Proud to be happy and gay
Mon, Jun 29 02:50 PM
25-year-old Amrit (who goes by his first name), a city-based fashion editor, had been waiting for Sunday to celebrate who he was. Clad in body-hugging yellow tee shirt and cream trousers, golden/pink sparklers glowing on his face, the waif-thin Amrit held a 1 foot by 1 foot placard - "Queer and loving it" - and blew kisses at his male "friend".
With a pair of translucent, sky blue butterfly wings hugging his back, and a paper flag displaying the "rainbow colours" bobbing out of his shirt's pocket, Amrit was among the hundreds of others who had gathered at the Barakhambha Road-Tolstoy Road junction Sunday evening to participate in the Delhi Queer Pride '09 parade. The "gay" parade, an annual event organized by a coalition of countrywide gay rights organisations including the Humsafar Trust and the Naz , was held to demand the abolition of the article 377 of the Indian Penal Code that awarded a 10-year jail-term to those indulging in oral/anal sex.
"We, who belong to the LGBTI (lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community are treated like criminals, subjected to violence rape/blackmail by the intolerant bullies including the police," said Amrit in his clipped English. Moments later, at 5.30 pm, the parade's organizers indicated to the participants that the 800-metre "march" to Jantar Mantar would begin.
Their polite instructions were lost to the revellers who had packed the road stretch and intent on some serious revelry: women and men - the upper-half of their faces covered partially by flamboyant masks, their bodies clad in their tee shirts and jeans -blew into their red soccer ball-shaped whistles, shouted "Article 377, quit India" and swayed to a Bollywood number as the members of the Asha Musical brass band played on. Amrit said he discovered his preference for "boys" when he was a "13-year-old".
Sameet Arora (name changed), a 38-year-old Indian Institute of Management graduate now working in an MNC as "finance manager", came from Mumbai to walk the walk but had kept a little aloof from the rest. He wore a blue mask, but unlike the others, he was clothed in the less cheery colours - black jeans, grey shirt.
Source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20090629/1053/tnl-proud-to-be-happy-and-gay.html
About INgene blog : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog
About INgene : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog:
This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.
The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.
Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.
This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.
The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.
Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment