Glimpses of Pride party at LMNO_Q, celebrating queer narratives

(L-R) Make-up pros Abhijith Chanda, Abhijit Paul and Prasenjit Biswas with look designer Aniruddha Chakladar (second from left) and model-scholar Arpita Sinha (centre). “I’m so glad I’m here today at this event. I hope there are more events like this. I’m very happy with my orientation and very open about it,” said Abhijit. For Prasenjit, it’s more important to spread love. “I think every human being has the right to live in their own ways,” he said. “It’s just accepting reality with dignity. And t2 has always been a very credible platform to accept reality the way it is. As human beings we are supposed to live our lives the way we want to, as long we are not creating any problem for anybody,” said Aniruddha. “This celebration happens once a year and two things I love about the month June is that it’s my birthday month and the Pride month of the year,” smiled Abhijith. “Platforms like this help us to talk about not only their struggles but also their achievements,” said Arpita.

(L-R) Aditya from Bonbibi, Anand Puri, partner of Trincas, and our panellists for the evening — Sandip Roy, Anuttama Banerjee and Ayushman Mitra with moderator Nil (behind Anuttama). “I’m somebody who is super privileged for always been accepted for who I am in the City of Joy, since my school days. I am somebody who was part of the first Pride walk in this country. I know a lot of people in this community face struggles, but slowly things are changing,” said Aditya. “We have a Karaoke night at @TavernByTrincas every Thursday in association with KolkataPride. org. There have been plenty of mixed groups of people who come out to support their queer friends at this fun open event. Awareness leads to support. It is important that awareness keeps growing,” said Anand.

(L-R) Actress Richa Sharma with make-up artist and stylist duo Kaushik and Rajat

(L-R) Stylist and fashion designer Anupam Chatterjee, multidisciplinary artist and curator Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee and Kanaklata Datta, director of Sharbari Studio. “I’m glad how things are changing in a good and accepting way because during my childhood, when I came up with my orientation, society had a different reaction,” said Anupam. “I’m very proud of who I am. As an artist, my identity is my art and not my sexual orientation. The greatest pride that I have in my life is the fact that I’ve been able to assert that through struggle, through ecstasy, epiphany and grief,” said Sujoy.