THE TRANS-BANDHAN

“Being Queer Is Unique”

During my visit to my hometown- Kalyani, in August 2021, I came across this extraordinary celebration. With the permission of the West Bengal government and the local municipal corporation, the transgender community of Kalyani organized the Rakshabandhan festival, where the eunuchs were tying rakhis on the wrist of every people walking past them, without any discrimination of caste, creed, religion or sex.

A small shamiana was erected with food and cultural program were arranged for all the people, where the public can enjoy themselves and have a feast. The program started around 11 am in the morning with the inauguration by the municipal head and ended with the distribution of food packets among the people. Programs such as song, dance, and poetry were performed by people of various age groups. The participation was not restricted to them, but to anyone who was willing to, were allowed to join in. Everyone was too happy to be together and it never felt like it was happening for the first time.

I was unaware of such happening in my locality. It was the first time any such event was being held there and so I took this opportunity to click a few pictures and bring out a mini-series which was completely unintentional. I have visited pride walks before but tying rakhis to random people was new for me. I even befriended a few of them and later on sent them the pictures which I took. One of them was Monalisa Di, whom I will remember as she was one who allowed me to shoot there and gave me all area access to shoot the event. Even being a small-scale event it brought unanimity.

In my opinion, it was a great initiative. Yes, it is true that I will continue to criticize the current administration, but such things should be done more frequently. It not only brings value and culture but gives scope for the trans community to rise and gives them the chance of being accepted as common public.