The title ‘Body and Soul’ sets us off on our own accord of a journey of questioning and wondering about the entire interpretation of life and afterward. The writers present on stage, Vasudhendra and Rheea, have also had their share of conquest regarding the same and is reflective in their works.
Vasudhendra is a well-known Kannada author with more than 50 publications and 60+ awards to his credit. The publications include short stories, a collection of essays, novels, and translations. And Rheea Mukherjee is the author of The Body Myth and was shortlisted for the TATA Literature Live First Book Award 2019. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Scroll.in, Electric Literature, Out of Print Magazine, and Southern Humanities Review among others.
Rheea starts the conversation by admitting that she was quite confused about putting into words the body and soul and how to pull off an entire discussion on it! However, Vasudhendra comes to her aid and presents his idea about body and soul with an analogy. It goes like this; he says that the soul is like the stones of a Hoysala temple that make up the entire temple. And just like the whole temple collapses when a single stone moves, the body is non-existent without the soul, is what he exclaims, to which Rheea agrees.
Vasudhendra further adds that people will connect with friends and society when they have conversations beyond just a body’s structure. He gives an instance from his life. Community and the family questioned his body language and conduct because he was more on the feminine side. He says that it was instilled in him to like girls and walk in a masculine way. After years he realized it was so wrong to force the body in a way it does not want to behave. He addresses his body as another identity and says that it does not like to be subdued by the people’s norms. And that, people, who love will always look beyond the body, that is, the soul.
To which, Rheea adds that as a girl, she was always taught to cover her chest while stepping outside. Which she subconsciously carries the thought even now. She pointed out that just like a women’s chest is objectified, many other things regarding the body are.
The conversation next steers towards the subject of freedom to express sexual desires. Vasudhendra points out a courtesan in Tanjore by the name of ‘Muddupalani.’ Muddupalani wrote a poem called ‘Radhika Santvana’ (in Telugu) where a women’s sexual desires are expressed. This work was later republished and was banned for being vulgar during the British reign. Vasudhendra expresses his concern about how is expressing one’s desire vulgar? It’s just the needs of a person which is beautiful in its own way.
A lot of Vasudhendra’s work revolves around the LGBT community, and while he was writing his work, he found it extremely difficult to find English equivalent words in regional languages. Rheea wonders why is it so? Vasudhendra says that transgender people have been addressed in history because the community was aware that they existed. But gay/lesbian related words do not exist because society did not know their existence until two years from now! He admits to having used a term equivalent to ‘queer,’ which is not a very respectable one.
Rheea adds to the point, saying that families work in a role-based way. Like, the husband is the provider, and the wife is the caretaker. Such predefined notions have made society very rigid and have assigned duties even before they realize their identity. These things have led us as a community to not see beyond the horizon.
They concluded on a note that nobody needs to change to fit in. And we can be anything when we step out of a certain mindset and set ourselves free. Vasudhendra quoted this as his concluding line of the conversation, “If I can understand Shakespeare, you can understand me as well.”
About the Author: Puja Ambalgekar is an IT employee who finds writing, reading, and books in general as an outer space experience. She believes that words have the power to make the difference you intend to. She likes writing poetry, mythology, and technology. You can find her here. She currently writes for TheSeer.