Queering Calcutta Postcolonial Urban Space and Gender Diversity Swati Guha

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.9| GUHA: QUEERING CALCUTTA_ INSIGHTOUT 2(2024) 60 Swati Guha Queering Calcutta Postcolonial Urban Space and Gender Diversity ABSTRACT This project takes the city of Calcutta, West Bengal, India as its empirical base to critically examine its non-inclusive and majoritarian character. Calcutta, which was the capital of British India during the colonial period offers an incredible multicultural spectrum in which people of different colour, religion and linguistic affiliations live together. Therefore, Calcutta is often flaunted as the cultural capital of India because of its high education rate, artistic sensibility and progressive cultural milieu. However, when it comes to polysemic gender experiences, Calcutta, which is figuratively called the City of Joy, fails to offer much to be euphoric about for its Queer population. Barring a handful of elite educational institutes and service sectors, Calcutta does not visibilize a robust Queered environment, conducive for its LGBTQ+ members. This project inquires into specific case studies of homophobia and caste-religion-discrimination, witnessed in university campuses, urban transport avenues and government office facilities to understand how urban infrastructures in Calcutta respond to the question of Queer. CV Swati Guha, an award-winning Bengali litterateur, has also been an academic administrator. Currently, she is the Director of the Institute of Language Studies and Research(ILSR) in Kolkata. Previously, Dr. Guha was the Director of the Nazrul Centre for Social and Cultural Studies at Kazi Nazrul University. She combines her creative and academic writings through cross-disciplinary approaches. Her fictional world is animated by her academic-administrative fieldwork in urban and remote locations, involving subalternized women and issues of development. Her creative oeuvre has focused on the intersection of gendered narratives and social power dynamics in India. KEYWORDS Queer, Infrastructure, Queering Calcutta, Homophobia Swati Guha,“Queering Calcutta: Postcolonial Urban Space and Gender Diversity”, insightOut. Journal on Gender and Sexuality in STEM Collections and Cultures , 2(2024), 59–66, DOI: 10.60531/insightout.2024.2.9 DOI: 10.60531/insightout.2024.2.9 Published under license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.9| GUHA: QUEERING CALCUTTA_ INSIGHTOUT 2(2024) 61 Queer infrastructure in Kolkata is not just confined to the elite zones of literary festivals and official forums; in the quoti dian space too, there are upcoming facili ties and placemaking efforts. therefore an ideal case study to explore the current situation for the LGBTQ+ community – overthrowing colonial attitudes, recapturing precolonial mindsets, and carving out postcolonial spaces. Methodologically, this article is premised on newspaper reports, web portals and blog reports, empirical surveys, and conversations with different stakeholders. Most of the sources relied upon and cited here are vernacular texts and web-based reports as mainstream print media is slow to offer space for queer-related news, although slowly they are showing willingness to accommodate news reports on queer topics. The article relies on the reportage format to argue how the queer space in Kolkata – in spite of many hurdles – is slowly growing and how it is facilitating the queer community through the formation of infrastructural spaces. Queering Kolkata, this article posits, is still in its early days, but the process has begun and there Introduction are growing cases of acceptance and approval as far as the queer presence in the city space is The broader purview of this paper comes within concerned. Needless to say, this is just a study that the larger rubric of Queer Studies and the urban captures this nascent stage and argues for a robust space. Broadly put, this project locates and iden- future. Conceptually this paper structures the argutifies the question of queer in the South Asian city ment through the historicist perspective, locating space, namely in Kolkata, West Bengal. Conceptually the presence of the queer in precolonial mythic it argues the obscuring and rupture in queer prac- texts and cultural practices, which this paper argutices and traditions during the colonial period that es was erased and obscured through the arrival of had been present in the Indigenous epistemes and colonial rule and imposition of colonial epistemes cultural traditions of Bengal. Kolkata, the erstwhile which elbowed out existing traditional epistemes Calcutta, was the colonial capital