Queer India

Covering the queer spectrum: My new MxM India post

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:12:00 +0000

In a new, lengthy post commissioned by MxM India, I argue that the media needs to go beyond the superficial in their coverage of queer issues and offer some pointers. No, 'MxM India' is not shorthand for 'men who have sex with men'. It is all about 'mainstream media' (which is abbreviated similarly to 'MSM'). MxM India is a "360-degree business-to-business media company that plans to empower the media and marketing fraternity with indepth news, information, research and analyses."

Here's a teaser from the post:

There’s little to be happy about the state of journalism today, but this piece will try to remain upbeat and offer constructive comments on coverage of LGBT (or queer issues). The focus is mainly on the English-language media. First, a pat on the back for doing by and large a good job, especially in the editorials department! A lot of the reportage is either by queer and queer-friendly journalists themselves or driven by them.
These journalists are also the most innovative in their approach to queer issues and in touch with the pulse of queer communities despite not being on an ‘official queer beat’— another sign to management why they need diversity and inclusion in their organisation. Having people in your media house from different communities helps you understand them, reach out to the communities and broaden and strengthen your coverage. One editor deserves a special mention here. Aditya Sinha, currently with DNA, launched a weekly ‘Sexualities’ page (it was mainly about queer issues) back in April 2008 when he was with The New Indian Express. The practice continues at DNA, which has a monthly page. Quality may be ultimately important but for marginalised identities this is great exposure in the short run.
This is not to say that there is no homophobia in the media. Of course there is sensational and sleazy reporting (TV9’s “sting” op in Hyderabad; “Central Park a Gay Paradise”: Mid-Day); insensitive, even biased writing (“A baby for gay, deaf, mute couple? It’s cruel”: Deccan Chronicle) and totally muddled, pseudo-scientific horrors as well (“Lesbian? Not quite, say psychiatrists” and “Trapped In Bad-Girl Taboo”: The Times of India). Then, there is the let’s-not-talk-about-it attitude, which is probably true of quite a few publications, but probably nowhere as ingrained as at the Reader’s Digest. However, change is inevitable and so is a debate on queer issues.
What the media needs to do most is to go beyond the superficial, else both reader and writer will be bored! And which reader would like to start their day with a humdrum piece on a Pride parade when there are so many other colourful diversions? There are many interesting queer stories waiting to be told yet. If mainstream newspapers and channels won’t tell these, then the competition will (for instance online news magazines such as FirstPost.com). The White House has a new LGBT liaison but how many people know he is of Indian origin: Gautam Raghavan. Usually, the press goes gaga over desi achievers, even those who want to deny their Indian origins. So isn’t the Gautam Raghavan story worth an interview or at least some column inches? Let’s start with the basic issue though....

Read much more here: http://www.mxmindia.com/2011/09/newswatch-covering-the-queer-spectrum/

Op-ed in The Bengal Post

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:54:00 +0000

I have been too busy and distracted to post here, but every few months I manage to write for Bombay Dost and other publications, because I am driven to do so. I haven't been able to post the last few pieces on this blog but here's the most recent one I wrote for The Bengal Post, a relatively new English language newspaper based in Kolkata, dated 2 July 2010.

The link will take you to a PDF of the Op-ed page -- you can view it in the browser itself, no sign-in or software required.

Please leave your comments on this post or click on one of the buttons below to tell me what you thought about the piece.

It's not a very comprehensive one; there's more to add in this vein sometime soon. Unfortunately it was too late for me to incorporate comments from Ashok Row Kavi, Chairman, Humsafar Trust. Thanks for inputs to Vivek Anand, CEO, Humsafar, and Pallav Patankar, Director of HIV intervention programmes at Humsafar.

No place for fear this year

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:10:00 +0000

This is a piece I wrote for the January 2009 issue of Marie Claire India. (I was asked to write about my wish for 2009 for the Indian queer community.) Here's the PDF of the published piece if it interests you.

Last year began on a very sour note for some of us. Barely had we said goodbye to January than the Maharashtra Police orchestrated the drama of busting a gay party, before it could commence, just outside Bombay (in Thane) for the benefit of the TV media. The police officials got their 15 seconds of fame and managed to curry favour with the voyeuristic channels, who in turn got their ‘exclusives’ and grabbed some filthy and some even self-righteous viewers by their eyeballs.
Privacy has traditionally been at a discount in Indian society, with its joint families, and gossipy maids and neighbours. So it is okay for you to party and be featured in full colour, but those of us at society’s margins should get used to the police barging in, breaking up our parties, forcibly outing us and parading us on national television like criminals and freaks? The tamasha sent forth a wave of great fright among closeted gay people around India.
Fear is what we, the people of India, gave ourselves on Independence. Fear of the unknown, fear of the other. Fear that fed on ignorance of the other. Fear of the majority, a majority that is itself fearful of what it chooses to neither understand nor recognise. Fear of a shameful, relic of the British, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a law that makes an adult like me criminal for life if the police can prove I made love with another adult male. This fear nourishes the HIV epidemic among us.
Fear has caused us to forget that we also gave ourselves a constitution that enshrines some human rights and enjoins each one of us to uphold them. So the police can abdicate its duties to protect and fearlessly abuse its powers. And the government can, through its infamous ex Home Minister and his former minions, make perversions of these rights in writing to the Delhi High Court, which is charged with public interest litigation (PIL) to read down the shameful section that strikes fear in closeted hearts.
Freedom from fear should be theme in 2009, continuing from Mumbai’s grand, cosmopolitan-as-a-rainbow march for Queer Azaadi on 16 August, and the June-end debut Pride parades of Delhi and Bangalore (Kolkata’s annual march against homophobia started nine years earlier when just 13 men mapped the city, with the rest of the queer community staying in the shadows).
Freedom to question the assumption of being heterosexual without fear, the man-woman definition of marriage, and the very importance of such a marriage for a queer person. Freedom to love and live with a person of the same sex without fear. Freedom to educate oneself about safer sex and use the services of a health professional as a queer person, without the fear of stigma, neglect and ‘treatment for homosexuality’ that occurs despite prescribed Good Medical Practice and ethics. Freedom to be out at work without fear of harassment or discrimination. Freedom from the fear of being entrapped and blackmailed by a police stooge simply for being gay and closeted. Freedom from hiding in the closet, wearing a mask, using an alias. Freedom from the insecurities that come from being closeted. Freedom to live without fear of losing one’s dignity. Freedom from the fear of being treated as less than equal by the law.
The march towards Freedom from fear will receive a boost if the Delhi High Court makes the bigots in the government apparatus swallow a bitter PIL and champions the human rights in the Indian Constitution. We will cover the rest of the way forward with a little help from each other and each of our families. Waiting for the dawn of a real Happy New Year. Meanwhile, here’s wishing you one!

Remembering Tendulkar’s Mitra

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:20:00 +0000

Many of you would have noted the death of Padma Bhushan Vijay Tendulkar, playwright, scriptwriter and civil liberties champion (he was also the father of the late Priya ‘Rajani’ Tendulkar). The theatre, film and journalist fraternities have paid rich tributes to him.
Many of these would have made reference to his iconoclasm but omitted any reference to his play, Mitrachi Ghoshta (A Friend’s Story), where the central character is lesbian and the story is about her struggle to cope with her sexual orientation and (as Rohini Hattangady, who played the character, has said) ultimate ‘inevitable’ suicide.
When I saw the Hindi version of the play, Kahani Sumitra Ki, (perhaps it was the late 1990s) staged by Chetan Datar and his theatre group, I thought it was dated and, of course, depressing. I had recently come out then and was, perhaps, more of an idealist then. Still, Tendulkar had the guts to dare to be different.
As I look back now at the play, it’s distressing how the fiction of his play is still a truth for many lesbians even today. The play’s other main character, Bapu, –
“ultimately comes to represent: a homophobic society that keeps its blinders on to naturalize straight relationships as the norm, even if this should lead to a tragic end.”
(Source: Humanities Retooled)
Incidentally, Tendulkar also wrote the screenplay for the Smita Patil-starrer, Umbartha (based on Shanta Nisal’s novel Beghar), which featured a lesbian couple who set themselves afire.
*****
Tendulkar was in his teens and lived in Pune when he became acquainted with ‘Mitra’, the girl on whose life he based Mitrachi Ghoshta. This was in the early 1940s. A classmate of Mitra from college became friends with Tendulkar and would talk about this girl whom the playwright had seen many times before and even seen her performance on stage. The actor friend also told him about Mitra’s affair with another girl which “practically finished her (Mitra’s) life” when it ended.
Tendulkar recounted all this and more in his June 2001 preface to the play’s English translation (by Gowri Ramnarayan), which was published by Oxford University Press. He remembers “the shock waves and confusion” that the story about Mitra’s lesbian affair caused in his young mind. “I had just begun my career in writing then. But what I heard about Mitra did not prompt me to write about her at once. It took some years to surface in the form of a short story. It was written in the mid 50s…. The title was Mitra. It appeared in one of the Diwali annuals in Marathi, and was appreciated.”
A few years later, when he had moved to Mumbai, Mitra was again on his mind. By then he had seen her living as a spinster in Pune. Tendulkar said, “I was an adult then, with enough knowledge of the same-sex world which existed around me but was still considered a taboo. The thought of writing and staging a play on such a relationship was out of the question. Yet the play Mitra materialized.”
It was staged only a few times by some young actors. The play was “hated by the women and sneered at by the men in the audience”.

