The idea of a relationship nowadays is not just limited to two people entangled in a love affair. In fact, with every passing day, we get to learn about various types of relationships that may not make sense to some, but for the people involved in the equation, it’s the ideal setting.
There are polyamorous relationships, platonic relationships, asexual relationships, etc. which are way beyond the idea of a heterosexual relationship – the kind which is preached as ‘normal’ by society.
Ashish Mehrotra, Shweta Sangtani and Tanisha RK from Mumbai are challenging such stereotypes with love and compassion. They are a ‘throuple’ – three people engaged in a polyamorous relationship living in one house like a family.
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According to Times Now, Tanisha met Ashish and Shweta months before the pandemic hit. Soon, she started dating Ashish, who was open about his marriage and said that he could date other women if Shweta was willing to co-exist. Tanisha started hanging out with Shweta and the three later realised that they wanted to be together as a ‘throuple’.
“It’s funny how it needs so much explaining when it’s not a standard monogamous family. The patriarchal concept of heterosexual marriages is so ingrained that those relationships and families immediately make sense to everyone. But with us? There are terms like ‘alternative family’ and ‘polycule’ which, although labels, do matter because they are a starting step towards having people recognise that this is a unit built on love and respect, the same as anyone else’s. We are a family,” Ashish told Vogue.
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On the other hand, Shweta claimed that she got married to Ashish because that felt right. But when she met Tanisha, they got along well and their feelings grew organically.
“There is no official document that recognises all three of us as each other’s next of kin, we can’t make decisions equally for each other during medical emergencies, and there will always be only one or at best two names on our rental agreements,” said Ashish.
For Tanisha, “home” is not where a husband or a wife waits for her.
“Home is what I built with my best friends, my partners in love and joy, where I will age with them with pride and dignity, with or without the right paperwork.”
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The three run an Instagram page called ‘Sangya Project’ which started off as a sex-education platform discussing “queer experiences, polyamorous relationships and survivors of trauma”, as Tanisha puts it, but later it converted into a store where people can buy various tools for pleasure.
What do you think of this relationship dynamic?