Category: From the Archives

This photograph shows a scene from the re-enactment of the skit ‘Koti Ki Atma’ at Café Adda Ghar, Kolkata on November 4, 2023. Three actors are acting out a scene before a small invited audience. The play is being performed in an open but small and intimate part of the café, lit with a few overhead lamps and other sources of light not visible in the photograph. A black cloth background and a few props form the backdrop behind the actors who are facing the camera. Some of the members of the audience visible in the photograph, half a dozen or so (of the total 40-45), are seated close to the actors on plastic chairs, and have a bemused look as they watch the play up close. A video camera can be seen on the left edge of the photograph recording the play. A photographer, with her camera in hand, is also among the audience, standing just next to the people seated. Darkened tall glass panes forming one of the walls of the café can be seen behind her. A poster of the café menu is pasted on one of the glass panes. Photo credit: Suchandragraphy

Remembered sexual futures

By Diksha Sanyal

Diksha Sanyal summarizes a study on the art and cultural advocacies undertaken by queer community groups in West Bengal in the 1990s and 2000s. The study has been co-developed by...

This illustration is a combination of a photograph and text extracted from the accompanying article. The photograph shows a scene from the ‘20th Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’ held on December 17, 2023. It shows a large number of pride walk participants holding up banners and posters in English and Bengali. Two of the posters have slogans that convey the following message – so what if they are trans or gay, they are our children. In the backdrop, behind the crowd of participants, several large trees and a blue sky can be seen. In the text extract, the author says: “Sunday’s pride walk (on December 17, 2023) reminded me of my first pride experience all the way back in 1995. I was again overwhelmed and emotional. This time though I was with thousands of brown queers – surrounded by warmth, love and family. Our proclamation ‘Love is Love’ truly signifies what we know to do for ourselves, it is what we lead with, what drives us to build our relationships and find community.” Photo credit: Meera

From the Archives, Travel Travel Mar '24

The power of a letter

By Meera

What happens when the messenger follows in the footsteps of their message? Meera talks about her first Kolkata visit and first South Asian pride walk experience in 2023

Quote: It was said at the conference that sexual behaviour is ‘down there’, while sexual identity is ‘up there’. But the general perception seems to be: Never mind how much grey matter’s up there, down there it had better be big. Perhaps saying so is being unnecessarily pessimistic. Even so, in many minds the size fetish evokes a very real fear – a fear of inadequacy, of being unattractive, of being unwanted. This fear can only hinder the progress towards a healthier existence.

From the Archives, Vartanama Jan '24

Better fallible than supreme

By Pawan Dhall

There’s still time to make New Year resolutions that don’t celebrate excess, big size or Pyrrhic standards of perfection, says Pawan Dhall

This photographic collage shows close-up glimpses from the archival records maintained by Varta Trust on the sociolegal campaigns against Section 377, Indian Penal Code since the early 1990s. Portions of a couple of pages from the 172nd report of the Law Commission of India on a review of the rape laws published in March 2000 can be seen in the collage. The title page of the report is presented inside an oval shaped inset. The State Emblem of India, an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, is visible on the top of one of the pages in the collage. The pages are presented in a stylized manner, with only a portion of the text on the pages visible to the reader. Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

From the Archives Sep '23

Conversations between movements, collaborations across identities, 10 years on

By Dhamini Ratnam

The struggle for equal rights must be a collaborative one – Dhamini Ratnam dwells on this lesson from the past reflected in the queer archives maintained by Varta Trust

From the Archives, Vartanama Sep '22

Can a post office be your hero?

By Pawan Dhall

A visit to the Ballygunge Post Office after more than a year reminds the author of his relationship with this ‘heritage site’ for Kolkata and India’s queer movements

This graphic is a combination of an extract from the accompanying article and the visual of a New Year’s greeting card, one among 3,000 such letters and cards that Kolkata-based Counsel Club, one of India’s earliest queer support groups (1993-2002), used to receive in the 1990s and early 2000s. The greeting card has three flaps. The central one is empty and the extract text, printed on a yellow vertical rectangle that looks similar to the postcards issued by India Post, is placed on this empty space. The flap to the left of the rectangle shows a pretty bouquet of flowers growing out of a pink heart. The flap to the right of the rectangle is a cut-out of an enchanting forest and a white dove flapping its wings. The text placed on the central flap says: “To me it is important to construct historical narratives that do not present queer identities and experiences as monolithic. By including personal documents and narratives, archives allow us to tell not one history, but multiple histories. Stories contained in the archives can provide leverage and evidence for activists as they bear witness to the pain and discrimination faced by queer people. The Counsel Club Archives definitely changed and expanded the way that I understand queerness in the context of my own hometown, Kolkata.” Graphic credit: Pawan Dhall