*****
Mitra is widely acknowledged as the first Marathi play (and perhaps even the first Indian play) on same-sex relations. Tendulkar, however, emphasized that it was merely about “a young boy touching twenty, inexperienced in many human ways, and still a virgin when he comes in contact with Mitra. He feels a deep attachment for her after the first feelings of wonder, and gets involved with her until she destroys herself.”
In a note to the translation, Hattangady, said that, “Sumitra, that is Mitra, being ‘different’ is the core (essence) of the play.” Much before Hattangady played Sumitra, she had read the script “and liked it. The subject was new and different — in the first instance, almost unpalatable.” For Hattangady, it was “a chance, and a challenge” to play “such a character (Nothing like this had been tackled before in India, on stage or the screen, way back in 1980.)” Tendulkar greenlighted the performance only after he had seen it himself because “the subject could be easily misinterpreted.”
“…Even when we performed it, it was labeled as a ‘bold subject’ or ‘what sort of subject is it?’ It did not run too well as a commercial play, but those who saw our performance, still remember it as an ‘unforgettable’ experience.”
*****
As an aside, Hattangady wrote that she read up on homosexuality “to get a better idea… and came to a broad understanding that these attractions are of two kinds, one based on circumstances and two, on physical hormonal imbalance. Mitra belongs to the second category.” Surprising that even in 2001 she harbored such out of date notions about homosexuality. But Hattangady also uses the words ‘abnormality’ and ‘different’ in quotes in the note.
Another incident she has recounted shows her sensitive nature: “To go for the rehearsals, I had to travel by local train in Mumbai…. One day while traveling, a eunuch boarded the train. There was not much of a mad rush. The train stopped at the next station. A few ladies got down and a few entered. They looked strangely at the eunuch. I was watching them and the ‘look’ on their faces. Isn’t Mitra also ‘different’? That look on their faces said so many things to me. From that day onwards, Mitra came closer to me still.”

My own private IDAHO

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:22:00 +0000

"If you wait for someone to give you freedom, that’s charity, permission — not freedom.”

Christy Jayanthi Malar (38) and Rukmani (40) decided there was no other way but death to get their freedom. At the stroke of midnight that marked the beginning of the International Day Against Homophobia, died hugging each other. They lighted their kerosene soaked bodies and escaped the harassment and abuse of society — a society that could only see their physical relationship but not their love for each other.

Christy and Rukmani, both from underprivileged, rural backgrounds, had known each other since school. In the intervening years, they had got married. They met again 10 years ago. Rukmani had been forced by her relatives to move from place to place to keep her away from Christy and was even married off a second time after she separated from her first husband. All because Rukmani and Christy’s was an “unusual relationship” that caused “much consternation” to their families.

On the day before their death they were publicly humiliated and abused—just for loving each other. In fact, not for just loving each other but because they were of the same gender. It wasn’t their caste, class, religion, age—it was because the couple was of the same gender. Society found that so unacceptable that they wished them dead.

*********

Would you wish your son were never born because he turned out to be gay? I know one set of parents who have uttered these words over and over again for their only son. My ex-boyfriend, H. Yes, there still live people like that right here in our midst, in urban, middle class Mumbai, forget rural Tamil Nadu.

If some parents or relatives think their ideas of caste hierarchy, normality and so-called respectable society are more important than their child’s or brother’s happiness or choice of life partner (or his/her gender), then they are anyway not worth having as parents or relatives. I don’t say abandon them—try to make them see your viewpoint, but if that doesn’t help, do your filial duty, and then leave it to destiny. If you both are lucky, then with time they will come around to your viewpoint. If not, then say to yourself that your karmic account with them is settled and over; you owe nothing more to each other. (I believe in karma and transmigration.)

As children, we don’t owe an extra favor to our parents—and certainly not the favor of getting married to a partner of their choice—just for raising us. Even animals and birds nurture and love their offspring. Probably, their love is even more selfless than the love of human parents because birds and animals don’t expect anything in return from their young — their offspring don’t even look after them!

I believe it’s better one maintain a relationship only with those who respect you for what you are and love you unconditionally. My ex-bf’s parents are traditional Maharashtrian Brahmins, so they would believe in karma and transmigration too. I hope they and parents such as these get their just deserts and remain childless in their coming births. They do not deserve to be parents.

*************

I do not blame the parents alone. It’s people like my ex-bf who cave into the emotional blackmailing and pressure. Or people such as Rukmani and Christy who may have inspired other women like Deepa to come out and speak up, but in their death they have also become negative role models. I fear more suicides, especially in a state such as Kerala that’s notorious for lesbian suicide pacts. (So much for being a state that is more literate and has traditionally favored women.)

Deepa is one of the few women who dare to speak publicly about her sexual orientation. "We tend to avoid talking about certain issues, which other people find uncomfortable to face," she says. "It just makes it tougher for other women." She believes that talking about the issue openly is the way to get people to understand the issue.

Being gay is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing wrong. This is the conviction gay and lesbian people should have, instead of grasping on to a false sense of honor and pride in belonging to so-called normal society. If some people have misconceptions about sexuality, it is even more important that we as gay people speak up and correct them. We can’t afford to be stuck in this vicious cycle: you feel you cannot come out because you are afraid to face people’s negative reactions, and people react negatively because they don’t have enough information about homosexuality. It’s our own responsibility to break the cycle instead of lamenting about it. How can you sit around waiting for change to happen automatically or someone else to bring it about? If you don’t speak up, you create your own hell.

*************

And the only respect you’ll get from your loved ones will be after your suicide. They’ll cremate you and your lover together, and they will pretend shock and shed crocodile tears. But as long as you are live and you let them push you around, you will be not allowed to be with the one you love. And after your death, the state will protect your murderous kin. So the Indian Penal Code applies to us but not to them.

A senior police officer said action would not be taken against the relatives. "We can't say the relatives pushed the women into suicide. They might have verbally abused them, but that was to bring them back to normal life," a senior police officer said.

And moreover, the state shall argue in the courts that being gay consenting adults, you should be deprived of the fundamental rights granted to every Indian by the Constitution. (see entry dated Friday, September 26, 2003 on http://queerindia.rediffblogs.com) I say go ahead and ‘break’ such unfair laws. Damn the state, damn society. Long live, we the people.

*************

The quote at the beginning of this post if paraphrased from the movie, À cause d'un garçon.

An interview with Bindumadhav Khire

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:51:00 +0000

A short version of this interview was published in the The New Indian Express' Zeitgest magazine on Saturday, 3 May 2008.

Bindumadhav Khire is a techie who gave up his career in the US to return to India and got involved with issues close to his heart. Based in his native Pune ever since his return, Bindu is a gay rights and AIDS activist. He has been speaking about queer issues at various forums in India, particularly in his city. In 2005, Bindu donned the hat of a Marathi writer with his novel, 'Partner'. NGOs working in the field of sexuality have been using 'Partner' for sensitisation. Bindu’s latest book, 'Indradhanu: Samalaingikateche Vividh Ranga' (Rainbow: the various hues of homosexuality), discusses different aspects of homosexuality from an Indian perspective. 'Indradhanu' promises to be of value to people from various backgrounds, especially gay and bisexual youth struggling with their sexual orientation, and their parents and friends; people from the medical fraternity; NGOs working in related fields; policy makers; corporates; and the media. Bindu is currently working on another Marathi book, ‘A, B, C of Sexuality’. Excerpts from an email interview with Bindumadhav Khire:

Being gay should be a non-issue in an ideal world. What were the milestones, and highs and lows till you reached a point of self-acceptance, when you could acknowledge your ‘gayness’ to all without it becoming a confessional?

I went through denial (when I hoped I would change), depression (I thought of committing suicide) and hate (towards God for making me gay). I was shy, very poor in communication, had zero self-esteem. I was married and got divorced a year later. When I was in the US, I got in touch with San Francisco-based Trikone (an LGBT organisation) and that’s how I started becoming comfortable with my sexuality. I volunteered with them and became part of the 'Trikone family'. I became the assistant publisher and then publisher of ‘Trikone’, their quarterly magazine. As I became more comfortable with my sexuality, I started feeling suffocated and felt that I had to come out. I first came out to a friend at the workplace. Every coming out then was an adventure. I participated in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, the San Jose Gay Pride Parade…. When I came back to India, I came out to my parents. This was the most difficult part. They were shocked. It's taken them time to cope with my being gay. My mother's been just great. My experiences in the US and achieving financially stability went a long way in helping me so that now I don’t give a damn what neighbours, friends and strangers feel about me.

