Steven Davies – attaboy!

The first time I saw him on television, he looked an attractive player and a suitable, if not better, replacement for Matt Prior. This was during the English winter and the Australian summer, during the just-concluded, vastly entertaining Ashes seried down under. I was actually disappointed when I heard that Prior was given the nod ahead of him the World Cup squad.

In the second week of the World Cup, he has made me proud. He has made all of us proud! Steven Davies has officially come out of the closet, and by doing so has become the first professional cricketer to come out of the closet. This is simply wonderful news for everyone – most importantly for him.

Sinc yesterday, there were dozens of news stories about him. But the most moving one was the one where he detailed how distressing it was to remain in the closet while playing for his teams (England, Surrey, and in the future, surely an IPL franchise). ‘A tour of two weeks felt like two years’, he said. Initially, he came out to the England coach Andy Flower about this who had a long discussion with him and they both decided that the team needs to know this.

When they collectively announced this to the team, the response was even more heartwarming. Matt Prior apparently gave him a nice hug and asked him why he had kept this to himself all this time! The others must have had poignant responses too. This news comes right at the heel of the news story of James Anderson, the Enlgish pace bowling spearhead and a straight, married man with kids, agreeing to model for a gay magazine photoshoot.

Both the stories speak volumes about the acceptance of of homosexuality as a social variant rfather than an abberant in the English cricket team, and more widely in the UK and in Europe. Indeed, many European countries have made gay civil unions legal and some others like Portugal and Spain have made gay marriages legal.

There are lessons in this. First, being out of the closet is the ideal, for the gay guy and his friends and family. Second, the society and the state, as and when i starts accepting homosexuals as individuals with equal legal rights, make it easier for celebrities and sportsmen to come out of their closet. I hope everyone takes home a message from this story and a glorious path is paved toward more people coming out!

Besides, who wouldn’t want a bunch of Indian hotties like Zak and Virat (from the Indian) team coming out of the closet? ,-)

Here are some wonderful links on the story:

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/feb/28/steven-davies-gay
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/8350779/Steven-Davies-England-cricketer-announces-he-is-gay.html
• http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/503503.html

The Rock’s back

This weekend, I spent most of my time watching sport and sports entertainment of television. My excuse was that I was recovering from a brutal week which reminded me of my days during internship and residency. I still remember a 108-hour shift that I had taken during my internship – I was so tired that I fell asleep by the side of patient of snake poisoning! My present non-medical life lacks stories of such superhuman effort. 😦

The highlight of the weekend, hence, was the coming back to WWE of the one and only Rock (Dwayne Johnson). It seemed that WWE was running out of ideas to come up with interesting stories and personalities. All the ‘faces’ were too juvenile (John Cena and Rey Mysterio for example) and all the ‘heels’ were incredibly annoying (The Miz and Cody Rhodes).

Vince McMahon, I think, did a careful analysis of the present scene. There were no ‘faces’ who were brash, arrogant, charismatic like to good old days featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin and the DX. He must have looked back at the roster to see if anything could bring him back the audience which love blatant cockiness that such superstars bring to the table. He must have found the Rock, the one guy which combines all of those missing elements and adds an amazing mic-presence and sense of humor to them.

I’m not going into a cliché here, but Rock did arrive and conquer the WWE universe in all but a 15-minute presence in the ring where he narrated everything that was going wrong with the WWE and how he’s going to change them come Wrestlemania XXVII. This has reignited my interest in watching professional wrestling again – if the stories/plots aren’t good enough, at least you can hear one of most flamboyant superstars make fun of everything under the sun!

On behalf of all fans of professional wrestling, welcome back Rock! We missed you!

A busy Friday

Yesterday, I played my first gig with Overhung at Inorbit Mall (Malad-W) as part of ‘Uninor Rush of Blood’ – a blood donation drive with live music featuring about 15 bands from Mumbai. This was probably the first time that I’m performing for such a noble cause. We just got to play for 20 minutes. But before we got on stage, the guitarist and I donated blood. And then we had a blast on stage.
There was an added advantage to this donation – you get yourself checked for HIV and Hepatitis B and C. It’s been awhile since I did those tests and I expect to get a call from them if I’m positive for any of that. I hope I don’t get an anonymous call in the first couple of days next week informing that I’m positive for any of those.

A lot of friends of mine were playing alongside us. But I only got to watch a couple of bands that played before us and the band that followed us. The reason was that I needed to head to Juhu for a dinner date with a South African. That turned out to be interesting with a wonderful conversation over some South East Asian food with some scotch and beer.

Although I enjoy such dates, I’m not sure if I can afford to spend so much on dates and parties anymore. That’s the problem with leaving a potentially lucrative surgical career and chasing hollow dreams in music. This thought have been pushed into my head by a man that I met on a SilverDaddies.com who insists that I return to my surgical career instead of wasting my life if I need to live my dream of having kids.

He might be right, but I’m not sure if I should give up on my career in music which gives me so much pleasure and satisfaction. I need to enjoy my life to the fullest as well, shouldn’t I?

Directions to the TV9 office

This is a google map view showing the road route to reach MIDC area close to the TV9 office. If you need any help in locating the office, please call on the following number.

