Govind Pillai

What do you do in your day-to-day life?
I’m a classical Indian dancer, rainbow parent, management consultant and arts volunteer. An average week for me involves packing a school lunch, traveling to clients to nut out a problem on a whiteboard, before changing into an Indian kurta to sweat it out in the dance studio over a traditional dance routine if I haven’t resisted the urge to subvert it! All preferably, with a few masala chais, and a couple of G&Ts along the way!

Why do you do it?
I love having different things on the go, and I love being part of the creative sector. I think the arts are so important. They shape who we become as people, and the future of our society. They bring us closer to one another and our different (and shared) stories, histories and ways of living.

What do you love about the city you live in right now?
I love how dynamic and multicultural Naarm (Melbourne) can be. I find the human texture of this city inspiring and uplifting. I love my little ‘village’ in Brunswick too, for similar reasons but also for the fact that Brunswick right now in 2024 is also so multi-generational. I worry that multi-generational villages and friendships are less common than they used to be, in the way modern Australian cities are functioning today.

What’s the best thing about being part of the LGBTQIA+ community?
When you are part of a community that has worked hard to turn an overwhelmingly ‘shame’-based narrative, into one of ‘pride’ in just a few generations – you become so conscious and grateful for your liberties. What I love about our community is that everywhere I look around the world, despite continued oppression, I see a grateful and hopeful community that is constantly working hard to lift one another up. The concept of chosen family, is something that I feel being queer, brought to me.

In your opinion, what is the most misunderstood thing about the community?
I think the incredible beauty at the intersections, is not understood and celebrated enough. Some of the most exciting growth ahead of our community and society, lies in our ability to understand and believe in the power and capacity of those who live in the intersections of queer identity and other marginal identities. There is strength and splendour at these intersections that, as a society, we have not fully learnt to appreciate and amplify.

Do you have an LGBTQIA+ icon/spokesperson that you look up to and if so, what do you love about them?
I’ve had a few over the years, but Sir Justice Michael Kirby was formative for me. I read a number of his judgements when I was a student. What I loved, was his ability to very patiently engage in debate and discussion, to expand the minds of those around him and to drive change (even if it were slow). As a young adult, his writings came to me at a time that a lot of my longer-lasting world views were being shaped.

How do you define happiness?
I say to my husband sometimes, “you can’t buy happiness, but you can marry an Indian”, haha. Jokes aside, I think happiness for me means absolutely immersing in and devouring what is in front of me, whatever it is. It helps me find the beauty and joy in whatever is right before me and makes life such a luscious and delicious thing.

Are you happy with your work/life balance?
I relate very much to the idea of 'work hard/play hard' and I feel like work and life should be partners and friends. It’s not so much about ‘balance’, as that word implies to me trade-offs and too much of a binarisation of the two. Instead, I see this as a situation of co-nourishment: where work feeds life with nutrients and life does the same to work. Does that even make sense? I’m actually not sure, but something about it feels right.

If you could travel back in time for a day, where would you go?
I wish I could go back to pre-colonial Australia to be able to appreciate and immerse in the splendour of one of the oldest cultures in the world. I feel like being able to see and know that, would change me in ways I can’t even imagine.

What is the best lesson you've ever learned?
To trust my instinct (I’d like to be able to do this more), and to know that one of the most empowering and enriching things is to stay connected and close to others and their experiences.

What is your spirit animal?
I’ve never known this – so – I did a little online quiz! It said my spiritual animal is a dog and that I should get one quickly!