What made you give up a lucrative career as a software engineer in the US to return to Pune much before NRI homecomings became a trend? You could have stayed there and been involved with causes close to your heart in the local community?

Once I was comfortable with my sexuality, I saw no reason to file for a Green Card and stay in the US. I also felt guilty about having got married. I wanted to come out and expiate that guilt. Also, despite having stayed in the US for four years and loving every moment of it, I did feel a bit like a fish out of water. I am more comfortable here (in Pune).

How much did you have to educate yourself so to speak about the work you are doing now, and how did you do it?

A lot. A lot of reading and learning had to be done. Luckily, I received much help from some outstanding people like Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar (he taught me pre- and post-test counselling and related ethical issues), Dr. Vijay Thakur (he taught me the principles of befriending and the basics of running a helpline), Dr. Bhooshan Shukla (he gave me info on sexuality), Sunita Wahi gave me a lot of books to read.... I could go on and on. Also, I had to do a lot of soul-searching on each of these issues… especially the ethical part.

What's the gay scene like in Pune, which is considered quite conservative? How visible is the community? Despite its young student and BPO-KPO communities, is Pune still like Mumbai of the late 1980s when the only community activity in the city was one gay disco a week and one evening of cruising in a park?

The community is not visible at all. The important difference from Mumbai of the 1980s is the advent of the internet. The number of cruising sites has increased as has blackmail and harassment. In the medical field, not much change though – most psychiatrists are either homophobic or hypocritical. They are our biggest enemies.

You recently said that for every one gay person in Pune who has helped you, there have been 10 heterosexuals who gave you their support. Why do you feel our community itself is ignoring you? What is the rationale for their apathy?

This apathy did come as a surprise. I think most closeted gay people hate anyone who has fought and found his freedom; they are jealous of anyone who escapes from hypocrisy. But I don’t blame them. At one time I used to hate Ashok Row Kavi for the same reason.

What are the top three issues you think are hurting gay people in India and what's your practical prescription for these?

The biggest problem is either ignorance or apathy in the community about the issue of Section 377 (of the Indian Penal Code). I have come across many gay men who don’t even know it's illegal for them to have sex. Here, of course, we activists are to be blamed. We have done a shoddy job of highlighting the 377 issue. It's shameful, the kind of third-rate people who call themselves gay activists these days. Sometimes I think the gay movement will go down the drain the way women's lib in India has failed miserably. The other serious problem is that for many who know about 377 don’t care whether it stays or goes. I can't figure that one out. How could anyone not care whether that ugly piece of law is erased or not, I don’t know. Is it because many of us have decided to live a double life anyway?

Number two: how many of us have taken the time to seriously become comfortable with our sexuality and gain basic knowledge on alternate sexuality? So many of us spend the whole night finding new partners on the net or at (cruising) sites, and spend the next day hating ourselves for it. We don’t really give a damn about our mental health. That’s sad because instead of accepting our sexuality as beautiful and our love as pure, we spend our entire life burning in self-hate.

Lastly, despite knowing the high incidence of HIV in the gay community, many of us still continue to have sex without condoms. We refuse to become mature and take control of our life. I can provide you information and condoms but I can't control HIV infection unless YOU care about yourself.

Activism and writing have always had a special bond? Did the need to write arise from there for you?

I think so. I used to feel ashamed to tell gays and 'straights' that "no, sorry but there is no book out there in Marathi that discusses gay issues". There was also another reason. In the US I had many gay friends to talk to. In Pune, I felt very suffocated as there were few people I could talk to about my issues and feelings. I think ‘Partner’ was the outcome of these two reasons. The HIV/AIDS helpline manual came from the experience of running my own helpline and helping set-up and supervise another HIV/AIDS helpline in Pune. Again, there was nothing in Marathi on the hows of setting up such a helpline. Writing has become a need for me… Also, instead of repeating the same things over and over, it's better to put these down so that people can have access to answers long after I have (mentally) burnt out.

As an activist and former techie, do u feel an acute lack of online gay-themed literature in Marathi and other Indian languages?

Yes, definitely. The Indian gay movement's biggest failure is not being able to present its views to the common man in a language he understands. All we have is people who write in English, which is read by a negligible percentage of the population. Very few Indians are comfortable with English. It is also a relatively ‘safe’ language; there is a lesser chance of an aggressive reaction from people if the medium is English. It's not that English should not be used to voice our issues but by using only this language we ensure that gay issues remain Western or elitist subjects and indirectly help in propagating the stereotype that ‘gayness’ is a Western import.

How do Marathi press, cinema and theatre portray gay issues? Do they mainly demonise us or invisibilise us?

Newspapers ignore these issues. But the gay Marathi-speaking community is to be blamed too. How many of them write on gay issues? Is it not our duty to utilise the free press that we have, to talk about our issues? As far as cinema is concerned, except for Amol Palekar's 'Thang' (Quest) there is no Marathi feature film that has dealt with gay issues. Again, the gay community needs to make gay films. I hate this stand of waiting for someone else to come and fight our battles – is it a cultural thing with us Indians?

Do plays, books like yours and movies like 'Thang' generate either heat and dust or any debate in the Maharashtrian community?

Very few people want to see facets of life that make them uncomfortable. So they either choose to ignore (partly because they are in denial) or they get all worked up about it and froth at the mouth. There is no sincere attempt to understand issues related to homosexuality – because most people don’t want to. Still, it is important we keep on voicing our issues through various media. For those few who want to become more human, these resources should be available in Indian languages.

Disclosure: This writer is associated with Bindumadhav Khire's NGO for gays and men-who-have-sex-with men, Samapathik Trust, Pune (samapathik@hotmail.com. Helpline: (0) 9890744677 (7 pm to 8 pm – Mondays only)

Today is… Labour Day, of course, but also RSS Awareness Day

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:48:00 +0000

Returning to blogging after a year on Labour Day is a good sign, and I hope I can sustain blogging this time – without much labour. :-) For those of you unfamiliar with ‘RSS’, it does not stand for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh but ‘Really Simple Syndication’.

What does RSS ? What does it do?

Here’s a quote from RSSDay.org:

“RSS is a format used to deliver information from websites and pages that get updated regularly. An RSS document (which is called feed) contains either a summary or the full content from a website.

The main benefit of RSS is that it enables people to stay connected with their favorite websites without having to visit them. Once you subscribe to a particular RSS feed, you will automatically receive updates from the website that publishes the feed, whenever they release new content.”

If you like to visit several web sites or blogs regularly, RSS can be a blessing. You don’t need to remember which websites to check, you’ll know automatically which ones are updated, you can read them at your leisure and you can even mark them for reading again later. You can skip parts of a post until you get to the next interesting bit. My RSS reader even shows videos and photos within each item. It’s like being on the web site without any extra mouse clicks or typing in the URL in your browser.

And if you are afraid you will miss out on others comments on a blog post, one can even subscribe to the feed for comments.

My feed reader

If you use Google Reader to subscribe to your favourite feeds, there’s more: you can login to Google Reader from any PC or mobile (of course, you need a Google/Gmail account, a browser and internet access), and you can share your favourites with friends and see what they are sharing with you. If any of your friends on Google Talk are using Reader and sharing items, they'll show up in the Google Reader sidebar under Friends' shared items.

I use Google Reader daily though I first started using Blog Lines, another popular RSS reader. I still have a Blog Lines account but I have switched to Google Reader only because with Google Reader I don’t need to login to yet another web site – when I am logged into my Gmail, I can open Google Reader with just click.

One gripe though – some sites and blogs only publish their subject/headline or the first few lines of the post. So if I feel I need to read the entire post, I need to click on the post in my reader to visit the site – and it may not turn out to be worth the effort.

To learn more about RSS feeds and how to subscribe, check out RSSDay.org. For more about feeds and to ‘burn’ (publish) the feed for your own web site or blog, look at FeedBurner Help Center’s Feed 101 page.