of India. It is also and intellectual practices. This is not to claim that the literary hub of India and is known for its diversity in ancient India or in precolonial Bengal there was and multiculturalism. It has produced and nurtured a significant presence of queerness; my only subNobel laureates like Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya mission is to reclaim whatever space and traditions Sen and Abhijit Banerjee, philanthropists like Mother of approval were available in precolonial India and Teresa, filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, et cetera. Kol- specifically Bengal. In what follows we will see how kata, the City of Joy, is the quintessential synthesis the queer space in Kolkata is slowly growing and of cultural heritage and futuristic modernity and is establishing itself, even though there is a persistent

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.9| GUHA: QUEERING CALCUTTA_ INSIGHTOUT 2(2024) 62 presence of opposition from a large section of its population. The city of Kolkata is known for breaking down the fringes and leading the way to transform India’s LGBTQ+ scene. Despite its cosmopolitan outlook and multiculturalism, Kolkata still remains non-inclusive and infrastructurally a hostile or unfriendly place to transgender people and other members of the queer community. How do we explain this contradiction? As an intellectually vibrant city, it would be expected to advocate the queer cause. This project explores these Indigenous zones of approval and practices of queerness in pre-modern or precolonial Bengal, which celebrated the state of being queer in mythic ontologies, literary articulations, foundational texts and other forms of cultural practice, and investigates the extent to which this acceptance and these spaces are being reclaimed. Queerness and the mythic space Homosexuality was not outlawed in precolonial India. Similarly, for thousands of years, the“Khwaja sira” or hijra community has been recognised in South Asia as a“third gender”, playing an important role in the region’s social and political history. 1 Records and accounts from the Mughal Empire and even before that demonstrate that members of the queer community were invited to sing and dance at festivals, weddings and other celebratory occasions. They also served as advisers to the Mughal court. However, this culture of acceptance and advocacy began to erode following the gradual depletion and erasure of local or Indigenous epistemic practices of queerness under the prolonged impact of colonialism which saw a collective“amnesia” affect many erstwhile epistemes in South Asia. 2 Numerous depictions of queer lives and ideologies can be found in Indian mythology, epics and many foundational texts. The term Ardhanareswar (amalgamation of both the male and the female self) was mentioned in different Puranas which are foundational religious texts of India. 3 The concept of the Ardhanariswara connotes an androgynous composite of the Hindu mythological figures of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Some important Bengali medieval and modern texts also depicted queer subjects and protagonists, including Annadamangal by Bharat Chandra, Shibayon by Rameswar Bhattacharya, Lorchondrani by Doulat Kazi, Chandimangal by Mukundaram Chakrabarti, Hasuli Baker Upakatha by Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, Mayamridanga by Syed Mustafa Siraj, Bramhabhargab Puran by Kamal Chakravarti, and Holde Golap by Sapnomoy Chakrabarti. Even a highly celebrated Indian epic text, the Mahabharata, contains verses and portions that clearly advocate and approve of the queer. 4 Identical views and perceptions can be found in other influential religious texts like Chaitanya Charitamrita (composed in the 1590s). 5 In the late fourteenth century, India and specifically Bengal saw the rise of the highly influential and popular Vaishnava religious order which was radical 1 See M. K. Dutta, Pakhi Hijrar Biye (Kolkata, 2021), A. Majumder and N. Basu(eds.), Bharater Hijre Samaj (Kolkata, 2011) and M. Rintu and H. Moktar, Hijreder Atmakahini (Bangladesh, 2024). 2 H. bin Sabir,“Colonial Hangover: LGBT Rights in the Subcontinent”, The Cornell Diplomat, https://journals.library.cornell.edu/index. php/tcd/article/view/583/575(accessed 17 Jul. 2024). 3 N. Yadav, Ardhanarisvara in Art and Literature (New Delhi, 2001) . 4 V. S. Sukhthankar(ed.), The Mah ā bh ā rata: Text as Constituted in its Critical Edition(Poona, 1972). 5 S. C. Majumder(ed.) SriChaitanyacharitamrita, Krishnadas Kobiraj Goswami Birochita (Calcutta, 1941); A. K. Bandyopadhyay, Bangla Sahityer Sampurno Itibritto (Calcutta, 1966).

