Mumbai Gay Pride 2011

I went to Mumbai Gay Pride yesterday. There was also a pride celebration in July but as I heard it was too hot so the organizers are pushing the celebration to January from now on.

Nandan and I arrived at the commencement stage and there were a few hundred people there, so fewer than we were expecting. I was looking around and saw Sourendra, and he also recognized me. I had not communicated with him for some months and I was flattered that he immediately knew my name just from my Facebook picture, because we had never met. Sourendra is a writer who was one of the producers of a gay zine. I have a video of him speaking about gay rights issues. He is as eloquent as anyone I know and wonderfully photogenic so I would like to promote him any way that I can. Nandan tells me that his Hindi is perfect and he is a native Bengali speaker, and with him being in Mumbai for so long he must speak Marathi. He really is a superstar and I was happy to see him repeatedly throughout the day, and he said that he would visit Benares soon.

There was this guy I met at the start of the parade but Sourendra distracted me from saying much to him. At the end of the parade I saw him again and we got to talk, and besides me being interested in him also I quickly found out that he works with Humsafar Trust. He introduced me to other Humsafar counselors and they all seemed to work well as a group. The guy I met, Pradeep, walked with me on Chowpatty Beach where the parade ended and he told me about his work and asked me questions about mine. Lots of people were on the beach and we talked as the sun began to set and until dark, so about for two hours. When it became dark we went to a less well-lit part of the beach and sat on the sand and watched the ocean, and other couples – all straight – started kissing around us. Pradeep and I started kissing and he liked it but he said that it was strange for anyone to kiss in public and especially strange for gay people. I knew this very well but pointed to the right of us and to our left and in front of us standing with their feet in the water and behind us also that there were other couples kissing. I made out with him more and when Pradeep would get nervous and look up some of the other couples would be looking at us, and I felt like with all of us being in one place doing the same thing it made everyone bolder and everyone there was laughing when not kissing.

Nandan and I were supposed to meet with Mantu and go to this nightclub. I was not very interested but it was an experience to have so I went. The venue was nearby and spoke of wealth not common in America – everything at the club was marble or otherwise made of the best materials. The people there were as fashionable as possible and beautiful and danced as if they had been dancing along with Bollywood movies since childhood, which they all had. One strange thing about the place was that they had a bar which looked the same as any Western bar but it was almost completely empty except for a 2-3 types of whisky and some beers. I have no idea why India has not yet become interested in alcoholic drinks other than whisky but I would imagine that when the culture learns to mix drinks they will do it as well as they mix spice.

I did not dance and there were no chill areas in the club. I left early with a friend of Mantu’s who also was not interested in being there, but Nandan and Mantu had fun I am sure.