Remembering Nishit Saran

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:19:00 +0000

Nishit Saran died this day five years ago at the age of 26. He was a trailblazing filmmaker and is an inspiration to queer communities everywhere.
Born and raised in India, he moved to the US in 1994 for studies. Graduating with the highest honours in film from Harvard University in 1998, Saran was then awarded a prestigious teaching fellowship and a grant to make his first film. In 1998-99, Saran taught a year-long course in advanced filmmaking at Harvard, and also finished the making of ‘Summer in My Veins’, at the age of 23.
A personal documentary made with just a hand-held camera, it won high praise for its frank portrayal of Saran’s own struggle to reconcile his family ties and his homosexuality. The film has been screened at many international film festivals including Boston, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand, and at both, public and private screenings in India. It was shown at what may well have been India’s first gay and lesbian festival, ‘Glitter & Gumboots’, organized by Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College.
In May 1999, Saran returned to India to work on his next film. His first feature was ‘A Perfect Day’, an experimental film, 80 minutes in length, with a largely improvised script and minimal lighting that ignored many of the values of Bollywood; it was also India’s first digital feature film. It was shown at the ITC Digital Talkies International Film Festival in March 2001, besides other festivals. Saran also made ‘Project Flower’ on street children in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, which premiered at the World AIDS Conference in Durban.
Saran was outspoken in his support for gay rights in India and contributed articles, reviews, and essays to numerous national publications and webzines, including the strident editorial, ‘My sexuality is your business’ in ‘The Indian Express’ of 8 February 2000, which attacked Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Incidentally, he had been an editorial intern at his college magazine. (The Nishit Saran Foundation, run by the wonderful and brave Minna Saran and other family and friends, hosts some of his writings and photographs.)
Saran was researching Lord Shiva and the practice of Tantra for his next film project, when he passed away in a terrible car accident.

Marching with pride

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 19:30:00 +0000

Alternate sexualities. Everyone pretends we don't exist. Like the air we breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. You are not conscious of it. Maybe you don't want to be. Remember this song? But don't sing it--speak it: Kuch na kaho, kuch bhi na kaho. Kya kehna hai, kya sun-na hai. Tumko pata hai, mujhko pata hai. Samay ka ye pal tham sa gaya hai.
Time--at least the law--has stood still. Aren't more than A Hundred Years of Locking Us in the Closet Enough! An obnoxious British Raj law that criminalizes people of the same sex for loving each other, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, stands on the books. Meanwhile the rest of India prides itself on being a sovereign, democratic republic, even the world's largest democracy. Human rights? Yes, but only custom-fit, convenient ones only please--we are Indians! Shame on you, Heterosexual India.
Hate begets hate, love returns manifold. Nafrat karengay, nafrat milegee; pyar karengay, dugnaa milegaa. Sun le tu dil kee sadaa, pyar se pyar sajaa.
Thirty per cent of the population is NOT heterosexual. Family: You, mummy, papa, dada, dadi, nana, nani. Wake up and smell the coffee, at least one of you IS gay or bisexual. Queer India, it's time to come out wherever you are and face yourself in the mirror. Breathe the air, feel it in your lungs. No more hiding; it's Truth AND dare. The truth shall set you free. Satyamev Jayate!
The Pride march this year started from the statue of Mahatma Gandhi near the maidan and ended at Rabindra Sadan. But this march of self-affirmation shall go on, until India Shame becomes India Shining: "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..."
Agay bhi hoga jo uska karam, yeh din to manayenge har saal hum. This march of self-affirmation shall go on, for we have promises to keep to our forebears and miles to go before India Shame becomes India Shining:
Pictures from my second Pride march can be found on the links below. The first march in which I took part was also the first ever in India and again in Kolkata, in 1999.

My set of Pride march 2006 photos

The same set of pics is also on my Yahoo! 360 page

Banned, banned and banned again!

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sat, 20 May 2006 00:02:00 +0000

A still from Gulabi Aaina

Like Jesus Christ is said to have told Peter, ‘Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice’, the Indian Censor Board in Delhi has banned Sridhar Rangayan’s film on drag queens thrice over.

While in April 2003 the censor board refused ‘Gulabi Aaina’ (The Pink Mirror) a certificate because it is “full of obscenity and vulgarity”, recently in April 2006, the board has done a complete change of tack to keep the film in the closet! The revising committee and the second revising committee refused it a certificate because in their opinion “the film Gulabi Aaina deals with an extremely complex issue of alternate sexuality in a peripheral manner”. Further, the board’s order states, “The problems and isolation faced by transvestites has not been dealt with in a holistic manner. Thus the film is refused certification as per relevant provisions of Cinematograph Act 1952”.

No, there’s no need to be happy or shocked that our esteemed State-appointed gatekeepers of art have discovered that most Indian filmmakers, when they are not invisibilizing homosexuality, are making fun of it. Theirs is neither a response to the ‘Girlfriend’ shock or to the ‘My Brother Nikhil’ balm. At worst it is an insidious, invidious game plan to keep a movie that makes no bones about same-sex desire and its natural ness with loads of humor hidden from the public gaze. At best, it is the sheer arrogance of an ignorant lot with no idea about the medium or the subject giving short shrift to the intelligence of both the audience and the filmmaker.

Sridhar is justifiably enraged and ready to join battle. He is planning to fight it out by taking the issue to the tribunal. (Also, see his comments below on the guidelines under which the committee reviewed the film and rejected it.) Fighting a battle for three years to get his film reviewed by the Board, Sridhar says he came across several skeletons in the censor board’s cupboard: “From those who write censor scripts, but actually offer their services as touts to get the film passed by censors to filmmakers who add six scenes of violence so that the censors can cut three and pass it. I even found out from reliable sources that a recent, acclaimed gay film was passed by the Censor Board on payment of certain monies.”

While Sridhar does praise the Board’s chairperson Sharmila Tagore and the regional officer at Delhi who “at least gave the film a fair chance by putting it up for review”, he is critical of the revising committee: “It was ridiculous sitting in front of six people and having to explain why I made the film and what I have tried to say in the film. If I could say it all verbally, then why did I have to use a visual medium like film!

“Peripheral and not holistic?! What do they expect me to say in 40 minutes, which is the length of my film. Moreover, ‘Gulabi Aaina’ is not a documentary. I wanted it to be an entertainer, but layered with subtext. When you do a film about gays, everyone expects a preachy message or a downright maudlin tearjerker. I wanted the audience to laugh with the characters instead of at them. Isn’t that good enough reason to make the film and have it reach viewers? It’s a different way of sensitizing.”

The Board really takes the cake and the pudding for implying that Sridhar’s film is insensitive to the problems faced by what it calls “transvestites”. In fact, that requires a vast stretch of imagination considering that Sridhar has been one of the forbearers of the gay rights movement in Bombay, being deeply involved with 'Bombay Dost' and The Humsafar Trust. It’s like calling Arjun Singh insensitive to the plight of OBC students (In Singh’s case, we are not sure whether his sincerity is for the OBC cause or to his own political survival).

The feckless, hypocrites in the committee after all the 'tamasha' of interrogating Sridhar about the film didn’t have the balls to pass the film. Says he, “They pretend they are broadminded, but when it comes to films with an alternate take, they cower. Basically, I have realized they wanted my characters to cry over their fate. They didn’t take too kindly to the fact that I showed gays and drag queens happy with their lives and being unapologetic. They wanted a daily soap with buckets of tears!” If Ekta Kapoor was looking for 'chamchas', she would have found them there.

Sridhar Rangayan

Meanwhile, Sridhar is looking for your support, especially if you are from the film fraternity and/or the gay community: “My fight is about freedom of expression as a filmmaker, and I damn well know how to use it sensitively and sensibly.”

Thankfully, Sridhar’s latest film ‘Yours Emotionally!’ has been produced by a UK based production house so no going through the sicko censors this time!

Crafty Censors

Instead of protecting the citizens, more often the State uses the law to terrorize them and curb their rights. Our censorship guidelines have also been similarly twisted to restrict free speech and discussion of homosexuality.

While an in-depth look at the guidelines is needed, Sridhar gave his responses to some of the guidelines under which the committee reviewed ‘Gulabi Aaina’ and rejected it:

- The medium of film remains responsible and sensitive to the values and standards of society.
“Nowhere is it mentioned what are these great values and standards of the society that they talk about. It is all a thick cloud in the air that the moral policemen comfortably hide under.”

- Artistic expression and creative freedom are not unduly curbed.
“But that’s exactly what they are doing by banning my film. It’s utterly ridiculous!”

- Certification is responsive to social change.
“If they keep refusing certificate to films that are away from the mainstream and attempt to discuss alternate issues, how do they expect any social change to happen? All they want is to maintain a status quo so that none of them will be blamed for taking an issue forward. It’s the who-wants-to-bell-the-cat syndrome.”

- The medium of film provides clean and healthy entertainment.
“Just look at all the masala films and skin flicks that get the Censor’s nod. Calling it clean and healthy entertainment is a big joke. Take a reality check folks!”

- As far as possible, the film is of aesthetic value and cinematically of good standard.
“My film has been screened at 57 international film festivals and won Jury Awards for Best Film of the Festival in New York and France. Most of the reviews talk about the sensitive handling of the subject and it has been rated as ‘fabulous’, ‘compelling’, ‘unique’ and even ‘an excellent example of Indian cinema’ by a Spanish critic. An art historian at Ohio State University compared it to Shyam Benegal’s 'Mandi', saying it bridged the gap between ‘Fire’ and ‘Bombay Boys’ by “adding that breath of reality”. How much more aesthetic and cinematic value can I pump into the film to please the censors? Maybe I should include 5 grisly murders, 3 item numbers and a bevy of half-naked women!”