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.9| GUHA: QUEERING CALCUTTA_ INSIGHTOUT 2(2024) 63 and egalitarian in its ideological orientation. Gouranga refers to the golden incarnation of God(Krishna), who is viewed as the incarnation of the Supreme God according to the Vaishnava theological vision. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who appeared in Bengal some 500 years ago, pioneered and popularised what is known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a religious order which is still very popular in Bengal and other eastern states of India. Vaishnavism is premised on the devotional worship of the religious and symbolic figuration of Krishna and Radha, the latter being the female devotee of the former who is viewed as God incarnate. In Gaudiya Vaishnava devotionalism, both Radha, the female figuration, and Krishna, the male God figure, are viewed as the embodiment of the same merged duality. 6 Contemporary case studies Having seen multiple cases of mythical and religious sanction of queerness, how do we explain contemporary hostility to the queer? Seen differently, recent cases of growing pro-queer movements also testify to the fact that in India there was precolonial or traditional approval of queerness and that allows for the possibility of the further queering of Kolkata. Recently in Kolkata, there have been incidents of proqueer notifications from different authorities. There are reports of initiatives where schools are being encouraged to be LGBTQ+ inclusive. Intense ethnographic studies of Kolkata schools and colleges and the perception of students regarding their experiences of institutional norms and practices concerning queerness would be needed to establish the growing space as well as continuing limitations of queer infrastructure in Kolkata. As city streets in Kolkata have come to life with Pride marches, Kolkata schools believe it is time education became more inclusive for LGBTQ+ students. These are the emerging empirical bases, offering on-site case studies of emerging queer infrastructure. While Kolkata schools are organising workshops and interaction sessions to normalise queer identity, students, queer teachers and activists stress that gaps persist which need to be overcome. According to news reports, the Heritage School of Kolkata holds regular life skills classes to enhance exposure and awareness along with counselling for students struggling with questions related to gender and sexuality, as stated by the principal Seema Sapru. Schools like DPS Howrah have future plans to organise seminars and workshops to combat negative stereotypes and make the students much more sensitised. Birla High School Class XII student Bhaskar Agarwal said,“social media and streaming sites play a huge role in sensitizing and creating awareness. On a personal level, I find a lot of support groups available on social media.” Bappaditya Mukherjee, a gender rights activist, said,“sometimes we find that the teaching and student community are both very willing and supportive in these issues, but school management prevents meaningful dialogues.” 7 Kolkata Queer Literary Festival: Reports and case studies The city of Kolkata also celebrated its first Queer Literary Festival on 5 January 2019. 8 In a similar vein, Sahitya Akademi, the national academy of letters of India, organised its transgender poets’ meet on 17 July 2018 which was chaired by Manabi Bandyopadhyay, who celebrates her queer identity openly. This poets’ meet was also the country’s first transgen6 M. Vora,“Krsna Kali: The Inseparable Divinity”, https://themehulvora.com/2018/08/14/krishna-kali-the-inseparable-divinity/(accessed 17 Jul. 2024). 7 A. Banerjee,“Kolkata: Push for schools to be more LGBTQ+ inclusive”, The Times of India, 19 Jun. 2022, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/92309534.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst(accessed 17 Jul. 2024). 8 S. Akhtar,“Kolkata hosts its first Queer Literary Festival”, Newsroom India , 6 Jan. 2019, https://enewsroom.in/lgbt-queer-literarymeet-transgender/(accessed 17 Jul. 2024) .

