Sonali Kokra, Author at Arré

An Ode to Tuition Teachers… From a “Slow Learner”

After I flunked a dozen-odd kindergarten interviews, I was told by my parents that I’ll spend more time with my preschool tuition teachers – Julie Miss and Rosy Miss. I may not have learned my letters and my poems, but I learned something – and that something was imagination.

Sonali Kokra July 23, 2016

Gender

Ladies, Stop Telling Yourself You Like Lace Lingerie

Why do we women squeeze ourselves into undergarments that behave like torture devices accessorised with elastic, bows, and ribbons that are meant to irritate the skin at inopportune moments? I’ve realised you aren’t truly emancipated until the day you find yourself committed to the cause of comfortable drawers.

Sonali Kokra July 22, 2016

POV

“Baad Mein Zaroorat Padegi!” Why Are Indians Such Obsessive Hoarders?

The great Indian store room has everything — all the things you can think of and millions you can’t even imagine — waiting to be summoned some day. We never need 99.9 per cent of the things. In my house, we still have the galla that my grandfather started his business with more than 50 years ago and a kadhai, the size of a bathtub.

Sonali Kokra July 21, 2016

Bollywood

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga Review: The Lesbian Love Story a Post-377 India Needs

A small-town lesbian love story might make Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga the most unexpected romance of the year, but equally riveting is its secondary plot. The Sonam Kapoor-starrer needs to be lauded for its honest portrayal of parent-child relationships, and exactly how far Indian children go to not disappoint their parents.

Sonali Kokra July 21, 2016

Bollywood

In a World Crazy Over Rahuls and Rajs, Why Shah Rukh Khan’s Mohan Bhargava Stands Out

Bollywood, much like the government, has fed us an idea of nationhood that is so much bigger than ourselves, most of us tend to struggle to understand our place in it. Swades showed us an alternate version. In Mohan Bhargava, it gave us a deshbhakt we could imagine ourselves being, some day.

Sonali Kokra July 19, 2016

Gender

“It’s Not Me, It’s You”: How to Identify Gaslighters and Fight the Manipulation

There was a time I’d walk away from an altercation feeling confused, foolish, and chastised. On occasion, I’ve even been grateful that the man in question was being such a good sport about the embarrassing “misunderstanding”. Not anymore. I refuse to be gaslighted.

Sonali Kokra July 17, 2016

Gender

What’s Wrong with Being a “High Maintenance” Woman?

My annual budget for haircuts runs comfortably into five digits. I own an ungodly amount of silver jewellery, bags, and indigo dresses. I suppose I am what society calls “high maintenance”. But I promise you, no man was hurt in the making of this film.

Sonali Kokra July 15, 2016

POV

#EverydayPhenomenal: What Our Obsession with Over-Celebrating Weddings, Birthdays, and Now Even Divorces Says About Us

What’s with the multiple tawdry parties to celebrate a solitary life event like marriage? Unless you’re DeepVeer or Nickyanka – who also overdid it – the truth most people stuffing their faces with your ₹2,500-per-plate aren’t telling you is: No. One. Cares.

Sonali Kokra July 10, 2016

Bollywood

How the Meenakshi Seshadri-Starrer Damini Taught Me My First Lesson in Feminism

In Damini, which released 28 years ago, Meenakshi Seshadri plays a housewife who beats impossible odds in her quest for justice for a rape survivor, the family’s domestic help. In some ways, the movie is the origin story of a conviction that has defined my life and given it purpose — that women are not second-class citizens of the world.

Sonali Kokra July 10, 2016