Protesting on behalf of DIDs

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 05:30:00 +0000

That's displaced in development (or development-induced-displacement) according to this noteworthy post on Desicritics by Madhukar. My anger is not just about the fact that those being displaced have not received their due compensation -- this is land-grabbing by the State -- but also against the way in which the government used force in an attempt to break up a peaceful demonstration at Jantar Mantar. Just one more instance of police high handedness, you say? After all it's "jiski lathee uskee bhains". But does it mean one should not raise one's voice against it? If the government truly feared for Patkar's health, wasn't there a better time (instead of midnight) or a peaceful way of arresting her and other Narmada Bachao Andolan activists?
You may or may not agree with Medha Patkar's cause but as a commentator about this emotional piece on Patkar's protest says: "(she) deserves to be commended for following what her beliefs are. In today's world, few of us are unworldly, isn't it? We worship at the shrine of high-paying jobs, expensive acquisitions, 'practical decisions' in life like scorning an arts education in favor of science or MBA degrees. Medha Patkar is living her convictions. Which can't be easy on an empty stomach."
If you do care a bit about the cause of the DID though, I would urge you to follow Madhukar's advice in his piece linked above and at the very least sign this petition and write to the media condemning the police for their goondaism.

The Farmer Prince

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 21:39:00 +0000

Img.0014
Originally uploaded by Nitin Karani.

The coming out of Manavendra Singh Gohil as a gay man--the only Indian royal to do so--has caused quite a stir in Gujarat (with news travelling as far as London), within the circles of the erstwhile princely families, and specifically in his native Rajpipla.
My friend Vivek Raj Anand has written a wonderful piece on Manav (as we call him) that can be read on the Gay_Bombay Yahoo! list.
Manav's life would make a wonderful subject for a film and a documentary may be in the works already.

Lessons from Jammu and Lucknow

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 13:12:00 +0000

It's an affliction that's widespread in our police force. They would rather harass and out two grown-up gay people rather than fight terrorism and real crime.

Two adult lesbians in Jammu were threatened and humiliated for living together, even arrested let off (because they had to be--there is nothing in the law books against lesbianism) but not without being forcibly separated and handed over to their respective families, with a (unofficial?) directive to stay separate.

No wonder we have blasts after blasts (and there's more to come, you bet!). Even if there's nothing in the law that makes it a crime for lesbians to cohabit or even have sex, the police will poke their idiotic noses in our affairs. It's time we stopped being diffident and told errant cops to get off our backs!

One big mistake on the part of the LGBT community is that the police have not been sensitized to our issues. So you will find the Lucknow incident where gay outreach workers who are spreading AIDS prevention messages or ordinary gay men who cruise the Internet being arrested and humiliated (in front of the national media too boot--and the National Human Rights Commission cares a whit about it). On the other hand there have been no such incidents in Bombay where the Humsafar Trust has (disclosure: I am a trustee) been regularly holding workshops for the police force in different areas of the city.

It's time LGBT communities everywhere became more proactive instead of reacting to crises.

Guns and 'Romance' - My Vote For The Best Picture Oscar

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 06:47:00 +0000

I am not being self-congratulatory but the plain truth is I chose the right film between Crash and Brokeback Mountain. I posted this on desicritics.org about 30 minutes before the Oscar ceremony began. (see the link in the title for my original desicrtitics post or read the cross-post below.)

I have seen two Oscar favorites so far, and my own vote goes to Crash. Brokeback Mountain, in spite of being a gay-themed film, did not move me the way Crash does.

I can think of several possible reasons for this --other than the intrinsic merits of these films. In random order: The accents (I think I did not understand one-third of the dialogue) in BM, its slow pace, and the fact that I have seen enough closeted men up-close so that I look at most of them with a clinical detachment.

Crash is also a tension-filled drama compared to BM's dry love story. The former leaves you with some hope, while BM leaves me, as a gay man, neither seething with anger at the homophobia (too subtle) nor does it make me cry buckets. I am not a fan of violence in film but here it was too fleeting to either hurt or outrage me (the way I was outraged by the violation of a woman's body in Crash). I would prefer the docu on the Matthew Shepard case instead.

To me Crash is not just about racial prejudice but also a comment on America's gun culture. I have no knowledge about the situation in the States, but I know that enough discrimination exists on the individual level and there is enough violence involving guns to make them alive issues--they may disappear from the public radar but they do not go away. BM's flag for the gay issue is too underplayed for my liking.

In India, coincidentally, some cases of shootings are in the spotlight again, though unfortunately I am yet to see any debate around gun control. I am of course referring to the cases of Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Matoo and now the latest Meher Bhargava case.

It's time lawmakers and police officals made it more difficult for people to posses firearms rather than making it more tough to run places of entertainment. Or making it a crime for two men to love each other.

Anyway, here's a nice review of Crash by Philip French of The Guardian (not sure why he calls it Hollywood's last taboo though) and one by desicritic, Shanti.

I seem to prefer Philip French over Peter Bradshaw, but I can't agree with French's lavish praise of BM. I would by and large agree with desicritic Triniman's thoughts on Brokeback Mountain.

With the Oscars just beginning. Crash might just crash Brokeback's party.

Gulabi Aaina DVD available for sale

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:38:00 +0000

This is a plug for my friend, Sridhar (and no Sridhar, this is not out of any guilt for my previous post panning your latest, 'Yours Emotionally'
Press Release:

BOLLYWOOD GAY FILM DVD OUT !

Festival favourite, award winning Bollywood riotous comedy ' The Pink Mirror' (Gulabi Aaina) is NOW available for online DVD purchase.

'The Pink Mirror' (Gulabi Aaina) - a Bollywood entertainer with a difference : India's first film on Drag Queens is a 40min. camp romp about two drag queens and a gay teenager seducing a handsome hunk! The film, for the first time, peeps into the fascinating campy closet of Indian gender-benders and discovers deep emotional bonds.

Official Selction at a record 56 International Film Fesivals, the film has won Jury Award for Best Film at festivals in Fire Island and France. This underground film which has has found immense critical acclaim from reviewers, festival directors and global audiences. Renowned Universities have added the film to their archives / library an using it as resource material in their academic courses like Gender, Nation and the World; Activist Voices in India; Gender and Film course.

The film's director, Sridhar Rangayan says earnestly, "As you know, there is hardly any resources in South Asian countries to fund / produce queer films and support from all quarters is most welcome. Buy copies of this laugh riot and help us make more! "

DVD online sale site: http://www.customflix.com/208457
Contact info : solaris@solarispictures.com

Yours Emotionally - II: My take

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:28:00 +0000

Portraying desi angst over inane traditions is a Gurinder Chadha specialty; most of her films poke fun at the ‘mummyji’ and the ‘auntyji’, stereotyping them in the process. Contrasting different queer, male identities—South Asian, ‘Western’ (White, American)—is also not a new idea: Jimmy Mistry starrer ‘Touch of Pink’ executed it with some success not too long ago, although I found the passé, comic attempt rather insipid.

Sridhar Rangayan and Niranjan Kamatkar—friends, former roommates and now trans-continental collaborators on ‘Yours Emotionally’—have tried a more serious approach to the questions of identity versus behavior, gay versus homosexual, out versus closeted (and married), desi versus Indian, and desi versus Western. Dense though this may seem, the film fails to plumb any depth of emotion, leaving one feeling cold.

But before I say more, here’s the synopsis from the film’s website:
Ravi & Paul, two friends from Leicester, end up attending a gay party in the small Indian town of Shimoga, upon an invitation of Ravi’s Parsee email-pal Jeh from Mumbai. A genteel dreamer Ravi instantly falls in love with Mani - a dark and handsome local working man.
Ravi and Paul also meet an older male couple, Murthy and Anna, now in their sixties. Murthy has lived in the UK to avoid marriage. When he returns to attend his mother’s funeral, his lover Anna (a married man by then) convinces him to stay back. After his wife’s death, Anna decides to join Murthy and they run a hotel. Both Ravi & Paul are surprised to meet the older same-sex couple.
Although Ravi can’t let go of his newfound love, Mani cannot overcome the vast gap that exists between them. Mani is under constant pressure to get married to a woman. When Ravi asks Mani to accompany him to UK, Mani shows very little willingness. Ravi seeks Murthy and Anna’s help, but the couple hide behind words of wisdom and express inability to bring Ravi and Mani together. Tension brews between Ravi and Paul due to sexually charged Mani and the situation highlights some nasty cracks in their friendship... Mani throws in a surprise at the farewell meeting that Ravi’s asked for...

