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Shilppa Das/Humanities+Design

@shilppa_das

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My father had an almost magical way of transforming the mundane into the extraordinary, especially through his love of pranks. He had an uncanny ability to slip into disguises that cloaked him in a veil of mischief. I remember the day he chose to be an old, needy man—bent at the waist, his back stooped with age. He knocked at doors in our apartment complex, a figure of feigned vulnerability, and none of the neighbors could see through his ruse. He once dressed up as the politician, Karunanidhi. At another like a Rabari man, in full regalia. In a kurta over my mother’s saree striking a dance pose to pointing somewhere bizarre in a family group photo, he did it all. A true “jaatraapaatiyaa” as they might say in Odiya.

In those moments, he was not merely playing a role; he was tapping into a childlike joy that seemed to radiate from him, filling the air with laughter that echoed down the hallways.

He shunned the conventional ways of facing the camera, preferring instead to revel in the absurdity of it all. We had a Minolta 7000 camera, I think, that used 35 mm film. He’d strike bizarre poses, contort his face into all manner of expressions whenever the camera was present, much to our chagrin. It was as if he understood that capturing a moment meant capturing not just an image but an entire narrative, one only he could tell. Each snapshot was a story, a prank, a memory woven into the fabric of our lives.

As I grow older, I find I have inherited this penchant for playfulness. (It’s been 22 years since he left us). Whether it’s through a change of voice over the phone, or a spontaneous act, on an unsuspecting friend, colleague or student, I find joy in crafting little performances. Each opportunity to prank is a thread connecting me to him—a silent nod to his spirit.

This playful spirit is not just about laughter but also a tender reminder to embrace life’s fleeting moments with joy and creativity. Which is why, I suppose, he was popular with young and old alike. In the laughter that followed each prank, in the smiles he conjured from unsuspecting neighbors, my father created a world where the ordinary was always just a bit more extraordinary. by @shilppa_das

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2 years ago

This photograph holds us all—my mother, her sari a quiet flash of green, my late Papa, his presence so palpable even in stillness, and my cute younger sister, a smaller echo of childhood beside me. We had gone to a photo studio, one afternoon, to have the photo taken. It is a moment suspended, a fragment of time that, when held, releases a peculiar, soft peace into the present.

Childhood, a landscape now viewed through the hazy lens of memory, always feels both distant and intimately near in these pictures. The happiness isn’t boisterous or loud; it’s the subtle contentment of belonging, of being utterly, unthinkingly present. And look at my hair! Oiled and plastered to my scalp —a testament to a mother’s careful hand. For years I had rued my hair on that particular day.

It’s astonishing, the way a single image can carry so much—not just faces, but the very texture of those days. This tangible link to who we were, to the quiet joy that once simply was, is a treasure.

#OiledHairDays by @shilppa_das

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a year ago

Always special returning to my roots at @sxca_ahm.

There’s a different kind of fulfillment in giving back to the place that shaped you. While I appreciate my role in the Board of Studies, nothing truly compares to the energy and conversation of a direct interaction with the students.

Looking forward to discussing disability, intersectionality, and ableism tomorrow.

#AlmaMater #GivingBack #StXaviersCollege. ( spelling correction with AI) by @shilppa_das

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2 days ago

You cannot build a dam against a river that has already decided where it wants to go. Block the main current, and it simply splits into a hundred smaller streams—quiet, deliberate, and relentless—seeping into every crack of the city until the ground beneath becomes soft with intent. There is a quiet majesty in watching a people remember their own fluidity. When the gates are closed, the whole earth becomes the path. by @shilppa_das

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5 days ago

I have always believed that transit staff hold the most tender, grounding slices of life if we only pause to notice them. Passing through Frankfurt airport, I saw Tanja—a wheelchair attendant—walking with an empty chair, looking visibly weary. I shifted my suitcase on my airport cart and called her over to share the seat as we headed toward the furthest gates. She seemed familiar somehow.

As we rode together, I recognized her from my trip to Estonia in November 2025. When I had passed through Frankfurt and noticed her very distinct style and hair. Chatting on the way, I noticed her English held a gentle Scottish lilt rather than a German accent, complete with that dry, unmistakable Scottish humor. She shared that her partner is Scottish and living with the onset of dementia; she speaks to him in Scottish English every day, anchoring him to his dialect so he doesn’t lose it. And I knew from joining several dots that she was trying to hold up her home front.

A quiet moment of care on a moving cart, and a glimpse into a devotion sustained through language. Resilience has many hues. One deeply for the memory. by @shilppa_das

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5 days ago

Draping a saree for my Keynote address and wearing kurtas every day at MOME has sparked the sweetest conversations about Indian textiles. People were genuinely curious, always asking about the weaves, material, fabric origins, draping style, natural dyes, and the textile and craft traditions behind each piece.

Traditional Hungarian crafts are also deeply rooted in rural folk traditions, with vibrant embroidery, crochet, hand-painted ceramics, and intricate lace-making as I have seen during my trips here.

