The ‘sanskari’ queer pride parades of India

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Editor's note: Anil Ukarande was raised by his mama-mami (his mother’s brother and sister-in-law) in Pune. A few years ago, when he told them he was a homosexual, his mama took him to a local vaidya, or an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner. The man checked Ukarande’s pulse and said that he must have suffered trauma from a woman at some point in life. He prescribed a course of dried dates soaked in ghee for a month. Ukarande was livid. He went through the “treatment”, if only to pacify his guardians. It made no difference (of course it didn’t). But it helped convince his mama-mami that being gay is not something you can “fix”. “I was lucky,” he says. “I know a friend whose mother hit him with a cricket bat after finding out he was gay. He had to spend a night on the footpath.” Those from outside Pune have it worse. Most hide their gender identity and sexual orientation, consciously dressing down or moderating their behavioural instincts to avoid unnecessary scrutiny.  Such fears are justified. The past decade has turned the once …