Maharani Talks

Dr. Revathi, or Kutti Revathi as she is often known as, is my first guest on the podcast that I'm talking to for the second time. The last time I spoke to her was a decade ago, and the issues that mattered to her then matter even today. She is a prominent Tamil poet, writer and lyricist whose works have largely centered on body politics and oppression.

Her second work, Mulaigal (Breasts), published in 2002, that spoke about female sexuality and the use of Tamil words like mulaigal and yoni (vagina) enraged certain sections of the society (read male writers) that they called for Revathi's book to be burnt followed by threats and discussions about her morality. But Revathi has since then gone on to publish more works and also started Panikkudam (Amniotic Sac), first Tamil feminist magazine.

Revathi received Sigaram 15: Faces of Future award for literature from India Today and was one of the four women poets whose works were translated into English to highlight its prominence by Harper Collins. She has also penned lyrics for A.R.Rahman.

In this episode, we talk about many pertinent topics such as:

- Why women's bodies are constantly regulated

- How regional poetry is a tool to dissent

- Meeting legendary poet Mahasweta Devi and what she learnt from her

- Regional poets in India vs. poets who write in English

- How translation has helped bring the issue of body politics resonate further

- Working as first time lyricist with A.R.Rahman

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Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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Can you remember the time when the topic of love and marriage was discussed around you, the issue of caste was never brought up?

A quick Google search on this issue will throw up a spate of news about inter-caste marriages and the incessant battles couples often face. The latest Pew Research findings that came out in June 2021 confirmed exactly this - we are shackled by societal expectations when choosing our mate. ⠀

This important conversation around our obsession with caste in matters regarding love and marriage that Jyostna Siddharth's work, Project Anti-Caste, Love finds prominence. She is an actor, activist and India Lead for Gender at Work, and also founder of Dalit Feminism Archive. ⠀

Jyotsna, who has a Masters in Development Studies and Social Anthropology and a recipient of Chevening Scholarship, talks about how her personal experiences shaped the Project, and her own intersectionality as a Dalit Queer woman.

Some of the topics we discuss about:

• How inter-caste relationships help break up society binaries
• Being raised by her mother, a prominent Dalit activist, Rajni Tilak
• Discrimination in academic circles
• Why the Savarna #MeToo movement is a Dejavu movement for Dalit women
• Portrayal of marginalised communities in the media and movies

You can check out Project Anti-Caste, Love at:

https://www.instagram.com/projectanticastelove/

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It will only take a few moments of your time. https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/maharani-talks/id1514769199

There has been much talk about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, galvanised by the growing clout of social media.But how much of that translates for the transgender community?

Recently, Karnataka became the first state government in India to reserve 1% of all government jobs for the transgender community. A significant move, considering that many transgender individuals, abandoned by their families and robbed of their dignity and livelihood, are forced to beg and/or become sexual workers to make ends meet.

It is to ensure a better socio-economic standing for trans people that Neelam Jain started Periferry, an organisation that works to skill and find employment solely for the trans community. And in the process, help corporates/startups diversify their workforce by supporting the LGBTQIA+ inclusion.

Since its inception in 2017, Periferry has helped place over 190 trans people and upskilled over 300, and worked with companies such as Wipro, Accenture, HP, Goldman Sachs and others to sensitise their work culture.

You can reach out to Neelam Jain at www.periferry.com

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It will take a few moments of your time but will go a long way to support independent podcasters like me. https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/maharani-talks/id1514769199

If you're a person with a vagina, be it binary or non binary, using public toilets has always been an icky experience. So what do we do? We either go long hours not peeing, hover over the toilet or in the worst case scenario, try to wipe the toilet seat.

When Deep Bajaj noticed how his wife and his mother struggled through these problems, even through pregnancy and arthritis, he decided to do something about it and came up with PeeBuddy - India's first portable, disposable and environment friendly FUD (female urination device) that enables women to stand and pee. And he patented the product in 2015.

From often being shown the door during the early days to getting trolled for talking about women's hygiene issues, PeeBuddy has now sold about 2 million units and over the years, Deep has brought out other products under Sirona Hygiene. For his innovation, he has won National Entrepreneurship Award, ET Innovation Award and listed under well known 40 under 40 lists.

To learn more about PeeBuddy and other female hygiene products, visit: www.thesirona.com

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Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It will take a few moments of your time but will go a long way to support independent podcasters like me. https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/maharani-talks/id1514769199

This episode is the second part of my conversation with Nikesh Murali, writer and creator of the acclaimed podcast, Indian Noir.

