This article was perceived as too contentious by some, and we pulled it last evening to review it. We apologize to all our readers who came looking for it and couldn’t find it. It’s back now, as we could not justify us being censored. Grassrooted was set up for us to speak our minds; for us to celebrate and rant against the world we live in, depending on our mood; for us to say ‘fuck’ …

The other day Hans and I were going to watch a play at Punchi theatre. We got there quite early so decided to chill and have some beers at this place opposite the theatre. It was a very seedy looking joint. I say this because at 6.30 in the evening, I was the only woman there. All the other tables were filled with men. Old men, middle-aged men, young men – not one other female.
As …

The other day I read about something called a Bechdel Test. Basically for a movie to pass this test it must satisfy three rules: 1 –  It should have at least two female characters who, 2 – talk to each other about, 3 – something other than a man.
Growing up, I watched more Bollywood films than any other kind. Sure, I watched Julie Andrews’ musicals and Gone with the Wind and Beethoven and so many …

I have a bee in my bonnet. A rather large one and buzzing too fucking loudly to ignore. And I need to catch it and “de-sting” it, maybe pull its wings off for good measure.
A couple of afternoons ago, a colleague at work brought up the ‘slut-shaming’ protest in the UK. And guess what, it is going to happen in Delhi too! For those of you who haven’t heard about it, it was basically a …

“If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And if we have the effrontery to talk to anybody with less than courtesy, we tell ourselves and the world we are not very intelligent.”
~Maya Angelou
The first time I was called ‘a slut’ I would have been about 17 years old. And of all the people to hear say it – my …

Abstinence has never been sexier than it is in the Twilight series. Look at even its cover – hands holding an apple – the forbidden fruit! Not to mention the ridiculous story line, a teenager obsessively in love with a control-freak-vampire and making a terrible (eventually failed) attempt at keeping her knees together, which in spite of its ridiculousness has managed to get thousands of teenagers equally obsessed with Bella and Edward’s bizarre and unnatural …

I have read very little literature that I found offensive. There’re a lot of books that I just didn’t enjoy  - adult, young adult and children’s fiction (I have eclectic taste as you can tell) – but very little that I found ‘offensive’.
In fact I’ve only read one other book that I found unbelievably offensive.  Mitchell Bard’s Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Middle East, purporting to be an extensive overview of the middle-east conflict, was …

Would you stop menstruating if you could?
I always thought that any girl or woman, once she’s had her period, hates it and would love for it to be over. To stop getting your period. I really just took it for granted that, like me, ALL (presumptuous I know) women hate bleeding every goddamn month and if it were possible to end it they would!
I was wrong! So wrong! There are actually women out there who …

I got wished Happy International Women’s Day yesterday. When I scrunched up my nose and made my usual ‘huh, say what?’ face, I got told off. “Aren’t you proud to be a woman?!” And when I continued my ‘seriously?’ face – “It’s International Women’s Day!” accompanied by a raising of eyebrows and simultaneous rolling of eyes. Like clearly you are just so uninformed. Because if you were informed, of course you’d have wished me instantly …

About a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I hosted a party at our home. A mutual friend we hadn’t met in a while, walked in and hugged us both, wished us well on our recent wedding and then cheerfully asked me, “So G, are you pregnant?” while making eyes at my burgeoning belly.
I laughed it off because she’s a sweet girl and I know she didn’t mean any offence. To be fair, she …