A humming word

Nita was born hearing to deaf parents. Living through the challenges of communicating on behalf of her parents with hearing people, After pursuing many things, eventually began working with deaf children. In 2019, she founded Yunikee & Sign Medium, with her husband, Chaithanya, and a friend, Rahul, to make life accessible for 60 million people in the deaf community in the country. She also runs International Deaf Academy that provides high quality education to children in the deaf community. Here’s a brief chit chat with Nita. Team Yunikee Please share your journey that led you to founding Yunikee. I was born hearing to deaf parents and all through my life, I experienced firsthand the challenges and struggles a deaf person goes through even in simple things that we take for granted. At a time when phones were not common and digital video calling was not even thought of, my parents had to communicate with hearing people, and I started interpreting for them as I grew up. But for a ...

/an ode to Vidya ma'am/ No one had the talk with me when I was a teenager – it was all hush hush and internet was not accessible.  The movie Basic Instinct was the only exposure. I was not into self study either. Collecting information about ‘the pain’ before my first night for my previous marriage, I entered it. My former husband and I were like the protagonists of Blue Lagoon stuck in an island. The island was our room – a five star suite where we did what we knew from our previous experiences in our relationships. It was only years later, when a lover pointed out how much I did not know that I reached out to a few experienced women and had my first Talk. And experienced the ‘the pleasure’ that followed.   Note: This was written, firstly, based on my experience and secondly, prompted by the initiative by Vidya Premkumar, Jnana Vistar, to make Sex Education accessible to all students across India. Her IG: https://www.instagram.com/jnanavistar/    

Back in November 2020 when many were cooped up at home due to Pandemic, Lampshade Writers was born. Inspired by a community in Milwaukee, US, where poets and writers met, exchanged their work, sought feedback and slowly became a community having meals together, publishing books, becoming friends.  The idea was simple: meet to read their poems and share their thoughts. The warm and welcoming mileu from people of different ethnicities and cultures, experienced in my stay from 2015 to 2019 in Milwaukee, remained with me. It only pointed to the thought that no matter our experiences in life, we are connected by words and feelings.  Back to 2020, the idea of a community was loved by the online junta who wanted that outlet for their pain and agony in November 2020 that we were connected by. We moved to in-person Readings in Hyderabad and then, in Kolkata, Surela and Ananya, with support from Patrichia spearheaded one in September 2023. It was the first time we had a Reading in a new...

 A couple of days ago, my father received a call from an alleged Police Officer and then forwarded to 'CBI'. They said his adhaar card was used for sending fake passports, MDMA and ATM cards to Malaysia. He also received some notices from 'court' about the above.  My father was taken aback and given that he is not tech savvy, he listened to the 'CBI' officers and was worried till he confided in me and my mother.  On researching and checking up with a few trusted friends, and post consulting a lawyer, it was confirmed that it was a scam call.  To make sure that no further inconvenience is caused, we filed a complaint at https://cybercrime.gov.in. Then a follow up at Panjagutta Police Station (Hyderabad) and a filing of FIR made sure the investigation is in progress.  These cases have become common and are known as 'FedEx' frauds and some people have been swindled upto 80 lakhs.  Why this post?  To keep everyone informed that one should not be afra...

Niharika who runs WildBerry Organics, an organic store, which sells yummy kombuchas, sumptous ragi chocolate, among others, organizes conscious walks and it is an open invite to join in.  Here's a brief chit chat with her:  1. Why the consciously walking initiative? Food walks during Ramzan are quite popular and Hyderabadis love to explore haleems and kebabs across the city. But the overflowing garbage bins are always a sore sight. So we decided to go as a group and try our bit to not generate any waste while we explore the food delicacies. 2. How did you all think of this? Modern life offers so many conveniences like plastic bags and disposable cutlery when we are hustling all day but are we concerned about the mountains of non-biodegradable waste piling up in landfills? Here are 2 important concerns: Many innocent animals ingest plastic while trying to eat the leftover food Green house has emissions as the food rots in anaerobic conditions in the plastic heap. Solu...

Mathura Nagarpati is a song from the bollywood movie, Raincoat.  These are the lines that inspired the below couplets and a short poem: Kaun sa anokha geet gahe pee kakool? Birhan laage phir hridaya akool Raj kaaj man na lagaao… Mathura nagarpati kahe tum Gokul jaao? Couplets the birds from my hometown sing aloud i leave everything including this crowd * The songs of my hometown that these birds sing  i call the charioteer and leave with no belongings * I long for the cries of birds of my village, leaving everything I ride on for my hermitage * Short Poems what songs do these birds sing?  to my heart longing they bring! i call for the charioteer,  leave everything behind as i leave the opulence i implore you to not mind * i beg my charioteer, take me to braj  where my heart wants to be dear people at Mathura accept my apology * Thank you, Shekhar Jha, for your words and thoughts Complete song:  Mathura Nagarpati If some lines of the song has inspired you, p...

Language has no barriers. We listen to understand. Speak to communicate. But is language limited to words?  No.  There's body movements. Gestures.  And Sign language.  India is home to 63 million people hard of hearing and sign language was not included in the curriculum till 2021 .   Identifying the gap in people who do not know the basics of sign language Sign Language Karo was born.  A brief chat with its founder, Adarsh Hasija.  Why did you think of Sign Language Karo? AH: It was a technology driven decision. I realised that technology had reached a point where, if you made hands signs in front of your phone’s camera, the phone can actually notice the positions of the fingers and recognise the signs. Computer Vision has made progress. And I thought why craft a sign language experience out this. And thus Sign Language Karo was born. How has you journey been so far? AH: It’s been great.  As I mentioned it was a tech driven decision. So I st...