Dear all, Forwarding this response from Priya Sen on the article by Mayank Austen Soofi.
Aryan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Priya Sen <> Date: Nov 29, 2007 10:11 AM Subject: A response to Mayank Austen Soofi's "Secret Life of Gays in New Delhi" To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------- Dear Mayank, I chanced upon your piece, "Secret Life of Gays in New Delhi" (http://www.chowk.com/articles/13005) and had to read it through for so many reasons. First your title, ofcourse. I for one, have never been able to understand why "gay" is used as a noun - I thought it was a descriptive term. Never mind. And then "secret", which is always a sure shot way to grab my attention, and it did. And I couldn't wait to hear what you had to say about a life, very much like my own, and so far from being as fabulously mysterious as I would like it to be! I was ofcourse in shock by the time I reached the first line. Lets see. I'm wondering why homosexuality had to be summoned alongside such reprehensible acts such as murder and rape, and why it couldn't for example be clubbed with say - piracy and illegal hawking maybe! So much more commonplace and identifiable (and totally illegal too), if that was your intention. Maybe it wasn't. Pegs N Pints is a place close to my heart. I love it, I hate it, I want them to change their music, I laugh at its location opposite Haryana Bhavan, and I'm delighted that it shares a compound with a wedding venue. (Did you know that? You should go see the queens and aunties flaunting their stuff. Very competitive and not half as surprising and questionable as you might imagine!) It's a dive for god's sake! Who cares about the scratched wooden counter and the chipped beer glasses! It's too dark anyway - not unlike every other (gay / straight / mixed) club I've been to in many places in the world. And making that the setting for the sleaze you so astutely observed, to unfold, and for the incognito underbelly to shake more than a leg, seems a bit unimaginative if I may say so. And yet I'm none of those people you happened to observe on the (one?) night you were there. Because I'm a girl! And not straight. And I go there very often. And I wish to be included in the smokiness and cruisiness and nymphiness. But that isn't why I'm writing this. I'm writing this because I don't think you understand why a place like Pegs N Pints is important. And fragile, and precious, and vulnerable. I looked and looked for a moment of irony in your piece - something to indicate that you were more than just convinced by the tone of your own piece ( I can relate to getting carried away by ones own dramaturgy.. it's deeply satisfying to be able to get the mise-en-scene right!), and not loathed to identifying with any of those splendid human beings you described. (Were you standing on the balcony?) But sadly I found none. All I saw - and saw, partly because of your talent for description and partly because I can see PNP with my eyes closed - was a disturbing, semi-disclosed, shadowy, murky image of a place reeking of misplaced desire and overflowing with oversexed, depraved, and perhaps murderous homosexuals. And very importantly, the "certain Mr. David", is one of my favourite characters from mythology, my own private urban-legend, and I love him and please don't implicate him in your version of Desperado. In fact, the last thing we need is to conjure up an image that looks alarmingly like the ones in the heads of those who feel this crazy Section 377 should still be here. The only line that made me sense you for a moment, as a boy amongst other boys on the dance floor, maybe even enjoying the pulsating and gyrating and jiggling, was - "He seemed unattainable". But maybe that's me projecting my wild ideas of temperance and trying to stop this near orgy from imploding on itself before we all get off! And I mean that in every sense that you might want to consider. It was a profound moment of looking back at oneself to me. It takes a lot of work and an unfathomable amount of time for people to even start to think of suspending judgement and for a space like this to come into being. It takes no time for it to be undone. Just think of how little it will take for PNP to be forever closed. It doesn't take rocket science does it, to figure that one out? I appreciate the tension and drama that you have managed to communicate, and the recognizable edge that many queer people find themselves at - especially in public places, whatever the parameters of public might be - that you have alluded to in your piece. I was into the desire bit too, but somehow it was set up for me in a way that made me seek salvation anywhere else but at PNP. And I didn't understand that. It was confusing. And PNP is never confusing. It is what it is. And it isn't what you say it is. And the Cloak of Sleaze that you have so generously adorned the happy/happy-sad PNP goers with, somehow doesn't fit everyone right. There are sizes and sizes as you know. I think sleaze is definitely worth reclaiming, but I worry that if I do, it will undoubtedly have to change itself for me. And I am uncomfortable about doing that. But that's another discussion, if ever. Meanwhile, I think you should definitely do a follow-up night out there. This time go on a Friday night. When it's straight. I would love to read what you have to say about that! Yours in-faith-in PNP and everything, Priya Sen --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lgbtdiscuss" group. 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