As a queer BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) artiste who was born in India and raised in the US, Simha, a musician and audio engineer, remembers feeling a sense of disconnect from their ancestry, while coming to terms with their identity. This indignant detachment, even fear, was perhaps a reaction to coping with the possibility of being cast out by one’s community. “I think this is an experience that many people within the queer community go through. As I grew older and met others like me, I learned to embrace my South Asian culture in a new way, while also being part of the queer community,” the artiste looks back. This journey — of belongingness, self-discovery and connecting with one’s roots — took the form of a poem, After So Long//Barson Baad, co-written by Simha and their comrade, Jae. Conceived as part of an eponymous EP that is set to drop in April, the verses have also found life in a visual-poetry film based in Mumbai, which released last week.