From the Archives, Insight Oct '21

Accessing a shared past for a shared future

By Yashita Kandhari

Yashita Kandhari on her experience of discovering and getting involved with a queer archiving initiative in her hometown Kolkata

This illustration is a horizontal panel of two photographs. The first photograph on the left side shows a document being scanned in a darkened room by a high-speed digital imaging scanner. The document is placed flat on a black soft pad which itself is placed on a table and under the spotlight of the scanner’s fill light. An individual’s hands can be seen at two corners of the document, nudging it into place. The individual is seated to the right of the table. The lit-up screen of a laptop computer attached to the scanner can be seen to the left side of the document. The second photograph on the right side shows a document (a greeting card) being filed in a ring binder after being scanned. The document itself is placed inside a plastic sleeve. The hands of the individual filing the document can also be seen in the photograph. These documents are part of the archival material of Counsel Club, Kolkata, one of India’s earliest queer support groups that functioned from 1993 to 2002. The Counsel Club Archives are maintained by Varta Trust, which has undertaken cataloguing and digitization of the archives. Photo credits: Pawan Dhall

From the Archives, Vartanama Aug '21

Letters as building blocks of India’s queer movements

By Pawan Dhall

Pawan Dhall presents nuggets of queer histories from the erstwhile Counsel Club’s archival material

This main illustration is a photograph of the front cover of a Durga Puja greeting card received by queer support group Counsel Club, Kolkata in October 1998. This handmade card is vertically oriented and has cut-outs made out of thick gold, brown and red coloured paper pasted on white chart paper. The cut-outs depict the three eyes of Goddess Durga, a red ‘bindi’ on her forehead, a nose ringlet, and the nose itself in the form of a long spear pointing downwards towards the head of a buffalo, symbolizing the ‘rakshasa’ the goddess is supposed to slay. The goddess’ eyes look striking, and given that her mouth has not been shown with any cut-out, it almost appears as if she is wearing a mask. The artwork is framed on either side by two long strips of ‘zari’ work. The card is placed on an open file of letters received by Counsel Club. A few letters can be seen filed in the background, but the contents are not quite legible. Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

From the Archives, Vartanama Oct '20

Durga Puja in the archives

By Pawan Dhall

Pawan Dhall looks at Durga Puja nuggets in the Counsel Club Archives and his personal photo albums

This graphic is a snapshot of two pages from the January-July 1997 issue of ‘Pravartak’ journal, which was published by the erstwhile Kolkata-based queer support group Counsel Club in the 1990s. The pages are opened up flat. The focus is on the right hand side page where the headline of the editorial ‘Growth Pains’ is prominently visible below the name of the editorial column ‘Periscope’. The editorial is signed off by Counsel Club members Partha and Pawan. The journal dateline is visible on the bottom page margin. The article text itself is not readable. The left hand side page carries information on the journal editorial team, suggested contribution for the journal and its subscription details. The snapshot of the two pages is presented at a slant against an attractively patterned background of pink and grey. The pages show a certain degree of wear and tear and yellowing given that they are part of archival material going back to the 1990s. Graphic credit: Pawan Dhall

From the Archives, Vartanama Aug '20

History lessons in growth pains

By Pawan Dhall

As 'Varta' webzine starts off on its eighth year, a look at what its predecessor 'Pravartak' was focusing on around the same time of the year in 1997

This illustration shows a poem titled ‘The Other Shore’ written by one Lakshmi (pen name), who had started a queer women’s support group in Chennai in the mid 1990s and who is the focus of the accompanying article. The group was called Sisters and it was quite short lived (from 1994 to 1995). But it was an important early queer initiative in India. The poem was published in the July-December 1994 issue of ‘Pravartak’, a journal published by Counsel Club, also an early queer support initiative in Kolkata that functioned from 1993-2002. The poem reads as follows: “She puts her arms around me – Blows away my tear. Can we make it – My eyes ask – Her smile says – We ‘will’ make it – To the other shore. Is it worth the bad – With the good? There is no other way.” The poem is bylined Lakshmi and below the poem is a stylized sketch of fishing nets with their reflection in the water. Illustration credit: Pawan Dhall

From the Archives, Vartanama Mar '19

Chennai flashbacks

By Pawan Dhall

Sisters (1994-95) was one of the first queer activisms in Chennai, remembers Pawan Dhall