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.9| GUHA: QUEERING CALCUTTA_ INSIGHTOUT 2(2024) 64 der poets’ meet. According to K. S. Rao, the secretary of Sahitya Akademi,“This is the first time that such a literary meet exclusively for transgender poets is being organized by Sahitya Academi” 9 and Kolkata was the first city to organise this meeting in India. Similar meets are planned for different parts of the country. However, the venues of those meets have not yet been decided. According to Manabi Bandopadhyay, the participating poets in this meet were numerous and included Aruna Nath, Debdatta Biswas, Debajyoti Bhattacharya, Prosphutita Sugandha, Rani Majumder, and Shankari Mondol. Among them, Sugandha, a schoolteacher in a remote village of Bengal, offers a unique case of success. Working in a rural and semi-urban space it is usually difficult for her to disclose her transgender identity because of societal pressures, but at this poets’ meet she could state her identity openly alongside her queer group members. Her poem titled“Ekti Patar Mrityu”(Death of a Leaf) poignantly articulates her experiences of being queer. 10 Along with literature, in other aesthetic domains the queer community is forging niches. The city of Kolkata also started its first dance school for transgender people in June 2018. It was launched by the Association of Transgender/Hijra of Bengal(ATHB). Anuradha Sarkar, a transgender member, said,“I had to become a Launda dancer[boy dancer dressed as a girl] to support my family. I faced sexual exploitation on many occasions so I hope this project will save me from a vulnerable life”. Sarkar, who is a graduate of Kathak and Bharatnatyam from Rabindra Bharati University faces refusal because of her sexual identity irrespective of being trained and having degrees. She has had to travel to different states to perform at wedding ceremonies. 11 Queer placemaking in Kolkata Queer infrastructure in Kolkata is not just confined to the elite zones of literary festivals and official forums; in the quotidian space too, there are upcoming facilities and placemaking efforts. Special cafés and eateries exist for queer groups: 12 Amra Odbhut, which translates as“we are queer”, is a beautiful café-cum-community centre in Kolkata run by queer people. Known for being an artistic haven for the queer community, Amra Odbhut is Kolkata’s first event space and eatery that publicly celebrates the LGBTQ+ community. The café aims to carve out an intersectional space and mitigate discrimination and prejudice by offering an inclusive location for free and creative expressions and the exchange of ideas between queer people and their allies. Similarly, a trans colour festival known as Trans Bosonto Utsav took place on 5 and 6 April 2019 at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and supported by a Kolkata organisation called Anandam. 13 It was a reaction against the Transgender Persons(Protection of Rights) Bill, which was passed in Lok Sabha in 2018. Celebrating the colour and rhythm of the transgender community for two days, this festival aimed to build confidence and resilience amongst its members. The event gave trans people an opportunity to come out in the open and showcase their talents. These myriad acts of placemaking are simultaneously com9 P. Dasgupta,“Kolkata to host Sahitya Akademi’s transgender poets’ meet on July 17”, The Times of India, 11 Jul. 2018, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/64951875.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst(accessed 17 Jul. 2024). 10 Dasgupta,“Kolkata to host Sahitya Akademi’s transgender poets’ meet on July 17”(see n. 9). 11 S. Yengkhom,“Dreaming empowerment: A dance school for transgenders in Kolkata”, The Times of India, 2 Jul. 2018, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/64821641.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst(accessed 17 Jul. 2024). 12 https://www.holidify.com/pages/kolkata-cafe-377-3050.html(accessed 17 Jul. 2024). 13 https://www.kolkataanandam.org/trans-bosonto-utsab-2019(accessed 17 Jul. 2024).

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.9| GUHA: QUEERING CALCUTTA_ INSIGHTOUT 2(2024) 65 bined with efforts for legislative and administrative protections and rights-based demands. The next section will show how that is being galvanised in Kolkata. Bengal Trans*& Queer Charter of Demands On 2 April 2021,“as many as 21 LGBTQA+ community groups, several LGBTQA+ individuals, and their allies from across the state put in a collective effort to bring out the Bengal Trans*& Queer Charter of Demands”. 