By Ananya Sharma 
New Delhi, November 11: The internet’s latest storm seems to be swirling around Divija Bhasin, a Delhi-based counselling psychologist better known online as @awkwardgoat3, who’s trying to reclaim one of Hindi’s ugliest slurs. Over the past few days, she’s been pushing a campaign called #ProudRandi a deliberately provocative move that’s lit up parts of Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) but hasn’t yet drawn serious coverage or institutional reaction.
The Hashtag That Started It
Around November 8, Bhasin began posting short videos and captions using the term “randi,” Hindi slang for prostitute, often thrown around to shame women online and pairing it with words like “proud” and “supremacy.” In one post, she introduces herself plainly: “Have you ever been called Randi? Hi! I’m Divija Bhasin. I’m a counselling psychologist by profession.”
The tone is bold, almost confrontational. In another reel, she declares herself “a proud randi” and promises to explain what that means. The intent, she’s said in earlier interviews about her advocacy work, is to strip words like this of their sting and expose the sexism that powers them. But right now, there’s no independent verification that #ProudRandi is anything more than a personal campaign no partnerships, no NGO support, no press releases.
What’s Missing So Far
Despite the noise on social media, no major Indian outlet not NDTV, The Hindu, Indian Express, or anyone else has reported on the campaign as of Tuesday morning. There’s also been no comment from feminist groups, mental health organisations, or public figures in support or criticism.
Most of the conversation lives on social platforms, mostly among Bhasin’s followers or detractors. Some of it is supportive, calling her brave for reclaiming a slur. Others accuse her of attention-seeking or exploiting shock value. And then there’s the third crowd the trolls using the same hashtag sarcastically to mock her.
A few fringe websites have picked up the story, though not with the rigour or neutrality of established publications. One small blog described her as a “self-proclaimed proud randi” and mocked her claim that “90% of Indians would be jailed if using the R-word was a crime.” Those stories circulate fast online but carry little weight.
The Larger Context
Reclaiming slurs isn’t new. Marginalised groups across languages have tried to turn insults into badges of defiance from “queer” in the West to “chamar” or “bitch” in some Indian feminist spaces. It’s a risky kind of empowerment: bold when it works, self-defeating when it doesn’t.
In Bhasin’s case, it’s happening in a messy ecosystem the influencer economy, where activism and branding often blur. She’s both a trained psychologist and a content creator with hundreds of thousands of followers, which gives her reach but also invites skepticism.
What complicates matters is the demographic she reaches. Many of her followers are teenagers or young adults. When a 15-year-old puts “Proud Randi” in her bio, as one viral Facebook post warned, it raises questions about whether reclaiming the word helps or harms the conversation around consent, dignity, and abuse online.
What’s Real, What’s Not
Here’s what’s actually confirmed: Bhasin herself is promoting the hashtag on verified accounts. The posts exist. They date back to roughly the second week of November. There’s measurable engagement.
Everything else how big the campaign is, what outcomes she wants, whether it’s catching on beyond her immediate circle remains unclear. There’s no evidence yet that this is a coordinated movement or a social initiative in the formal sense. It might just be a bold statement by one woman testing the limits of public language.
Why It Matters
This story, if it grows, could open up a difficult conversation about language, feminism, and digital activism in India. It touches the cultural nerve of what can and can’t be said and who gets to decide that.
But until mainstream coverage or credible institutional response emerges, #ProudRandi remains an online experiment unfolding in real time. Whether it becomes a serious campaign or just another fleeting hashtag moment will depend on how long people keep talking and how responsibly they do it.
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Covers Indian politics, governance, and policy developments with over a decade of experience in political reporting.
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
