The Better India · 6 days ago

Aditi Anand on Queer Parenting in India

When filmmaker Aditi Anand and her partner Susan Dias decided to build a family through adoption in India, they weren't just choosing parenthood - they were choosing to live beyond the boundaries of what family is supposed to look like. Growing up surrounded by grandparents who had lived through Partition, Aditi inherited a belief that the future "is something you participate in and something you build," a conviction that would later shape how she approached creating her own home. "I was only able to imagine a life of adulthood and hope after I met her," Aditi says of Susan, and together they have woven a family from both inherited and chosen bonds - grandparents, godparents, close friends - proving that belonging isn't something you fit into but something you steadily construct. Their son now grows up in what Aditi calls a "herd of elephants," and when he once announced he'd run away to a friend's house, it revealed a quiet truth: he already understands that family exists wherever love does.