This week note is a month late. It’s fine. Time is made up and I am certainly not one to keep track of it.
I’m going to use this one to document two workshops I attended recently.
On 14th feb, Pri, Shammy, and I went to MAP’s inclusivity conference. It covered intersections of disability, religion, and queerness along with folk arts. I am generally quite cynical about such events, and it’s safe to say this one too left much to be desired.
Especially the workshop I signed up for – Navigating conflict through an anti-oppressive lens. While I was under the impression that the session would be practical and situation-based, it turned out to be mostly theoretical, with convoluted, jargony academic definitions. It was essentially the facilitator just reading out an 83-slide deck. Very little room for interaction. I guess time constraints could be blamed here, but I still don’t think it was great use of the time we did have. The food slapped though (smoor catering). I also got a tote bag which turned out to be the perfect canvas for this E.T. patch I saved from a torn t-shirt way back in 2019.
The second workshop was at Atta Galatta on the 21st. It was a writing workshop by the editors of the book ‘Writing from the Solitary: An Anthology on Loneliness’. The book comprises of essays, stream-of-consciousness prose, short stories, and poetry by contemporary Indian writers. The writing session focused on essays and poetry. Again, I don’t think 2 hours were enough to get deep into the exercises, but it was still lovely to hear other people’s thoughts and writing and get some directed time and space to articulate my own. I left feeling more connected to myself, which I think I desperately need right now.
I am yet to read most of the pieces in the book, but this one poem stayed with me. I even discussed it in therapy today and it was quite a lovely session. It’s a deceptively simple piece that carries layers of meaning – I see grief, resignation, agency, assertion of boundaries, navigating vulnerability, and so many other themes here.