And here’s what the director says about the film:

‘Yours Emotionally’ is as much about love and passion as about cultural contrasts and gay identity as perceived from different angles. Though these elements are to form the backdrop, they actually thrust themselves to the forefront, entangling the five principal characters in its emotional web. The film is a tribute to gay men who negotiate their same-sex-love identities within the stringent social, religious, cultural boundaries. It is a tribute to their grit and strength at fighting some of the stereotypes.The film, treated in a cinema vérité kind of realism with surrealistic passages, is set in its protagonist’s ‘mindspace’ and reflects his love, passion, happiness and fears through colors tones, textures and transitions. The real and imaginary merge to create a bizarre world of emotions that is actually his journey through a holiday.While making a film it is always difficult to present realities without prejudice… and keep a balance - both cultural and emotional. There are always huge expectations from anything made of this nature since there are very few opportunities of public expressions for such issues. In that sense, ‘Yours Emotional’ has been a challenge to me as a director and I hope I have been able to do justice to the characters.

It’s a fairly plausible, real story whose value is its documentation of the realities of India’s homosexual males. But what does it do beyond that? There are a few niggling problems with the film, but one could overlook them if one connects with the characters. However, I do not feel the pain of Ravi’s doomed love. Nor does the Muthy-Anna relationship warm the proverbial cockles of one’s heart. Am I hard-hearted? Perhaps my boyfriend would agree. But seriously, the film fails to hold my interest. The length—86 minutes—seem like a drag. At the end of which I feel empty, meaningless, soulless.

‘Gulabi Aaina’ is less than half the length of ‘Yours Emotionally’ but has enough drama to hold your attention. And there’s the witty, bitchy repartee as well. (Click here for my comments on ‘Gulabi Aaina.) Maybe I had high expectations of ‘Yours Emotionally’, given the film’s theme and its name. (By the way, the exclamation in its name is certainly unwarranted.)

There’s little emotional quotient here. But where are things going wrong? The problem perhaps is that I have little patience for people like Ravi who fall in love after one night of sex and are willing to take strangers home (in this case, the UK!) I don’t deny there’s love at first sight and people lose their heads over it. But do they deserve any sympathy for being obsessed by the objects of their affection? And should Mani get any sympathy for being spineless? Anna and Murthy may be victims of their circumstances but one hears of many Annas and Murthys all the time. Now that they are free of encumbrances, what’s holding them back from coming out of the closet and affirming their relationship?

Well-begun is half done. But the ‘party’ scenes, are not aesthetically done—there’s a squalid, weird feel to them, which casts a shadow over the rest of the film. The producers are even proud of the film having “lots of hot scenes” (as advertised on the website). I am no prude and I admit where there are two gays there’s likely to be sex (and where there are three, an orgy!). And it’s not as if there’s excessive nudity. It’s just that the camera makes it look very ugly. Okay, so how does one portray an orgy? I don’t know but then can’t we have a different beginning to set the tone?

Hats off to the cast for not shying away from a stigmatized subject. Some of them are professional actors, and for their courage in taking up the assignment they deserve a pat on the back.

'Yours Emotionally' is no laugh-out-loud-at-the-clash-of-cultures film. However, its solemn slant and decadent tint are a drag on its offering any emotional high.

Yours emotionally - I

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:20:00 +0000

This is the draft of an article I wrote for the March 2005 issue of Trikone on Sridhar Rangayan (Most people can't seem to get the last name right!). It was written in January that year and Sridhar went on to direct another gay film 'Yours Emotionally' (after 'Gulabi Aaina'). A trailer of this new film will be shown at the upcoming GayBombay film festival. I hope to post a review (of sorts!) of YE this weekend. Until then, here's my article on Sridhar:

It is up to each one of us to make what we will of the opportunities that come our way, how we play the game. Sridhar Rangayan has given as freely of himself to friends and the LGBT communities, as he has received from them. His house has been the ‘family home’ that has witnessed festive ‘addas’ and ferocious activist meets, and many a romance bloom, and sadly, wilt. Sridhar, after all, is all about relationships—whether it’s the one he has shared with life- and business partner Saagar; the kind of work he has produced as a professional in the TV industry or the circle of friendship or alternative family to which he belongs and the two institutions created by it, ‘Bombay Dost’ and The Humsafar Trust.
He has therefore chosen the perfect subject for the next (‘Night of Flambé’) in his ‘Rainbow Stories’ series of seven queer themed films—“gay relationships”. At least some of the material will be drawn from his own relationship, which crossed the ten-year milestone. “Ten years of togetherness—for us it’s a HUGE milestone! Most gay relationships tend to fizzle out in 7.5 years. In the fifth or sixth year, one wonders whether it’s going to last until one is 60-65, whether there will be distractions, incompatibility…. Now we feel that we can’t do without each other—and we can’t even get anybody else,” he rounds off with a joke, in typical Sridhar style.
This ability to laugh at—and live with—oneself is probably what found expression in ‘Gulabi Aaina’ (‘The Pink Mirror’) or India’s first gay film on drag queens. For Sridhar, the film represented the coming together of his activist and artistic sides “to make a product that,” he says “belongs to me, my partner and my community. We made it on an impulse but the film has gathered its own momentum, becoming a movement much beyond our expectations.” A simple desire to capture the ‘adaas’ of Edwin (one of the film’s lead) translated on screen has ended up becoming a “cult film” (a label given by the media) representative of Indian drag queens in 18 countries at 45 film festivals, and brought Sridhar laurels, awards and international media exposure. Even today, two years later, festivals invite the film, people ask for copies, and the media write about it, in India and outside. “There is still activity around the film; it’s exciting!”
Back home though Sridhar has been dealing with censorship (the film has been termed “full of obscenity”), a lukewarm response from Indian LGBT groups and some censure as well from the straight-acting, English-speaking gay genus. Unwilling to recant on his artistic ‘point de vue’ for anyone, Sridhar has resisted off-the-record offers of a (Universal!) censorship certificate by palms itching to be greased, choosing instead to go in appeal against the Censor Board. And self-hating fags be damned; what counts is the “phenomenal response” to the film by those whom it gave a voice for the first time, i.e., the cross-dressing ‘koti’. “What the community as a whole makes of the film, how they use it is up to them. I was hoping that the ‘hijra’ communities will also screen it… that the film will be seen by many more people,” Sridhar says, partly disappointed with the lack of appreciation by his own.
What he also finds “rather disturbing” is that within the gay community, there is much skepticism about gay relationships. That and the fact that “they are seen as an aberration. People say ‘Why do they want make ‘chapattis’ together?’ There is the dominant-subservient, active-passive stamp that comes from the hetero pattern—even the community sees same-sex relationships within these parameters. Or suppose one of the partners does sleep outside the relationship, there is so much heat generated about it—the community seems more concerned about it than the two people involved.”
Sridhar and Saagar have found acceptance (often wholehearted but sometimes stingy) from friends and their showbiz fraternity. Both, wickedly and gratefully, Sridhar enjoys the reactions in mostly-hetero spaces to their being lovers. Them being labeled gay artists in an essentially intellectually impoverished industry is a risk Sridhar is conscious about, but the greater danger he says is the narrowing of his own vision to gay-only subjects. “I would love to continue doing other things. I would enjoy making a ‘Dr. Zhivago’—to make an Indian version of it is THE dream—as much as I enjoyed making ‘Gulabi Aaina’ We continue to do a lot of mainstream TV, including a hetero romance set on a cruise liner!” Many dream boats sail by but Sri and Saagar maintain the professional’s position on the sets. Gay jokes are common behind the scenes—the good ones being appreciated and the phobic ones politely berated.
Then of course, there is the question of family acceptance—Saagar’s family is not quite aware of their ‘domestic enterprise’. (They stay away from their folks—Sridhar’s in small-town Mandya near Bangalore; Saagar’s in Meerut.) “That’s one hurdle we are yet to cross—I am out to my family; he’s not. For Saagar’s family, we are still ‘bhai-bhai’ staying together,” Sridhar says. What is interesting is that Saagar has gone from being ‘woh ladka’ for Sridhar’s mother to someone with whom she can have long conversations.”
Mirroring Sridhar’s optimistic outlook, ‘Night of Flambe’, a 70-minute feature shot in digital format, will be “not so much about the problems of a relationship but its beauty despite the problems.” While scripting progresses on the film, Sridhar is looking at ways to cement his relationship with Saagar further: “Buying a house together would perhaps be one way of doing that. I don’t know how easy it would be for us to get a housing loan and buy a house jointly. I cannot even nominate Saagar in my insurance policy—he needs to be a blood relative. That we are business partners is the only ‘legal recognition’ we can hang on to—most couples don’t even have that. There is security in the relationship but these things give some social sanction, make us more secure.”
Security is cherished in the graying, balding years and peril prized in youth. Eleven years ago, Sridhar, a qualified engineer gave up a lucrative job for apprenticeship with Sai Paranjpye. Solaris Pictures’, the company formed by Sri and Saagar since they went indy, has produced much ‘mainstream work’; this helped finance ‘Gulabi Aaina’ and will also roll in the money for the next Rainbow story. Sridhar is determined to place a bet again with his own money while the first film is only now getting close to the breakeven line.
Sridhar would rather not speculate on what he would, if asked to pick, choose to be—artist or activist. “Hopefully, a filmmaker who can straddle both—a good acrobat.”

