Clickhappy! Star Quest, Oct '15
By Kaustav Manna
 |
| Star of the month: Arunabha Hazra (all photographs provided by Arunabha unless otherwise mentioned) |
The third (October 2013) and fourth (November 2013) issues
of Varta carried a column called Star Quest, a series of photo-stories of
individuals who may not be public figures like politicians, artistes, social
activists or media persons, but have in their own way contributed to social
equity and empowerment around gender, sexuality and related issues. For a
variety of reasons, including priority given to other interview and photography
based columns, Star Quest was discontinued. With this issue of Varta, we seek
to revive the column and continue sharing innumerable untold stories twinkling
with inspiration!
The contribution of the ‘stars’ we zoom in on may be in an
intimate arena – among friends and neighbours, their local community, a village
or slum school, their own work place and so on. It may not have attracted any media
attention, yet the importance of their efforts cannot be underscored enough. Varta
is happy to bring to light such hidden ‘stars’ and focus on endeavours that generate
hope for a better present and future.
Please note that no individual will be portrayed in this column through text or photographs till the Varta team has interacted with them and obtained their informed consent. Therefore it is vital that readers also obtain the consent of the individuals concerned before sending information about them to Varta.
 |
| Samples of photographs taken by Arunabha |
Arunabha recalls how he came to know about the gay community
in Kolkata when a certain someone used to call for his elder brother (Anupam
Hazra) on the landline phone. After a few awkward phone calls he confronted his
brother, who came out to him as gay. Arunabha was then a teenager. He could
have freaked out that his brother was gay. Instead he was empathetic and
understanding. He was supportive of his brother. But like many other people, he
too was troubled by questions about the sexual act. “How do gay people have
sex?” he asked his brother, who provided him books with queer content.
 |
Top
left: Arunabha with his school mates in a comic act contest (clipping from The
Telegraph, Kolkata); top centre / above left: Arunabha at the 2008 'Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk' with colleagues from NGO SAATHII where he was a volunteer; above right – with actor Purab Kohli at a screening of My Brother Nikhil organized by SAATHII at Gorky Sadan, Kolkata, 2005 (photos courtesy SAATHII) |
As a teenager, Arunabha, unlike many straight (heterosexually
oriented) men, was quite relaxed about his brother’s gay friends hitting on
him. Because his brother himself was so much involved with the queer rights
movement in Kolkata, Arunabha too at a young age got drawn into the movement.
He started off as a volunteer for queer film festivals and went on to become a
core member of the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival, an open collective of
individuals, networks and organizations, which uses a variety of art forms,
media and mass awareness activities to generate dialogue on gender and
sexuality. He also helped NGOs organize a number of queer community events on
health and human rights issues that reached out to the larger public, and this
possibly sparked off an interest in event management as well.
 |
| Arunabha with his brother Anupam (left) Photo credit: Kallol Nath |
When asked if he ever has issues with his brother’s sexual
orientation, Arunabha’s instant reply is no. He respects and supports him for
what he is. He has a curious choice of words for his brother – ‘situational’ – sometimes
he appears to be like most men are, at other times he is feminine. But that
doesn’t make a difference to Arunabha. He remembers the time when his brother
was the sole earning member of the family and the sacrifices his brother made
to bring him up. He values his brother’s influence in forming his perspective
of life.
The year 2008 was when Arunabha first participated in the 'Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk' (that was the seventh year of the walk). He recalls how
exhilarating the experience was – from coming up with slogans to managing the
crowd. In 2011, he along with his brother Anupam, was interviewed by NDTV and
Tara TV channels, after the then Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad remarked in a
speech that homosexuality was ‘unnatural’.
Arunabha believes that the Supreme Court of India verdict on
Section 377, Indian Penal Code (December 2013) is regressive but it has also created
a lot of noise necessary for visibility. He feels that queer people in India should
embrace their genders and sexualities with pride, and adds that coming out is
important for positive visibility. He also thinks that companies such as
Fastrack and Flipkart are deploying queer themes in their advertisements not just
to promote their products but also to create a positive image of queer people in
India.
From the perspective of an event manager, he says there is
no difference between organizing queer community and other events. Off late, he
has started hosting parties that are open to all. People irrespective of their gender identity, sexual
orientation or other social parameters like caste and religion are welcome to party.
“Love should be open and neutral,” he sums up.
No comments:
Post a Comment