Karthik On Navigating Identity across Languages & Cultures

FORMAT: Photo Story KARTHIK DAMARSETTI (they/them) Senior Consultant with a software company. “When I told my mom that I’m gay, she understood what it meant,” Karthik shared. “But I couldn’t explain my non-binary identity to anyone in my native tongue.” Living with spastic diplegia in a multicultural household fluent in Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu, Karthik finds traditional gender politics exclusionary. They still couldn’t find the words to capture their queerness. The lack of vocabulary became even more apparent during the 2018 judgement decriminalising Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. “Watching the news with my family, I realised I couldn’t explain the different identities within the LGBTQIA+ community. The words just didn’t exist in our everyday language.” Tamil words for transgender people like Thirunar or Thirunangai are common, but Karthik notes, “If I were to shift to another language, that’s when it would all fall apart.” In Telugu, the challenge is even greater. The word queer in Tamil and Telugu hasn’t been defined, often borrowed from English, making it hard to explain to their family what it even entails. Karthik’s self-awareness deepened during their master’s studies in the US, but language struggles continued at home. The lack of representation in regional media reinforced harmful stereotypes and hindered meaningful discourse. In their 30s now, Karthik works in Hyderabad as a senior developer with a leading software consultancy firm. “We need more gender-neutral words in our languages, so people can use them without fear of being outed. It’s about reclaiming our identities without borrowing from non-Indian terms.” Initiatives like Words of Pride highlight the importance of community-driven language. “Only we know what to call ourselves. Words are powerful, and we need to build the language we need as a community.” Client: Disney+Star Writer: Virender Singh. Photoghrapher: Rishitha Devi Grading: Rusha Bose Producer: Varsha Panikar Production House: Star Hopper Studio EP: Asawari Jagushte Casting: Virender Singh, Eshita Chandna 1st AD: Eshita Chandna