Aditya’s work is composed of written word and imagery that delves into the complexities of being a queer person trying to understand the parts of their identity that are inherited. ‘Achaar’ speaks of the loneliness of their grandma. After she passed away, they turned to Kathak, churning their queerness and hurt into dance, as depicted through ‘Sangeet Natak Academy’. ‘Borrowed Femininity’ is about the nose-ring that their mother never lent them, and the femininity she lent them without knowing. Together they weave a story of Aditya’s becoming. Of how their queerness isn’t new, but a culmination of deeply lived inheritances, both borrowed and stolen.
AACHAR
FEMININITY
BORROWED
SANGEET NATAK
ACADEMY
for Neeta ma’am
Aditya Vikram (he/they) is a poet and spoken word artist. They spend their days writing and evenings dancing on the terrace of a rented house in Lucknow, India. They won the Kommune National Story Slam last year, and have performed at several other regional and national festivals. Their work is published or upcoming in Verse of Silence, Vagabond City Lit, Din Dhalay anthology, and others.
Aditya Vikram, 23