What makes being in Budapest even more joyful, though, is the colour. Unlike many European cities where black, white, and neutral greys dominate the streets, I find so many Hungarian women embracing a wonderfully rich and vibrant spectrum of colours and shades. It feels like a lovely, quiet kinship between two cultures that truly appreciate colour! ( Thanks @vasalikatalin for the photo) by @shilppa_das

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7 days ago

What a fulfilling day co-hosting our workshop, “Reading Disability Through Epistemic Artefacts: A workshop on disability-generated knowledge, design, and epistemic justice” at MOME with Beata Sosity! At the Symposium.

We had around 20 enthusiastic participants—a wonderful mix of students, academics, faculty, and researchers—and it was such a joy to share space and ideas with everyone. As well as learn from Bea and how she does things.

The highlight of my day was carrying 25 copies of our NID Graphic Design student, Shivangi Rathod’s Design Project book “What We Don’t Notice” an outcome of her Design Project from last semester. Designed specifically as a tool to assist my disability sensitisation sessions, it was so deeply moving to see how much everyone appreciated, admired, and coveted her work! 💖

So Shivangi, your work has officially reached Budapest and two universities here! Beyond proud of you and the impact your design is making across borders. ✨

#InclusiveDesign #EpistemicJustice #DisabilityAndDesign #MOMEBudapest #DesignEducation by @shilppa_das

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8 days ago

My third visit to MOME, Budapest. Creeping out of my guest apartment and standing at the footbridge at the crack of dawn to an entirely still campus is a ritual I will never tire of. There is a quiet magic in greeting this scene when the sky is still a deep, dark blue and the warm glow from the building opposite hasn’t been switched off. It is my absolute favorite way to begin the morning here with a steaming mug of coffee. by @shilppa_das

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10 days ago

The comfort in those fleeting encounters with strangers you know you will only meet once in a lifetime. Passing through Munich airport, I shared a wonderful conversation with Gojko—a 58-year-old man from Serbia who works at the airport —about the bewildering, beautiful work of raising children in their teens and twenties. Across geography, language, culture, gender and background, our fears, patience, exasperation and small pride as parents sounded almost identical. A gentle, grounding reminder that no matter how far we travel, some human experiences remain reassuringly universal. by @shilppa_das

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12 days ago

I am deeply honoured to deliver a Keynote Address in the Social Dialogues of Art and Design symposium at MOME, Budapest, and look forward to exploring vital creative perspectives with an inspiring academic community. I am equally eager to hear the insights shared in the other Keynote address, as engaging with fellow thinkers always sparks new dimensions in our collective work.

Public health policies in India routinely sideline disabled women, treating their healthcare as a secondary luxury rather than an unconditional, fundamental human right, reflecting a deep-seated institutional ableism. This address directly confronts these systemic failures by unpacking an innovative campaign in rural Gujarat. By leveraging garba and sanedo—a vibrant folk performance tradition—to disrupt deep-seated local prejudices, and challenge dominant medical narratives. I argue for an urgent epistemological shift. We are forced to move past standard, clinical “user-centred design” bubbles toward a radical feminist disability-centred praxis. Disabled women are not passive, agentless victims to be neatly retrofitted into existing systems; they hold profound, embodied expertise regarding their own bodies, care-seeking, and structural survival. Intersectionality here is not a trendy workshop tool, but a live political commitment to dismantling embedded caste, class, and gender disparities. Ultimately, this keynote reframes health systems design as a deeply ethical battleground, urging us to dismantle rigid medical hierarchies and co-create transformative health ecosystems rooted in equity, autonomy, and genuine justice. by @shilppa_das

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13 days ago

To watch a voice you once sheltered step fully into its own clarity and conviction. The quiet joy when old mentorship dissolves into a meeting of equal minds. In shared memories and new ideas, years of separation simply slip away. Itis the sweetest proof that the sparks we tend in the classroom truly endure. @sherylrj : from 2013 to 2026… by @shilppa_das

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16 days ago

Calling Designers, Technologists, Anthropologists, Sociologists, and Deaf Studies Scholars!✨

A month into our roles as Section Editors for the new Oxford Intersections (Oxford University Press) online resource on Translation, Language, and the Global Circulation of Disability, Ritwick Bhattacharjee and I have been thrilled by the response to our Literature and Linguistics tracks.

We are now actively seeking 250-word abstracts for the following interdisciplinary tracks:

Design, Anthropology, Language, Disability & Inclusive Environments

Technology, Language & Disability

Anthropological Considerations of Language & Disability

Sociology, Language & Disability

Deaf Studies

About the Volume:
This section explores how language, discourse, and translation construct, mediate, and transform disability on a global scale—interrogating power relations, colonial histories, and how disability concepts travel across linguistic and disciplinary borders.

Published on Oxford Academic, accepted chapters (6,000–10,000 words) will be fully peer-reviewed, assigned DOIs, and indexed across major academic databases.

How to Submit:

Send us your submission with:
1. Proposed Title
2. 250-word Abstract
3. Author list, affiliations, and email addresses

Email your abstracts to dshilppaoxford@gmail.com and ritwick@sgtbkhalsa.du.ac.in.
(Full project details and links in bio!)

#OxfordUniversityPress #OxfordIntersections #DisabilityStudies #InclusiveDesign #DeafStudies SociologyOfDisability by @shilppa_das

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16 days ago