Kama @ Sutra (Part 1)
I attended a desi fundraiser at a hip Midtown lounge [Sutra] this weekend. The do was titled "Gender Benders". The idea being - as a volunteer explained to me - to "challenge preconceived notions of gender roles". Many had brought along their American friends to check out the desi drag queens.
In my six years here, I haven't yet learnt that desi events are different than American ones, and I need to respect the time-space continuum shift within which the former thrive. I insist on showing up at the specified time, much to the embarressment of many a host. The Raksha team was no exception.
On buying my slightly dear VIP ticket (includes "free" food and drink), I walked down the stairs, straight into a group of costumed gender-benders, who took turns being nonchalant, aghast and pressured by my presence. To spare them any further discomfort, I walked out of the lounge, and came back a respectable half hour late.
The show started precisely one hour after the nothing-official-about-it (sic) time. Initial disorganization reminded me of college productions back in my DCE days. But considering that many of these well-intentioned would-be artistes might probably be in college, this was understandable.
With time (and the arrival of more daring cross-dressers), the raunchiness of the show increased. Any comparisons to college performances stopped right there. A blonde-wigged baldie with incredibly hairy legs in a fishnet trounced onto the stage with sultry Helen music playing in the background and a bootleg VCD projecting her dancing visage onto a makeshift screen. One was torn between paying homage to Helen’s dancing and being mesmerized by the horror of beholding Shivji-in-a-skimpy-skirt.
My dilemma ended as soon as Shivji - ala Saira-Banu-in-Purab-Aur-Paschim began performing callisthenic contortions on stage. Helon took a backseat to Sairabanu's sequined top and micro-mini bottom in seductive latkas and jhatkas. Suddenly, my lady companion exclaimed “Ohmigod! I wish I hadn’t have seen that!” Apparently, Saira's brief vs. boxer preference was made abundantly clear to the lady in question on one of her/his pirouettes. And what a brightly colored “brief” moment it was...
In my six years here, I haven't yet learnt that desi events are different than American ones, and I need to respect the time-space continuum shift within which the former thrive. I insist on showing up at the specified time, much to the embarressment of many a host. The Raksha team was no exception.
On buying my slightly dear VIP ticket (includes "free" food and drink), I walked down the stairs, straight into a group of costumed gender-benders, who took turns being nonchalant, aghast and pressured by my presence. To spare them any further discomfort, I walked out of the lounge, and came back a respectable half hour late.
The show started precisely one hour after the nothing-official-about-it (sic) time. Initial disorganization reminded me of college productions back in my DCE days. But considering that many of these well-intentioned would-be artistes might probably be in college, this was understandable.
With time (and the arrival of more daring cross-dressers), the raunchiness of the show increased. Any comparisons to college performances stopped right there. A blonde-wigged baldie with incredibly hairy legs in a fishnet trounced onto the stage with sultry Helen music playing in the background and a bootleg VCD projecting her dancing visage onto a makeshift screen. One was torn between paying homage to Helen’s dancing and being mesmerized by the horror of beholding Shivji-in-a-skimpy-skirt.
My dilemma ended as soon as Shivji - ala Saira-Banu-in-Purab-Aur-Paschim began performing callisthenic contortions on stage. Helon took a backseat to Sairabanu's sequined top and micro-mini bottom in seductive latkas and jhatkas. Suddenly, my lady companion exclaimed “Ohmigod! I wish I hadn’t have seen that!” Apparently, Saira's brief vs. boxer preference was made abundantly clear to the lady in question on one of her/his pirouettes. And what a brightly colored “brief” moment it was...
