[Reader-list] Queer Parade Accounts?

[Manak Matiyani]

Dear All,
I was also hoping to read comments about the Delhi pride rally here, but i
guess  this is what happens when everyone waits to read and no one writes :)
 Nothing on the list yet so I thought I'd set the ball rolling and reflect
on what i felt..

Last year, I spent most of the time standing outside regal with some friends
who were part of the organizing team, trying to figure out who could be
there for the pride rally and telling them about the last minute change of
venue. (I'm personally against stereotypes of all kinds, but god did they
help that day!) This year I got to march along from the start and it was
quite the exhilarating experience that I had hoped for!

I had heard that last year people had difficulty in identifying the starting
point as it wasn't prominent enough. This year you couldn't miss it for all
the media vans and the colourful arches flapping about in the light breeze.
At the beginning it seemed as though there was more media than rally goers
present! I had to push through the OB vans, microphone cables, camera
persons and journalists practicing p2c's to get to the starting point..  I
even overheard some interesting commentaries being recorded ("..lagta hai
badalne ka waqt aa gaya hai" aka CNEB) and hope the media coverage was
positive on the whole. I couldn't catch any of it on TV so would love to
hear about it from those who did.

The monsoon teaser earlier in the afternoon ensured we were all soaking in
sweat even before the walking started. The organisers were prepared and
efficient with their loudspeakers, whistles, banners and arches in place and
we were promptly handed rainbow coloured badges as soon as we arrived. The
bunch that got together at Saheli to paint banners must be commended for
their great work that added a lot of colour, humour and character to the
parade. My personal favourite read "ARE YOU HOMOPHOBIC?? SEE A PSYCHIATRIST
OR GET MARRIED!"

The march started with a drum roll from the appropriately named "asha" band
and a bunch of people pulling a huge rainbow flag across the road and waving
it excitedly. The band was a great idea and prompted much collective revelry
and celebration. The usual sloganeering, cheering and banner waving
accompanied the parade and seemed to increase in intensity with each step.

The march was quite well organised and fun.. the police were present in
large numbers and were polite and helpful. They even took sarcastic comments
from a hijra in their stride and laughed along. I guess it was one of those
rare days for a lot of people present when they could be themselves without
having to fear the police. The news photographers had a field day with all
the colourful activity to capture. (perhaps the organisers can ask them to
make the photographs available for an archive..)

An interesting thing I noticed was the reduced number of masks compared to
last time. The somewhat drab masks of last year were replaced by the much
better glitter covered, feathered half masks reminiscent of
venetian masquerades!  I wonder if the point of those was to hide one's
identity because most people wearing them were happily posing for
photographers and news videos.

The other wonderful thing was the increased presence of women and
transgender people at the march, specially since some of my women friends
had to deal with loud exclamations of "what are women doing here!!??" at the
fund raising party held earlier!! The queer community, it seems, is not
without the looming presence of patriarchy and its share of the alpha males!

No such issues at the parade however as everyone seemed to be happily
participating and enjoying themselves. Nobody needed introductions as people
came together for a common cause. A LOT of people were taking pictures,
mobile videos etc. which would be doing the rounds of various social
networking sites by now. There was also the curious presence of a group of
people wearing Tee shirts that said "free hugs" standing by, but it didn't
seem like people were waiting to be told that in print :)

I had expected (hoped for) more rain and carried a large rainbow hued
umbrella which I ended up using as a pride banner instead! It generated its
share of attention with news camerapersons asking me to twirl it for their
symbolic ending shots for their stories. (I really hope it came on the telly
for the endless twirling they made me do!!!) A lot of other rallygoers
seemed to like the umbrella as well and I gladly passed it around for what I
guess are going to be various facebook profile pictures soon :)  I even
managed to find an umbrella mate, the only other guy with a queer umbrella,
and he happened to be a friend's friend!!


Unfortunately I had to rush off a a short while into the programme at jantar
mantar and only heard a few speeches.. There was a street play and symbolic
candle lighting planned which i missed and hope to hear about from other who
stayed for it. I also don't know how the post-parade party was but there
were busses taking people to someplace in noida to continue celebration.
This was a free of charge event open to all so it might actually have been a
fun party with diverse people. For once, there were no disclaimers to "dress
appropriately" (read drag not allowed) which would have opened the party to
cross dressers, transgender people and hijras who are usually excluded from
club nights, or have to dress unnaturally. Here, everyone could be who they
wanted, behave naturally, dress as they liked and feel accepted and loved
for it!


That for me is really the greatest thing about the pride rally where unlike
most other events/parties/club nights where people come filtered through
class, social background, gender and appearance, everyone can participate
freely. We seem to preserve our prejudices within the queer community but
occasionally, in such events, we realize, what the hell, we're all in this
together! Perhaps that is the important thing about a pride rally.. The
space where the "straight acting" men don't just awkwardly stare at those
who they think are more flamboyant, but laugh, cheer  and walk together.
Where lesbian women can and do exist and are not glossed over like in most
public discourse on homosexuality, nobody feels embarrassed about dancing
with hijras and we face up to and address our sexual selves! The idea,
perhaps, is to make a pride rally redundant and acceptance and celebration
of differences a norm and this one is hopefully some kind of a move towards
that.


Would love to hear more accounts of the pride rally, specially about the
parts i missed... and i wish all the luck to the proud ones in Bombay to
make it massive and make it count!


Manak.


P.S. It's unfortunate that after the enthusiasm of the pride parades, the
ministers are backtracking, seemingly a bit taken aback by all the
attention. It's not like the religious heads consult the queer community
before they preach!!




On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 11:39 PM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
<shuddha at sarai.net>wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Surely, there must be people on this list who walked in the Queer
> Pride Parades in Delhi, Bangalore, Madras and Kolkata (and
> elsewhere). It would be great to have some first person accounts, of
> atmosphere and responses.
>
> best
>
> Shuddha
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>




-- 
Definitions belong to the
definers not to the defined.