Hello and welcome to Behenchara, readers! To anyone who is reading this, be it family, friends, acquaintances, foes, strangers, friends of strangers, foes of strangers, that one guy who asked me to draw him but I drew a squid instead, anybody and everybody. Welcome!
From a young age I learnt that for us womxn, other womxn is all we got. That is not to say that many of us don’t have wonderful men in our lives, but at the crux of it, at the end of the day, as womxn we turn to other womxn for safety, security, resilience, warmth, endurance, direction, inspiration, compassion and all those lovely things. Behenchara has been cooked with all of those ingredients. A dish, hot and overflowing. Whenever you, my fellow womxn, feel alone, lost, hurt, broken, defeated, and all those very gray and stubborn feelings, I hope you can find some comfort and warmth and safety in Behenchara. We are here for you.
Behenchara is also a place to unlearn and learn, for men who would like to, and I hope many do. You are welcome to access us, write to us, and contribute as well. Womxn will make up the majority of this space, but we have room for you as well. Especially in our advice column: Apas Ki Baat. Appa at Apas Ki Baat would love to help everybody and anybody out. Our doors are open for you, allies.
As for the theme this month, we chose “Womxn’s Mental health During Lockdown and Quarantine”. It is no news that womxn are suffering in a wide range of ways during this travesty. This issue is to bring to light some such issues. But not just that. We aimed to give space to absolutely any form of expression that can fall under this topic. Writings, art, music, pictures, videos, all of that. Albeit we didn’t receive many submissions, but that is what beginnings are all about. قطرے قطرے سے دريا بنتا حے ۔
You can find a more in depth description of our magazine, its purpose, and what we aim to do with it, on our homepage.
Before I end this, I want to thank some people who I believe have lead me to this. My mom and dad for being super feminist and raising me feminist. For learning and growing, and evolving with me. My lovely friends, especially Ameena, Anushae and Dua for being my pocket cheerleaders. My professor-cum-sister, Irtifa Nasir for being an older sister always, and for being the first person to tell me that this magazine is a great idea, for having so much faith in my abilities and investing in me so very much. It is because of her that I joke about the M in my name standing for Midas. And of course, Alina, my co-founder and partner, and dearest friend, for being on board from the minute I asked her to and for keeping this afloat from the beginning. Behenchara would’ve been stagnant from its inception if it wasn’t for her. She put 5 stars to it. And also, all of my lovely friends and family who have clapped for me and cheered me on with virtual pats on my back. I appreciate you and adore you all, dearly.
And an honourable mention to the team at Odessys (@offical_odessys on Instagram) for designing and developing our website. Thank you for helping us. I’m tone-deaf when it comes to technology of any sort.
This is not my Oscar acceptance speech, I know. But it’s probably the nearest I will be to it. I hope you all enjoy and cherish Behenchara as much as I do. Both the magazine and the act of it.
Lots of love,
Misha Farhana
(Another fun titbit; I have my mama’s name as my last name because my dad believes the mother/wxman deserves more credit than a man does. May we all follow suit.)
To connect with Misha you can follow her on Instagram at @mishalpha
Or email her at misha@behencharamag.com