Sangharsh/Struggle : e-Journal of Dalit Literary Studies
ISSN : 2278-3067
Jan. to March., 2014 Vol. 03, Issue 01
A Namika A Sexual – Anamika Asexual Dr. Shiva Prasad G. Abstract: In Sanskrit ‗Nam‘ means name, ‗Namika‘ means somebody who is named or labelled and ‗Anamika‘ means somebody who is not named or labelled. We are not just named our names but also invariably tagged with a multitude of labels. We look at an individual with these lenses of labels and not at the individual self. In doing so, we scrutinize and stereotype in piece meal and thus miss the individual‘s holistic essence. Heteronormative patriarchal society also expects an individual to confirm to binary gender roles, to be heterosexual, sexual and contribute progeny. This piece is a poetic-prose rendition of my coming out of this tangle of labels and identity politics, coming out about my androgynous gender identity and my sexual orientation as a homosexualasexual. I first presented this as a dramatised reading/monologue at National Queer Conference 2013, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, the experience of which I knitted into this rendition. Monologue: I am a romantic, aromatic, homosexual,asexual, these are the pheromonal embellishing linen accentuations on my garment of labels. I am labelled as a man(by my sex), a quarternaarishwara(by my anglicized gender identity), a doctor(by my profession), a brown (by my sun kissed milk chocolate skin color) and anIndian (by my nationality), these labels form the base fabric of my garment. Other labels such as, I am a Hindu (by my way of life), a spiritualist (by my faith), a lacto ovo vegetarian (by my food habits), a shaivist (by the cast that I was born into), an earthling (by my patriotism beyond boarders and by my love for the environment) etc etcetc and etc, these labels give structure, form and flow to my garment. These labels forming my garment are limitless. Every fabric of alabel that might describe a certain aspect of my life has been sewed into my garment every now and then as I grew up. I din't stop growing as an individual and so did my garment. For the first quarter of my life it has already formed sizeable and grand enough to beat that of any drag queen in a Sanfransisco night club drag show. However, personally I prefer to be a nudist by my identity. It is an honest depiction of your true self. By that I mean not being labelled and not physical nudity. I however have nothing against physical nudity. My individuality is my true identity. A bunch of labels cannot describe me in the entirety. There is a lot missed between the labels and thus my individual self as a whole. Nudism may be an attention seeking tool in the west but not so in India.
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