14 The charter focuses on the rights, lives, livelihood, and aspirations of LGBTQ+ communities in West Bengal. It tries to re-vison the healthcare and education systems. It advocates LGBTQ+-inclusive education curricula and teacher training, along with a strictly enforced law against the bullying of LGBTQ+ persons in educational institutions. The Bengal Trans*& Queer Charter of Demands is one of the outcomes of the collaborative effort of twenty-one LGBTQ+ organisations and several individuals to develop a comprehensive advocacy document. It aims to mobilise and collectivise gender and sexual minority communities in West Bengal and helps them to articulate their demands from a rights-based framework and perspective. Some collaborative partner organisations in this initiative are Dumdum Swikriti Society, Madhya Bangla Sangram, Malda Parichay Society, Prantik Bongaon, Varta Trust, Birbhum Somporko, Jalpaiguri Uttrayan Society, Kolkata Anandam for Equality and Justice, Maitri Sangjog Society of Cooch Behar, et cetera. Iconic success stories from Bengal A transgender person from West Bengal made history on 9 June 2015, when Manabi Bandopadhyay was made the college principal at Krishnagar Women’s College in Nadia district of Bengal. She is the first transgender person to achieve this feat of becoming a college principal. Manabi was euphoric when she said:“For me, it’s a long battle against ignorance. There was a time when I and even my father were threatened with(dire) consequences as I am a transgender. I spent my childhood in Nadia and it’s a comeback to my home with pride and dignity after a long battle”. 15 Recounting her own story, Manabi narrates that since her infancy Manabi was inclined to feminine features and evinced marks of being a girl. This was however not taken very well by her father as Manabi was the only son in the family and was perceived as a potential bread earner. Tyrannised by her father, Manabi vowed to consult a psychiatrist to get relief from her trauma and her dilemma of being torn between her twin identities. Sadly, though even psychiatrist doctors in India too are unaware about homosexual realities and they did not encourage her to manifest her own female identity, rather, they advised her to supress her actual female identity. So, being born as Somnath Banerjee, a male, Manabi had to encounter consistent rebuke and persecution from the larger society and also from her father whenever she tried to reveal her own identity. Award-winning transgender film-maker Rituparno Ghosh was another example of radical courage in Bengal and India as a whole. He openly admitted his homosexuality and was a unique figure in the Indian film industry. Although he would not identify with Bollywood and made his films mostly in Bengali, he was recognised as a renowned pan-Indi14 Chand,“‘Bengal Trans*& Queer Charter of Demands’ released”, Varta, 31 March 2021, https://vartagensex.org/2021/03/31/ bengal-trans-queer-charter-of-demands-released/#:~:text=The%20charter%20focuses%20on%20the,largely%20to%20their%20 social%20marginalization(accessed 17 Jul. 2024). 15 “Meet Manabi Bandhopadhyay, India‘s first transgender college principal from West Bengal”, Your Story, 21 March, 2018. https:// yourstory.com/2018/03/first-transgender-college-principal-west-bengal(accessed 17 Jul. 2024).

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2024.2.9| GUHA: QUEERING CALCUTTA_ INSIGHTOUT 2(2024) 66 an filmmaker. He is considered an icon of the LGBTQ+ community of India. He explored the transgender lifestyle during the last years of his life. He himself underwent breast implant surgery for one of his acting roles in the movie Arekti Premer Golpo(Another Love Story) in 2010. In his later films he explored sexual liminalities and himself became the central point of his explorations in films such as Memories in March (2010) where he played the role of a gay character. Rituparno was probably the first openly gay male film-maker in India who broke cinematic barriers with his subtle depiction of relationships. At the height of his film-making prowess, Rituparno was sought out by mainstream Bollywood actors who wanted to work with him. Some of his finest films, such as Raincoat(2004) and Antarmahal(2005), featured celebrity Bollywood actors who came to Kolkata to work with him in his low-budget films. An avid Satyajit Ray fan himself, Rituparno was an heir to the Bengali cinematic masters such as Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. Rituparna’s area of influence crossed over to television and print where he hosted chat shows and also edited the famous film magazine Anandalok for some time. Ghosh sadly passed away in 2013 at the age of just 49, leaving behind a rich yet incomplete cinematic legacy. rian-era conceptions of appropriate sexual behaviour. As the British Empire consolidated its control on the Indian subcontinent in the nineteenth century, its ideas about culture, society and law began to manifest themselves in Indian society. These included Western Judeo-Christian sexual norms that viewed local notions of sexuality as barbaric. It is now high time to recognise that these ideas and norms were imported and imposed by the coloniser and not only have no roots in but actually fly in the face of traditional Indian culture. Given all these complexities, all efforts at queering Kolkata are to be welcomed as they will pave the way for more placemaking and infrastructural support. Conclusion Considering all these case studies, one may conclude that though progress is being made, there is still room for more, especially with respect to fostering wider societal acceptance of both gay and trans communities. This can only be accelerated by acknowledging colonialism’s impact on LGBTQ+ communities in the region and the ways in which colonial-era laws marked a stark departure from the fluid conceptions of gender and sexuality once prevalent in precolonial India. The subcontinent’s fluid gender and sexual norms did not conform to Britain’s Victo-