movie is about to be my entire personality for like a month

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

dev patel did a line of coke and called up all his trans friends to make one of the coolest movies of the year. give him any role he fucking wants for the rest of his life

#monkey man

[masala-and-thunderstorms]

I was just grocery shopping and for a while I was in line behind the peak possible combination of parent and child, here is my 1 minute recreation from memory