Project Overview
Kaleshi’s cottage is a universe in the making. At its core, it’s a game show, but it lives across a digital magazine, a comic strip, and live game events. Using a multi storytelling format we follow Kaleshi — a human navigating a mythic world that reflects layered South Asian aesthetics, traditions, and forward-fashion tribes. We use this universe to blend fiction and reality, exploring themes of identity, queerness, caste, and decolonial memory. We’re building a space where Dalit, Bahujan, and queer Indigenous voices lead the narrative — and where imagination becomes a tool for reworlding. From real-world games to comic panels, the project invites the audience not just to consume, but to play, question, and co-create.
Expected Impact
We aim to drive impact in 3 distinct areas: 1) Artistic Innovation – The project pioneers a hybrid storytelling format that merges fantasy, satire, folk performance, and digital interactivity. Queer and trans South Asian artists co-author narratives that challenge dominant fashion norms and celebrate community, self-expression, and play. 2) Archive Creation – Through a gamified digital magazine, kaleshi’s cottage becomes a living archive of queer South Asian voices, preserving performances, essays, and comics. This accessible, multilingual resource resists erasure and imagines inclusive futures. 3) Global Collaboration The project offers a scalable model for decentralized, transnational queer storytelling. Through workshops, open calls, and digital challenges blurring the lines between audience and co-creator.
Applicant Background
We’re a motley crew of storytellers, artists, designers, culture theorists, coders, witches, and rebels — bound together by a shared love for our Indian heritage, queer futures, and radical reimagination. From zine-makers to movement artists, our team reflects the very intersections kaleshi’s cottage celebrates: diasporic, neurodiverse, queer, trans, femme, and fearless. With deep roots in community organizing, fashion subcultures, and digital storytelling, we don’t just dream of better worlds — we prototype them. Our collaborators have worked across independent publications, experimental theatre, academic research, and underground queer collectives. We’ve hosted zine fairs, led workshops, coded immersive experiences, and built safe spaces online and offline. Together, we bring a unique blend of theory, camp, tech, and tradition to everything we do. kaleshi's cottage is our protest, our play and our prayer.