More on the Apple logo and much much more on Turing

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:44:00 +0000

Here are some more interesting links on Alan Turing, the Apple logo and the dubious link between the two.

http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/ This is by someone who has written a book on Turing.

http://coffeebanana.pitas.com/ The first part of the piece here gives some more info on the Apple logos.

A link to an interesting article on the ‘connection’ with even more links (which I am yet to explore).

Thanks for Sanjay, a blogger himself. (see http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Asad11).

And here’s a response from ‘Paul’ whose comment eloquently sums up what my previous post tried to convey:

“Hi

I live in UK and know nothing about Apple but I did see Breaking the Code the BBC play about Alan Turing which was repeated on BBC4 only weeks ago and it stood up brilliantly. So much more satisfying then much Hollywood gay sentimental mush. It was a very British play and caught the period (the war and post-War period) brilliantly. The cast superb, Derek Jacobi as Alan Turing talked about his work to his new boss at Bletchley Park (where the German Engima Machine was kept and the code eventually cracked by him) which should have had everyone turning off their sets for it was way over everyone's head - but it was spellbinding. The play followed very much the Wikipedia piece although 'Joan' suggested marriage to him not the other way around and he turned her down but a close friendship between the two was maintained.

The film indicated that his death was suicide from cyanide and a half eaten apple was shown on his bedside table.

It is ironic that a man who shortened the War, who saved many Allied lives by cracking the Enigma code, should be shat on by Britain, become a criminal for his homosexuality and be fed female hormones to 'cure' him. The play indicated that he was being 'watched' by the security services as they thought he had become a security risk.”

Legend of the ‘Apple’ and the genius who inspired it

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:27:00 +0000

Alan_Turing
Originally uploaded by QueerIndia.

There aren't many Mac users in Mumbai and the previous Apple logo (it became single-coloured in 1998) is not a common sight (I don’t remember seeing any ad for the brand). Coming from a publishing background and being just slightly tech savvy, I am familiar with the ‘rainbow colored half-eaten’ fruit. So I am surprised I never wondered about the rainbow band.

When Vibs mentioned to me recently about the belief that it was meant to be a homage to Alan Turing, the genius mathematician, it was news to me. I tried to look up Apple Computer’s site to verify this but didn’t find the official history of the logo though. (If anyone has found it, please let me know.) According to Wikipedia (is it still considered reliable?), the story is just an urban legend.
But the Apple Computer page on the web encyclopedia led me to its page on Alan Turing. (I am sure there’s a term for this kind of ‘serendipity’). Turing had been discussed a long time ago by someone on an Indian gay Yahoo! groups but I am not sure what was said then. So it’s only now that the circumstances leading to his death and his tragic end have made an impact on me. Turing was barely 42 when he died. A genius snatched by virulent ignorance and hatred. Another life snuffed out for being homosexual.

PS. For those who missed my posts, I am sorry for being away. Work and family come before blogging. But I have missed being here too!

Negative Matching, Positive Mating

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 23:33:00 +0000

This is truly absurd. And the media is even promoting this absurdity as the “need of the hour” – instead of making people aware of their folly.

The immediate provocation for this post is of course a front-page report in the Bombay Times of 25 September 2005 that says more and more couples want to get each other tested for HIV before marriage just the way it’s a practice to match horoscopes. Whether it’s a trend is questionable – the last time I was closely involved in match-making was more than 5 years ago when my cousin was eager for a bride. And I do not yet expect someone about to be engaged to talk about how their HIV tests are negative/positive and the marriage proposal is at the next state of negotiation/finalized. Especially at a time when HIV is still the ‘disease’ that dare not speak its name. (This week’s report in The Indian Express Mumbai Newsline on the inhuman treatment – pardon the pun – of HIV positive patients is enough proof if any were needed. If medical personnel can be so bigoted, why fault the lay person?).

Coming back to the issue of pre-marital testing, it’s no wonder that this ‘trend’ started in rural India – this is not an ideal world so perhaps in the real world information gets infected by the time it is transmitted from scientific journals to the Indian villager. I remember reading media reports on at least two villages – one in Punjab and the other in Maharashtra (scroll down each page to read the respective story ) – that proposed making HIV testing compulsory. (Even Goa, had this idea before better sense prevailed – and kudos to the Times journo for this report.) A crazy idea doesn’t take time to take root in a climate of fear and ignorance, a climate where even talking about safer sex is shameful. (Of course, there’s the other extreme of Pune’s Osho Ashram – or whatever the official name for this ghetto now – where this business of HIV testing really started, but then we know why they have such a strong fear.) So don’t ask me what these guys were smoking when they came up with the idea.

Ask what some of today’s journos and lawyers smoke though. Instead of pointing out the ludicrousness, the media publicizes the ‘trend’ and helps society give it sanction. The Bombay Times feature even espouses the idea (“the situation in the urban areas has improved with many couples willing to go through the test”). Then there’s this gem of a quote attributed to an advocate (as in lawyer) from a organization that calls itself the Maharashtra Law Graduate Association. (The MLGA has even filed a public interest litigation asking for pre-marital HIV testing to be made compulsory!) The report reads: “a considerable number of women have contracted the virus post marriage. “It may happen the other way round too where a man contracts the virus after marriage. However, most cases that we’ve come across are where women become victims of this.” Need one spell out why the idea is daft and self-defeating?

Has anyone heard of the window period? That’s the three-week to three-month period when the virus does not show up in a HIV test even though you are carrying it. What if A who is infected marries B in the window period, and even makes B pregnant during this time? And what if A gets infected after marriage whether through sex outside marriage or any of the other modes of transmission? Ok, forget HIV, what if A has Hepatitis B which transmits even more easily than HIV and can be fatal as well? While we are testing, we might as well test for STIs. And tuberculosis as well, which most of us carry anyway. The Sindhis, Kutchis, etc. test for thalasasemia. Heck, let’s test the genes of all brides and grooms as well and evaluate whether our babies will be super-babies with the right genetic mix. At the end of all the tests, we can double-check against the horsoscopes to see that a disease-free future’s guaranteed for the couple.

As Osho would have said – he should have if he didn’t – life holds no guarantee. Not even the guarantee that your spouse will remain faithful and honest to you – of course, that brings in a lot of awkwardness and unpleasant questions about marital relationships. So let’s just say that the only certainty in life is death.

But there are still some prospective couples (and this applies to positive gay men as well) who want to ensure conjugal bliss even if HIV is their soul mate. (I am not saying the virus is a death certificate but at least a reality check is in order.) So witness the matrimonials in some pockets of this country (which The Indian Express gushed about on its pages a few months ago), of HIV positive spouses seeking mates similarly qualified. IE should have also warned them about possible superinfection and its yet unknown outcome. In our example, this happens when A who is already infected with HIV, gets infected with one of the many other strains of HIV. This kind of superinfection is old news, by the way. If you are US-based and you do have a superinfection, you can now consider enrolling in a study being planned to understand its effects. So far, it seems there is even a “window of susceptibility” to a superinfection.

So you see, if you are starting out on the road to a ‘happy married life’, an HIV test is not the answer. If you are insist on an answer, all I can simply say is: trust in your spouse and leave the rest to God/Higher Power/Destiny.

I have no words for this kind of torture

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 20:57:00 +0000

PageoneQ reports on the ugliness that's happening in Iran. Question: What can we in India do to help the queer communities in Iran? Write to the Iranian embassy/consulate and India's ministry of external affairs at the very least?

Outlook wags a finger at women?

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 04:09:00 +0000

The cover of Outlook India's latest issue screams "Women buy men for sex" as if no one knows that or it's a new trend. The story and its tone are predictable.

But as a sort of disclaimer/apologia for it's story and findings, there's an accompanying, rambling, fence-sitter article by Jaslok Hospital's (Mumbai), neuropsychiatrist Dr. Rajesh Parikh, and here's an extract:

"One unintended consequence of such research and of its interpretation and dissemination on a wider platform such as a newsmagazine is that individuals tend to use it to validate their own behaviour. We are, after all, amongst the most social and imitative of animal species. The awareness of a trend sometimes causes it to feed itself and swell into tsunami proportions.

Kinsey's data triggered research that helped reduce the stigmatisation of homosexual behaviour. In a span of half a century, homosexuality went from being criminal to a mental disorder to deviational behaviour to a form of sexual variation and finally being accepted as normal. Such are the enormous consequences of researching human behaviour."

Words that can be interpreted for and against homosexuality, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, there are somewhat positive aspects to the cover story. Although the survey does not talk about homosexuality, there is a piece by the author of The Last Song of Dusk, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, where he argues that Section 377, which criminalizes homosexuality (and "unnatural sex", i.e., anal and oral sex by anyone) is all about power play:

"Section 377 needs to go for several reasons. Because we don't want the government in our pants. Because it interferes with the tasks of aids outreach workers. And because it is anti-democratic. In a nation where democracy is reduced to an item number, a law forbidding a particular sexual liberty is patently inhuman and shockingly regressive."