The photograph shows a collage of a few newspaper and magazine articles on queer issues. Two of the prominent ones are headlined ‘LGBT Andolan Je Bhabe Mool Strotay’ (Growth of LGBT Movement) and ‘Who Said it Was Simple’. The first written by Pawan Dhall was published in the newspaper ‘Ei Samay’ in December 2012, and the second by Sthira Bhattacharya was published in the ‘Kindle’ online magazine in July 2013. Visuals in the articles include a photograph of participants in a queer pride walk in Kolkata, and another one of an individual clapping their hands like often Hijras and other transgender persons do (such clapping is termed as ‘thikri’ in Bengali and often signifies assertion and protest). Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

Commentary, From the Archives Aug '17

Memories in media outings (part 4)

By Pawan Dhall

In 'Kolkata’s Queer Movement: A Recollection of Media Outings – Mid-1984 to Mid-2013' Pawan Dhall remembers his personal queer-story over the years (concluding part)

This main photograph shows a collage of copies of the ‘AIDS Sex Knowledge’ or ‘ASK’ column published for young people by Kolkata-based social communication NGO Thoughtshop Foundation in 1996. The interactive column was published in the ‘Voices’ youth supplement of ‘The Statesman’ every third Thursday. Four editions of the column from February to April 1996 dealt with queer issues with inputs from Counsel Club, one of India’s earliest queer support groups. The photograph shows snippets of the column from these four editions – reader questions, myths and realities pointers, and reader comments on gender and sexuality. The full column name is displayed prominently – ‘AIDS Sex Knowledge for Young People’ with the tag line “If you don’t ask, you’ll never know, will you?” The ‘Voices’ masthead is also prominently visible. Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

Commentary, From the Archives Jul '17

Memories in media outings (part 3)

By Pawan Dhall

In 'Kolkata’s Queer Movement: A Recollection of Media Outings – Mid-1984 to Mid-2013' Pawan Dhall remembers his personal queer-story over the years

This main photograph shows a snapshot of a Bengali article titled ‘Chhaichapa Fire’ (Fire That Would Be Worthless to Try and Douse) by Sanjukta Basu published in ‘Ananda Bazar Patrika’ newspaper on April 3, 1999. The photograph shows a portion of the article text (including the headline), with a black and white sketch (by artist Debasish Deb) more or less centre stage. The sketch shows two women with long flowing hair and sharp facial features holding and looking at each other. A one-line article introduction below the sketch translates into “Homosexuals in the heart of the city are forming clubs to seek social acceptance, writes Sanjukta Basu”. The sketch may not be remarkable by many standards, but the article in question created quite a buzz in the queer activism circles in Kolkata in the late 1990s. It helped the city’s queer support groups reach out to thousands of individuals through letters and one-on-one meetings. Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

Commentary, From the Archives Jun '17

Memories in media outings (part 2)

By Pawan Dhall

In 'Kolkata’s Queer Movement: A Recollection of Media Outings – Mid-1984 to Mid-2013' Pawan Dhall remembers his personal queer-story over the years

Commentary, From the Archives May '17

Memories in media outings (part 1)

By Pawan Dhall

In Kolkata’s Queer Movement: A Recollection of Media Outings – Mid-1984 to Mid-2013 Pawan Dhall remembers his personal queer-story over the years. This four-part series of extracts is being published in...

Photograph is a close-up shot of a number of visiting cards from the author’s collection scattered on a surface. These are the cards of ‘Akhbar-E-Mashriq’, an Urdu daily newspaper published from Kolkata; late anthropologist Dr. Moni Nag; Moulin Rouge Restaurant, Park Street, Kolkata; People Tree, Parliament Street, Delhi; Pride Publications Private Limited, Bombay; and Reshma Lodge, Station Road, Midnapur. There are two other cards – one that shows a few Chinese alphabets (the rest of the details are hidden by the other cards); another unnamed card that shows a black and white sketch of a tall, slender and sharp-featured white woman dressed in Victorian style clothing, including a large hat. Some of the cards are on glossy paper, others on cardstock (thick) paper often used for business cards, and one is on handmade paper. Most cards are horizontal in orientation. Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

From the Archives, Travel Travel Apr '17

(Re)visiting cards

By Pawan Dhall

A friend’s request for information about hotels in Midnapur town leads Pawan Dhall to look into rarely used visiting card diaries, and the cards trigger memories of the queer scenario...

Tagged Under: From the Archives

Remembered sexual futures

The power of a letter

Better fallible than supreme

Conversations between movements, collaborations across identities, 10 years on

Can a post office be your hero?

Accessing a shared past for a shared future

Letters as building blocks of India’s queer movements

Durga Puja in the archives

History lessons in growth pains

Chennai flashbacks

Memories in media outings (part 4)

Memories in media outings (part 3)

Memories in media outings (part 2)

Memories in media outings (part 1)

(Re)visiting cards

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