On The Dot

A powerful voice, a unique sound, and a burning desire to treat India as a culture and not a costume, are making us play badass rapper Raja Kumari’s songs on loop.

- Dhvani Solani

For many teens at Coachella, the bindi is adopted as simply a shiny thing to stick on the forehead, part of “performances of an exoticised femininity” as Sunaina Maira notes in her book Desis in the House. For many women back here in India though, the vivid dot is often a religious emblem or a signifier of marital status. But for Svetha Rao aka Raja Kumari, the humble adhesive bindi is an identity marker.

The Indian-American rapper and songwriter wears it almost every day, on stage and off, shopping for dozens and dozens of bindi packs – even maang teekas, nose rings and other jewellery – when she finds herself in India like she did last month. And this, possibly, is a metaphor for Raja’s – as she prefers to call herself, and what her audiences know her as – ambitions and journey, treating India as a culture and not a costume.