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@sonalsethiya

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Prime yodha @boondhcups
Here for the dopamine 🐙
House/ Farm sitter for pets🐈🐕🐖
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I slept in this bed for over a hundred consecutive nights. And didn't have to take (m)any naps in the day while I lived in this house. I like to think of it as a period of Deep Rest. These two cats were my only consistent companions. The house opened to a green field on one side, and a pool of water on the other.

I ate well, moved my body aplenty, built a steady fulfilling relationship w the cats, cared for them with patience, they reciprocated in emotional reward, I reconditioned my brain to look at dead animals as food for the cats while I cooked meat a first time in life (peak savarna dissonance), lit agarbattis in specific locations in the house to honour & express gratitude towards the owner of the space who left it in my care.

The period before this when I spent a 100 nights in the same room must have probably been at university in 2010, eleven years ago before this enchanting experience. Coincidentally, both these periods were like shells were i mostly just observed. This house saw me through precedented PMDD episodes, BPD weirds and the unprecedented taking on Boondh as a single person team, affirming my emotions as a gender non conforming person who may never find a (traditionally) 'stable' partnership, welcoming friends & befriending strangers, embracing newer experiences, feeling feelings fully, practicing deeper levels of compassion, sharing generously, and accepting with lesser inhibition when abundance was shared. taken in Goa Siolim by @sonalsethiya

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2 years ago

We barely ate because our hearts were so full.✨🌈🐙 We made rice paper rolls stuffed with fresh produce, drank wine, sang songs of resistance, laughed a lot, danced, dressed each other, skinny dipped, celebrated who we are, appreciated, and felt cared for.

This is undoubtedly the best party I've had the pleasure of putting together! Thank you to everyone who contributed in resources of space, food, paints, jewellery, intoxicants, clothes, music and more -- depending on our varying degrees of privilege.

I truly love you all. taken in Chennai, India by @sonalsethiya

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4 years ago

I want to sniff heads of newborns.

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This is my journey. I can't do too many things at once. And I am a slow learner. Never do I suggest that one can't run a company or learn a new language while raising children. :)

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#mother #climatechange #philosophy #unschooling #millennial #blogging #indianwoman #indian wedding #marriage #solitude #saint #blessing #toddler #single #motherhood #mentalillness #desi #poc #queer #lifestyle #vegan #childfree #travel #newborn by @sonalsethiya

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5 years ago

by @sonalsethiya

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8 months ago

"Hair is everything" - Fleabag
Grateful for friends who've witnessed me through the long, short, prickly, soft, lack thereof. It's amazing how the length of one's hair can influence gender euphoria. Longing a little today while I'm in the phase with the longest hair I've had all my life (yet?). by @sonalsethiya

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10 months ago

I co-authored an illustrated book in the pandemic, from the hills of Champawat. From wanting to write about electoral politics at 14 years of age to working on a different kind of political writing (on our bodies) at 28 years, life has been quite the graph (because slopes are just impractical with their raises and runs).

Making of the characters, designing their growth arcs, the non-purity in language, idioms in behaviour, the richness and depth in visual depiction (should Shama wear a bindi, is Karan gay, does Kalki always match her hairpins with her clothes to actively reshift focus from her chinhair) by @ajeers13
was an intense and very gratifying process with my co-author, @hashtash_17, writer and mother of felines. The pictures are from when we first met in flesh, in 2022 after the book was published by @zubaanbooks in 2021.

This was enabled by expert inputs from two incredible people I met on instagram - the witty @disabledspice, the patient Dr @renuka.dangare whom I am very grateful for, and the editorial inputs from @queer_ears_ and @varshaxvarghese who saw things between i-dont-know-how-many-drafts.

It was made possible by the Amplify Change Fund (UK) @amplifychange and @abirth26 's quick thinking to redirect funds from offline to online advocacy in 2020!

I am yet to reread the book since it went into production in 2021. The very tight delivery timelines, and what seems infinite readings and reviews of the draft ensured I didn't really engage with it again till summer of 2023 when it was used in a 2 day workshop in Sikkim to build capacity among top state govt staff in depts of WASH, Education and Women & Children.

There's Kalki and her family of grandparents, cousins, parents and cousin-parents, and her friends, family of friends, doctors, the internet, the quintessential triad of a three girl (whatsapp) group. And as Rega, a phenomenal writer, kindly pointed out, like most good stories, there is no villain in this one.

Would you read it? It can be bought at boondh.co and is the quality of a coffee-table book. It's printed to be passed around, as knowledge + good stories ought to be. 🪄 taken in Goa, India by @sonalsethiya

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10 months ago

It's been a privilege to co-create and lead curation for IRAADA for @jitochennaiyouth! The 2.5 month process was an unlimited supply of adrenaline with sprinkles of cortisol - from the first 3 people meeting at 10pm in my mother's house to naming the festival at a focused 4 people hang at @tanvisinghi 's house to deciding the zones & its functionalities at a 8 people gathering @themillennialembroider 's house with updated worries on timeline, permissions, sales 10 days before the event!

I took less than 20 photos in the 100 hours at the venue and a good number of those are mostly notes I sent the teams on various whatsapp groups as tends to happen with first editions of most themed annual events!

2. The lewk at the opening ceremony (no pictures from the stage, sigh). The mor pankh flew to me out of nowhere, I swear on my car

3. Three hours before the opening ceremony ft the goofy (and nervous system regulator) @subham127

4. I wrote "what is iraada" and "what it can become" at 2.30am on a bipolar manic episode after gentle check-ins with my elated self. Flexes are not my preferred material to print on, cloth was expensive :(

6 & 7. Someone cancelled a morning session and I stepped in. Notes are my own intention setting, and the next photo is the 3 people who showed up, not featuring the sleepless four others who walked in halfway).

This wouldn't have been possible without the trust and love of friendships enabled by pleasant chances and unprepared situations life has presented to me. Grateful 🌻 by @sonalsethiya

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10 months ago

Some people, places and things I am grateful for!

My phone was out sparingly and didn't get no water camera device -- so the visuals of sting rays playing vikram betaal are forever only mine to cherish and y'all will simply have to believe me when I say I had a splendid time scuba diving!

I spoke of death extensively on my Instagram in 2020-21 and I am here now speaking of life and joy. Used psychiatric medicine till it delivered me to a place where I can feel joy -- a long, long way from what anhedonia (non) felt!

Feeling incredible gratitude for @tanvisinghi not just for this trip but for in-general reminders on life & living, and her invaluable friendship. taken in Havelock Island, Andaman's by @sonalsethiya

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2 years ago

by @sonalsethiya

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2 years ago

Haven't forgotten that I returned from a protest site in Jan 2020 in Lucknow because Ajay Bhist Adityanath Shit had ordered shoot-at-sight on citizens protesting.

Haven't forgotten how migrant labour (people) and workers in the informal sectors were MURDERED by the BJP govt when they pocketed a billion dollars in the name of 'PM Cares' and declared it a private fund when we demanded transparency.

Havent forgotten how they encouraged lynching of minorities, made them live in constant fear and think about fleeing the country.

Uttar Pradesh, you ate and left no crumbs! Thank you ❤️ taken in India by @sonalsethiya

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2 years ago

Fixing the biggest lie ever told!
#Pride 2022, Chennai

Hoping mother @psnehlatha will join me someday! ✨

📸: @iamthesubash by @sonalsethiya

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2 years ago

by @sonalsethiya

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2 years ago