Why didn’t Mumbai have the Pride march when the other three metro cities were having it?

Well, on June 29 Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore had their Rainbow marches, and as a commentor on my previous post pointed out (Thanks for the info, Sachin), Mumbai is having one too. For those of you who’ve just come in, the Pride is a march taken out by the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual) or, in short, the Queer community to protest their marginalisation in our hetero-centric society.

However, Mumbai did not have the Pride march the same day as it was happening in other cities (a first for Delhi) in India, not to mention across the globe. And I thought to myself:

1.Why?

2.Didn’t this show a disturbing lack of solidarity by the Mumbai queer community for their counterparts in the rest of country?

3.Was it just the lack of organisation?

And

4.Now that we’re having one, I’m curious, why adopt a different name ‘QueerAzadi’?

I posed these questions to two prominent LGBT activists, Ashok Row Kavi (UNAIDS, Humsafar) and Geeta Kumana (INFOSEM), who are also part of the organising commitee of the upcoming march.

Click here to continue reading ‘Queer Azadi, Mumbai Ishtyle‘

"Don’t let it get you down" a concerned friend said whose shoulder I have been utilizing a bit too often nowadays. And yes the cause of my grief continues to be Rakhi Sawant. Well not Ms. Sawant per se but the chain of incorrigible associates in between us.

I am expected to interview the-ex-item girl-and-now-Yash Raj-actress in the next 48 hours and guess what? That’s all I have been told. Where? What time? How much time? Confirmation? - Nothing. I have absolutely no #%@&*%# clue.

The story is pretty much the same; phone calls continue to be ignored, no reply to text messages and emails, probably directed to the trash bin. Frankly speaking when this assignment landed up on my lap practically from nowhere, I thought this to be – an easy stroll @ Juhu Beach. And I had strong reasons to believe so;

a) Interviewed Rakhi on a previous occasion

b) Her media friendly attitude

c) Backing of an International Magazine

d) Assurances from in-industry friends, "Rakhi, arey woh toh tere ghar aake interview degi".

Click here to continue reading ‘Still Breaking’

No? Neither did I until yesterday.

There I was sitting at Juhu’s Prithvi Theatre watching a compilation of short documentary films, organized by an NGO called Vikalp (formed in 2003, a group of documentary film makers fighting against censorship) and all I could think of was Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.

Though the film turned out to be the biggest box-office failure of 2007, to me the film’s depiction of modern day daaku raj (Babban Singh) vs. Ex-Police Chief and his hired goons Heroo & Raj – seem perfectly in sync with the Naxalite situation in the State of Chhattisgarh. No laughing matter this, the reality is as dark and horrifying. However unlike the movie, the Naxalite condition doesn’t have as clear a hero-villain divide as the movie.

In order to free the state’s people from the tortures of the rebellious Naxalities (dakku raj), the government put in action the Special Public Security Act (SPS, 2005), and have also created an army of villagers called the Salwa Judum giving them bows arrows and guns, under the pretext of self-protection against the bad guys. The Chhattisgarh government wants us to look up to them in the same way as the villagers regarded the Ex-Police Chief in the film. Their life-savior, their messiah.

According to the Planning Commission 2008 report, that is not only unconstitutional, but also a form of state sponsored terror. So, no happy ending in sight here, only a spiral result of violence and more of it.

And this is where filmmaker Ajay TG’s story comes in.

Click here to continue reading ‘Do You Know Ajay TG?’

First off Kudos to Kamla for managing to pull this one off. She spoke to Abhishek Bachchan in LA, who was there as part of the Unforgettable Tour after having covered Canada and Trinidad. And as usual, Kamla’s questions were sharp, and to the point and revealed that she had done her homework. For instance, her knowing that AB baby collects watches. Who knew that? (I didn’t – not that I care enough anyways). That, and that a blog is underway.

Pity then that the interviewee was boring as hell!

Click here to continue reading ‘Abhishek Bachchan, Plugged.’

I consider myself as a 28 year old with an equally active testosterone and other such related hormonal behaviour as any 18- or 20-year-old. And yet I don’t get the fascination (some) youths have developed for an ongoing reality show called Splitsvilla aired on MTV India.

In a nutshell Splitsvilla consists of 20 women vying for attention of two young men. The folks behind this reality show would like us to believe that the concept of the show is the search for True Love (along with a fetching sum of Rs 5 lakh.) Each week one girl’s fate rests in the hands of the two men, who have the power to vote her out of the show.

Reality Shows today are the "in-thing" and like others, I too immensely enjoy(ed) watching many of them. However I fail to see the point behind a show such as this and that too being heavily promoted by a channel responsible in so many ways for shaping the minds of our youth.

Click here to continue reading ‘Splitsvilla Or Shamesville?’

Ever noticed how often we, as a race, use this word? There is actually no Hindi equivalent of adjust, which is just as well, because we have plucked that word from its native vocabulary and planted it in our own homegrown context, Indianising it to such an extent, that even the most well ‘adjusted’ Hindi speakers amongst us won’t think twice before using it.

Adjust: to compromise, to make some allowances, to make do. After all, sab chalta hain na.

So, a few days ago, I opened my Inbox to find myself part of a mass mailer from dear friend Parmesh Shahani inviting a bunch of us to Hilton to munch over the different aspects of Indian Identity. The group included professors from Havard, playwrights and authors. And then there was me. Whose identity, written in a bracket after the name, said only one word. Blogger. (How cool is that?)

So adjustment toh karna hi pada. Power lunch ka sawaal tha.