Rainbow shades of love

HYDERABAD: The recent pronouncement by the Delhi high court that same-sex couples living together cannot be called a family unit dealt a new blow to the LGBT+ community, but none of the disappointment was visible at the Queer Carnival that was held recently in the city. The event was a celebration of love in all its forms, and of bravery of people asking to be accepted as they are.   

Mobbera Foundation, in association with Telangana Hijra Transgender Samithi (THTS), organised the programme with the aim of honouring those who showed unprecedented human service during the pandemic and the floods that made the city come to a standstill. With a pot-pourri of singers, dancers and acts, the event saw a large number of attendees.

The emcees — Chandramukhi Muvvala, transgender activist who had contested Assembly elections, and Bhamini Shree — ensured that the audience remained thoroughly entertained between the performances. With his Ardhanarishwara act, Avijit Kundu, a classical dancer from Bengaluru, tried to highlight the essence of masculine and feminine powers in a single body. Rishikesh P Pohankar, who came from Nagpur, presented a Muralidhara Kauthuvam dance piece. 

Shane Mills, a transgender activist who was part of the event, said: “After 2020, we needed to come out and celebrate ourselves. The recent court ruling too has been disappointing, and it was necessary that we showed our support for each other.”Attendees did not lose much time to dig into the delicacies that were being served by food stalls there. Apart from tea, shawarma, momos and everyone’s favourite Maggi noodles, there was vegan food too on offer. 

The Qawwali group, Asrar Nizami and Group, made the audience groove to Dum a Dum Mast Kalandar and Chhap Tilak. Subrat Sarkar, a Kathak dancer from Hyderabad, paid a tribute to the director, the late Rituparno Ghosh. Drag artiste Patruni Chidanand Sastry and group presented an act which talked about how drag performers are pigeonholed to look and act in a certain way. 

The organisations which were felicitated for their work were Youngistaan Foundation, Feed the Needy and Robinhood Army Foundation. Panneeru Teja, Faiz Jung and Monalisa were honoured for their animal rescue, flood relief, ration distribution among transgender persons work respectively.