Before you listen to this episode, hope you've already checked out the prequel to this conversation where Nikesh and I talk about Indian Noir becoming a Spotify exclusive, podcasts and social media, the audio boom, mental health during the pandemic and his initial years of struggle as a writer.

Check out Indian Noir at:

https://www.indiannoir.com

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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I'm thrilled to share with you all that Maharani Talks has completed a year!

And one of the first podcasters I reached out to is Nikesh Murali, who has been supportive from day one. So I'm really excited that I finally got to sit down with him and have a wonderful discussion about his incredible work as a writer, voice actor and as the creator behind Indian Noir, an acclaimed chart topping podcast that tells thrilling crime and horror stories. And has now become a Spotify exclusive! Indian Noir has been featured in publications such as Harper's Bazaar, India Today, The Statesman, The News Minute among many others.

As a writer, Nikesh's work spans close to two decades with a prolific body of work that includes a multi-award winning, Amazon bestselling short story collection 'The Killing Fields', and the novel, 'His Night Begins', which earned him the tag of the 'most hardboiled of Indian crime writers' from World Literature Today Journal. He won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Asian region in 2011.

As one of the early players of the Indian podcast industry, Nikesh talks about Indian Noir's place in the Indian horror/crime genre, the evolving scene of the podcast industry in the country and many more interesting topics.

Check out Indian Noir here:

https://www.indiannoir.com

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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I remember when I watched Delhi Crime, it was gut wrenching, and took me back to the time when news reports were trickling in about Jyoti Singh's gruesome rape and death. The show gave me a chance to understand how the Delhi Police went about nabbing all those involved.

The hard hitting docu-drama was awarded the International Emmy Award in November last year, becoming the first show from India to win an Emmy. But the show was initially declined by Netflix. It's this need to champion independent voices that Apoorva Bakshi is most passionate about as her role as a producer. She has also spearheaded National Award winning movies such as Shut Up Sona and Leeches.

As one of the youngest producers in South Asia, she is the co-founder of Golden Karavan and Managing Partner at Project Fuel. Apoorva talks about why she chose Richie Mehta's Delhi Crime and the rise of OTT platforms in pushing independent production.

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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In 2014, Arjun Bahl and Thanish Thomas along with three of their co-founders, Hanif Kureshi, Giulia Ambrogi and Akshat Nauriyal, went to Shahpur Jat in New Delhi with a few artists and decided to paint the walls with art that was both vibrant and relayed a story or a message.

With that, St+art India Foundation was formed and soon snowballed into a national movement that would propel street art in the country. The not-for-profit organisation's idea to get art out of the galleries and away from elitist control was welcomed by scores of people as their reach grew to cover 25 cities, six art districts, 21 festivals and over 500 local and intentional artists.

St+art India is not the first street art movement in India but no other cause grew to the national significance it has. So how did the founders manage to do that?

Check out St+art India Foundation:

https://www.instagram.com/startindia/

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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When Amrita Samant decided to pursue her passion and take up maternity and child photography back in 2013, little did she realise she would help open up a whole new industry in India, paving the way for many more such photographers.

Over the years, Amrita has done over 1400 shoots spread across different countries, won multiple international awards and scaled up to leading an all-women's team. Through her photography, she has run campaigns to highlight the importance of breastmilk donation for babies in intensive care unit.

From a portrait photographer to having grown to a family documentary photographer, Amrita has also shot for many personalities including actor Sameera Reddy and cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin. So what was it like to be among first movers in this industry and what does she want her work legacy to be?

The article referring to Anne Geddes is by ArtNet News.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/anne-geddes-profile-1849401

To check out Amrita's work, please visit:

www.mommyshotsbyamrita.com

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/

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When Varun Sheth was keen to go abroad after his graduation, he tried to raise funds for his education through crowdsourcing from his relatives and thereby, did his first ever crowdfunding campaign. And this was even years before he co-founded Ketto, along with his co-founders Zaheer Adenwala and Kunal Kapoor.

As the first mover in the industry, the eight year old company has become a trusted name for making your donations count. And to actually knowing if it benefitted someone. Ketto (from 'key to tomorrow') has successfully raised over Rs. 1100 cr through two lakh fundraises and has a database of more than 55 lakh donors.

Numbers play a critical role for crowdsourcing and notching up these big figures wasn't an easy task for Varun, whose idea was once rejected by investors over and over again when he started the company in 2012. So how did he stay the course? What got him convinced that Indians will donate on an online platform? Let's find out from Varun Sheth on this week's episode of Maharani Talks.

You can check out Ketto here: https://www.ketto.org

Check out Maharani Talks on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/maharanitalks/?hl=en

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