The other thing: I did a quick 'analysis' of the survey results and found that 57% of all respondents claimed to always have safe sex although half of all respondents also say that they do sometimes the "break the rules" of sex. And 2% of all resp. say they know more than 10 bisexuals with 35% of total resp. saying that they know one or more bisexuals. And guess what, 31% women would have sex with someone other than their spouse or a sex worker if their spouse were to refuse to give them oral sex!

Another fact to note is that the cover story has photos by Anita Khemka. According to the magazine her "oeuvre has largely been defined by social documentary work; people living with HIV, the mentally challenged, child labour etc. Her current work dealing with alternative sexuality has been made into a German film, Between the Lines: India's Third Gender, which opened at the recent Locarno Film Festival."

Talking about surveys, blogger Andrew Sullivan posted recently (15 Sept.) about the results of a survey by the American CDC:

WE ARE ALL SODOMITES NOW: The latest data on American sexual behavior and identity from the CDC has some interesting nuggets. Money quote: "90 percent [of adult males aged 15 - 44] have had oral sex with a female, and 40 percent, anal sex with a female." If sodomy is defined as non-procreative sexual intercourse (and that is the basic definition), then it is now practiced by 90 percent of heterosexuals. So on what rational moral basis do we discriminate against gays - who, according to the CDC, make up around 3 percent of the population?

Meanwhile, mixed news on the safer sex front: Among men 15-44 years of age who had at least one sexual partner in the last 12 months, 39 percent used a condom at their most recent sex. Among never married males, this figure was 65 percent, compared with 24 percent of married males. Among males who had ever had sexual contact with another male, 91 percent used a condom at their last sex, compared with 36 percent of men who never had sex with another male.Of course, this requires honesty on the party of survey respondents. But it's encouraging nonetheless, with gay men understandably far safer than straight men in their sex lives.

(End of Sullivan's post)

An aside: As an ex-Marwar staffer, I couldn't help noticing that both Shanghvi and Khemka are usually Maru last names. (Dr.Parikh are you Marwari, as well?)

Why not Gay India

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 07:18:00 +0000

Some people have asked me about the use of the word "queer". Recently, I also read two messages (extracted below) on a Ryze Network (my Ryze page is here) I am on, Bindaas Bol that raised similar questions. So this posting is in response to the use of the word "queer" and other terms often used, sometimes pejoratively, for gay people and homosexuality.

Message 1 was:

Just an observation.

Why does the GLBT community use terms such as Queer?

Is the word Queer derogatory towards Gays? I have heard it used as a defamatory or derogoatory remark towards gays, so why do they use it?

I see it in the url queerindia.com why not gayindia.com?

Message 2 was:

A lot of the gay people I know use words like queer and queen and faggot and dyke as descriptors when referring to other gay people. When someone who is straight uses the same words, they risk being branded homophobic.

Any thoughts or explanations?

My reply:

You might find these extracted list of terms from a manual on diversity at the workplace useful (my comments in brief at the end):
Queer: There seems to be a split between generations on the acceptability of this term. Many younger gays, lesbians and bisexuals feel the term is refreshingly broad.
Gay: The umbrella term for homosexual persons, although it most specifically refers to men who are attracted to and love men. It is equally acceptable and more accurate to refer to gay women as lesbians. Appropriate, recommended.
Homosexual: People who are attracted to members of the same sex. This is a term invented by psychiatrists around 1890 to describe what they saw as an illness. Most people today are choosing to use gay and lesbian instead. Appropriate, but not preferred.
Lesbian: A woman who is attracted to and loves women. Appropriate, recommended.
Dyke: Derogatory toward lesbians, and at the same time, in-group language for many lesbians. Of uncertain origin, although thought to come from Boadiccia, a woman warrior who allegedly had many woman lovers. Not appropriate for use by straight people.
Fag: Derogatory toward gay men. Leigh Rutledge, author of The Gay Book of Lists, suggests that fag comes from faggot, a bundle of wood used to light fires for burning people. Faggot came to mean the bodies of gay men when they were burned to death in the 14th Century. Used as in-group language among some gays and lesbians. Not appropriate for use by anyone.
Sexual Orientation: –Describes everything that goes into why people are attracted to each other. Sexual orientation takes into account past experiences, current situations, and self-identification. This term is usually preferred to sexual preference because it conveys the fact that most people feel they are gay by nature, not simply by choice. Appropriate, recommended.
Affectional Orientation: Some companies and groups use this lighter-sounding term to mean sexual orientation. Appropriate.
Straight: Common term used to mean a heterosexual person. Although some people of all sexual orientations take issue with the term, there is no better term in common use. “Straight But Not Narrow” reads a popular T-shirt slogan that many heterosexual allies wear. Appropriate. Be sensitive to those who might object.

[end of extract]

I don't consider myself as a "younger gay" and I personally prefer calling myself gay than queer because "queer" is more vague--"queer" could be anything but heterosexual--homo, bi, trans....

"Queer" was (probably still is) used pejoratively to refer to us but LGBT communities in many places have by appropriating the term taken the sting out of it. :-)

For me, "Queer" serves as a broader term, especially in writing, when referring not just to individuals but also discussing subjects like politics, culture, health, films and the queer "community" in general. That's why I write on Queer India and not Gay India.

PS. I don't like the term "straight". I don't know if there's a term to describe words that are derogatory by implication (doesn't straight imply that non-straight people are well, crooked?)

Queers Gossip

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 00:24:00 +0000

I don't care for achievers and celebrities who are ashamed of their sexual orientation and hence in the closet. Many gay men speculate about the famous, especially about actors, even getting a vicarious pleasure out of such gossip. One has heard so many names of people from Bollywood supposedly queer that sometimes one wonders if there are any heterosexual men in the film industry at all (comparatively far fewer names have been taken in the case of women; I guess, because lesbians are even more closeted than gay men).

There has been speculation about Shah Rukh Khan's sexuality for years now, and as I mentioned in my post of 19 September 2003 at my earlier blog site , India Today even quizzed Shah Rukh whether he's queer. Shah Rukh never gives a 'straight' answer to such questions and his choice of friends, roles and words and more words only fuels more speculation.

But, at least here in Mumbai, there's practically no gossip about the sexual affairs of politicians.

Yes, one has heard the occasional generalized remark about the Sangh's bachelors (so were the protests over the movie, "Girlfriend", internalized homophobia?)

The only time I heard some queer juice about powerful politicians was on a foreign junket with some journos a year ago. It came from the mouth of the editor of a language newspaper, apparently leaked to her by an intelligence source: she alleged that a young man from the services was specially flown down from Delhi to be with the Mantriji when the latter was recuperating from surgery in Mumbai. Further, Mantriji was supposed to be having an affair with a junior protege.

It was a surprise though to read two recent posts (here and here) on the same blog about some famous Delhi politicians. But then the blogger is a full-time journalist from Delhi (apparently he has moved to Mumbai recently) so he would have more access to gossip on politicians. The blogger's remarks indicate his own discomfort with homosexuality (why does he keep proclaiming his own heterosexuality?) or else he is being plain cussed.

We may gossip endlessly about famous people, but what good does it do to us, as individuals, or to the queer cause? In fact, as long as these folk themselves don't state their orientation in the media, no matter how out they are in their own society/industry/politics, they remain bad role models. Most of them are not only closeted but also married. When I first came out to my parents, outing celebs to them only seemed to work against me. Very selfishly, mom and dad would argue that if so-and-so can be gay and married, then you should get married as well.

There may come a time though when some closeted queer people, especially politicians, may actually hurt the queer cause actively, by their statements or actions. In fact the time may already be now. I would be more than happy to out the RSS chief if there was the evidence to prove that he's gay. And even happy to an extent if the following were outed: Karan Johar (it takes more to redeem oneself for a 'Kal Ho Naa Ho' than promoting 'My Brother Nikhil'), Niranjan Iyengar (who is credited with the dialogues for KHNH) and Apurva Asrani (for co-directing 'Out of Control'). Someone should plan a sting, what do you say?

Main aisa kyon hoon? Ami jani na!

noreply@blogger.com (Nitin Karani) — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 23:11:00 +0000

While the New York Times reported on genes and sexual orientation (log on to the Bombay Dost Yahoo group if you don't have a NYT subscription and read the story pasted in this message), I found a Mumbai-based blogger's entry (thanks to a comment by BomGay) quoting a Hindi dictionary which defines a 'gandu' as someone addicted to getting fucked in the arse (or to quote "being sodomized"). I was surfing the blog and came across another entry that asks whether the Bengali phrase "alur dosh" ("fault of the testicles"?) has a homosexual connotation/gay community slang, among others. Perhaps our Kolkata friends will enlighten us. :-)