Earlier, a lot of houses in Tamil Nadu used to have “Thinnai”, something like a sit-out at the entrance of the house. In our old house and my neighbour’s house, we used to have a Thinnai and a bench too where people used to sit and chill and have conversations. The way I remember it, serious things happened inside the house while people were relaxed outside sitting on Thinnai. I have always liked having conversations with strangers and when I tried to visualise a physical space- I could imagine buses, beaches, trains. And, very faintly remembered Thinnai too. So I decided to name this page after it.
I am Vaishnavi, I work in the social sector and after many failed attempts I am starting this blog again and through this space, I hope to share my work, conversations, engage.
Note- Also, I have categorised my pages as conversations and actions. I believe they feed into each other. I am keeping them until I figure out a better way to sort this out. (Probably never! >_< )
#MeToo in Chennai Schools: The Big Red Flag We Shouldn’t Ignore
In May 2021 a social media discussion on casteism and predatory behaviour in school and colleges snowballed into a #MeToo campaign against educational institutions in Tamil Nadu. More than a thousand girl students and women alumni, mostly from Chennai, alleged sexual harassment by teachers and people in positions of power in various institutions. Following hundreds…
A year since SWAN
I have been wanting to write this for the last one year. We (SWAN) are gearing up to release a video to remember or recall the last one year since the lockdown. This post isn’t going to be about any issues that would matter. This is my experience of being part of SWAN, a volunteer group for…
Roundtable: A discussion with main political parties in TN on Environmental Justice
27 March 2020. A roundtable discussion was organised by Young people for politics and the Chennai climate action group. Both are small and relatively new youth-led collectives. CCAG works on Environment justice and YPP works to encourage youth in politics and I got an opportunity to moderate it. An invitation was sent to all the…
Adolescents’ Access To Child Services, Mental Health in Small Towns Still Poor
(This article was first published in the wire. Resharing it here) I don’t know why I am angry all the time’, ‘Is it okay to kiss my boyfriend?’, ‘I don’t have any friends and I feel very lonely coming to school’, ‘What do I do when someone follows me home?’, ‘Will good girls chat with…
A Case for Contextualised Gender Dialogue from a School-Based Intervention in TamilNadu
Feminist research approaches in practice, Vijay Publications, 2020 The paper is based on gender sensitisation efforts with 600 children in a state school in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. The ongoing action research initiates and provides a platform for dialogue around gender sensitisation and sexual harassment through workshops among parents, teachers and students. Based on the primary…
Why must we challenge our families for our Democracy to Thrive?
Sethu and I contributed to Feminism in India for their call on October 2020, #Childhood and Relationship With Parents and Family. Picture credits:FII “Family as a sacred space” is a myth in a deeply patriarchal country like India. Here, the conventionally heteronormative family many times functions as a toxic space employing abuse, manipulation, guilt, and…
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I work with children on Gender, Ecology and Constitution among other things. I have worked with government agencies, civil society and elected representatives on Gender, Sustainability etc. I love to read, walk, binge watch series and I like to discuss them. Trees and Sunlight bring sanity to my life. Complexities of human relationships and emotions fascinate me.
Thinnai 