This Independence Week, we gather to speak of love — love as defiance, as protest, as political memory.

In a time when love is regulated, criminalised, and turned into evidence through laws, surveillance, and moral policing, we come together to ask:

What does it mean to love freely?

What does it mean to resist in the name of love?

Organised by The Philosophy Project, this is an open space to think through love and freedom beyond the vocabulary of the nation-state.

Panel Discussion: Love, Law & Resistance

Arvind Narrain and Vinay Kumar joins Naina Bhargava (Founder, The Philosophy Project) in a powerful conversation on how the law has shaped, policed, and also enabled forms of love and freedom.

Arvind is the author of India’s Undeclared Emergency and co-editor of Law Like Love. He was part of the legal team that challenged Section 377.

Vinay is the founder of #ReclaimConstitution and a public intellectual whose work spans innovation, heritage, and constitutional activism.

Reading Circle: bell hooks on Love & Freedom

A quiet reading and reflection session exploring love as a political and transformative force.

Moderated by: Naina Bhargava and Lakshmi Nambiar (COO, Outlawed India)

Reading material will be shared with all registered participants beforehand.

Zine Making + Letters to the Nation

Join one or all of our collective making tables:

– Zine Making Station

– Letter Writing Table (write to a past lover, your younger self, or the country)

– Wall of Love — where you can share anything you think of as love: notes, pictures, quotes.

Please bring your own materials (magazines, pens, paper, photos). We will have a limited supply available.

If you can’t be there in person, you’re welcome to email us your letter and we will include it anonymously in our archive.

Please Note:

We are a small, independent collective with no institutional funding. This event is free and open to all. However, seating is limited and entry will be on a first-come, first-served basis.