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Nil, Rii |
Students of St. Xavier’s College engaged in a talk with a difference on Friday, September 21, afternoon. Symposium 2012, organised by the St. Xavier’s College Student’s Union, was held on the college’s Park Street campus. A panel discussion titled “Relationship: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community” dwelt on issues relating to this group and also aimed at informing students of the evolving perspectives on the subject.
The panel comprised actress Rii, elocutionist Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, Nil of designer duo Dev R Nil, social activist Tista Das, Sumita from Sappho for Equality and professor Abhijit Mitra of St. Xavier’s College.
The evening started with a student documentary that explored the prevalent views on LGBTs on campus, from “politically correct statements” to labels like “freaks of nature”.
Sujoy began the discussion by talking about how love was the most important factor in a relationship and how one’s sexuality was one’s own.
Nil took over, asking why one’s sexuality should become a vector of oppression. He reiterated Sujoy’s point that love was the most important part of any relationship. Rii questioned notions like “lesbian” and “bisexual”. She explored the transience of sexual orientation and how we are continuously in a state of flux. According to her, any relationship is “two per cent love and 98 per cent maintenance”.
Abhijit had a different view. According to him, today LGBT has become a celebrated “status” and insisted that it was important to keep “mundane sexuality” alive as well. The professor of sociology felt that the future of relationships seemed very dark and that with time, relationships would be “on sale”.
Sumita caused a stir among the audience with her story of finding love with a woman after marriage and motherhood. She was of the opinion that we should not label anyone as “homo” or “bi” unless we knew who we were ourselves. That quest, according to her, would itself bring about a change in our thought process.
The audience was ready with questions once the discussion was opened to the house.
“I enjoyed the discussion. But I wish we got more time to interact with the panel,” said Sanghamitra Deb, a student of sociology.
Text and pictures by Roshni Ali |