9820521108

Finalized plan for the protest against TV9

(Details courtesy Pallav Patankar)

ACTIVITY PLAN

Address:
TV9 Media Maharashtra Pvt.Ltd.
110, Silver House, 13th cross road, MIDC, Andheri East
Mumbai, India
Time : 5.30 pm -8.00 pm

Activity:
We can start individually/in groups to TV 9 offices from 5.30 pm onwards. Pallav , Sonal , Vivek Anand , Gautam Yadav (others welcome) will carry letters of protest to TV9 at 5.30 pm. We will present ourselves at the reception desk and politely ask for the higher most authority present in the office. If we are successful in meeting him/her , we will handover the letters of protest. Currently the letters issued will be from QAM, HST, INFOSEM mentioning the shameful act of TV9 Telegu. We will hand over white flowers to the official. All those who wish to protest can come with a letter and white flowers (of any sort) and present their letters at the reception.

Each one can can ask for the highest ranking official in TV9 present and give their letters of protest. The higher the number of protests and protest letters the better.

Code Of Conduct:

1. There shall be no violence , aggression or bad language used in TV9 offices.
2. Please be appropriately dressed.
3. Conduct should be graceful and explanation as to why we are protesting should be given.
4. Each group that enters can decide if they wish to take other TV crews along while registering the protest.
5. Post depositing our letters at the reception desk we can continue to congregate outside the premises and display banners, as well as sing the song “Aaaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charchey har jabaan par “(we sang this on 2nd July Azaad Maidan)

Planet Romeo’s release supporting the community

(*Content courtesy PlanetRomeo.com*)

23 Feb: Homophobic news on TV9 in India

Today we were informed about a homophobic news report on TV9. We are deeply concerned and quite shocked that such a report was broadcast. In our view it was sensationalist and showed a flagrant disregard for privacy and basic human rights. Yes, being able to live freely as gay, bisexual or transgender IS a human right! *

In the light of this report, we completely understand that you might be concerned for your own personal security and privacy. Security on dating and social networking platforms is always a concern. For that reason we have published this helpful safety information.

In all honesty, we don’t have any direct power to stop such disgusting acts of journalism. But we want to let you know that we are with you, and that we have had direct experience of similar situations ourselves in the context of European gay movements. Sadly, legislation doesn’t mean automatic acceptance by stupid TV reporters

Let’s keep fighting for our rights! 

Your PlanetRomeo Team

*23.02: TV9 पर भारत में होमोफोबिक समाचार*

*हम आज TV9 पर एक होमोफोबिक समाचार रिपोर्ट के बारे में सूचित किया गया. हम इस रिपोर्ट काफी सेचिंतित और हैरान हैं. हमारी राय में रिपोर्ट को सनसनीखेज़ बनाया गया है और एक ज्वलंत गोपनीयता और बुनियादी मानव अधिकारों को रिपोर्ट में अनदेखा किया गया है. जी हाँ, हम चाहे समलैंगिक हो, उभयलिंगी हो, या फिर किन्हर हो हम सभी को अपने स्वतंत्र रूप से अपनी ज़िन्दगी जीने एक का मानव अधिकार है!*

हम समझते हैं कि आप अपने स्वयं के सुरक्षा और गोपनीयता को लेकर चिंतित है. सुरक्षा डेटिंग और सामाजिक नेटवर्किंग प्लेटफार्मों पर हमेशा एक चिंता का विषय है. इसी कारण है से हमने इस सहायक सुरक्षा जानकारी प्रकाशि की  है.

पूरी ईमानदारी से हमें कहना पढ़ा रहा है की, हमारे पास इस प्रकार की ताकत नहीं है हम ऐसी घिनौनि रिपोर्ट्स को प्रकाशित होने से रोक सके. लेकिन हम आपको यह बताना चाहता हूँ कि हम आपके साथ हैं. हम खुद यूरोपीय समलैंगिक गतिविधियों के संदर्भ में अपने आप को कुछ ऐसे ही पारीस्थितियों का किया अनुभव है.

अफसोस की बात है, लेकिन कानून हमे बेवकूफ टीवी पत्रकारों से मान्यता प्राप्त नहीं करता.

हमें अपने अधिकारों की लड़ाई योग्य रखना है! आपकी PlanetRomeo टीम

Peaceful protest against TV9 Hyderabad

This is a “copy-paste” of the details of the protest against TV9 from an LGBT mailing list. Credits go to Sibi Mathen.

TV9’s slanderous and malicious story of gaymen of Hyderabad and Planet Romeo is a wake up call for the LGBTI community to make sure we don’t let the media or any individual invade on our personal rights for dignity and privacy

Join us for a PEACEFUL protest at TV9 Maharashtra’s office. Join us in huge numbers with banners, protest letters(to be given to the channel) and flowers (with a get well soon message)….no screaming, no violence, no Naarebaazi!!

Time : 7pm 5.30 to 8 pm

Date : Friday, 25th Feb 2011

Location : TV9 Media Maharashtra Pvt. Ltd.

110, Silver House, 13th cross road MIDC, Andheri East Mumbai – 400 093

Please be there on time. For any queries (directions etc) call 9820521108.

Send us your mails on unitedagainsttv9@gmail.com.

Please pass on this message to friends, even if you can’t make it, and help spread the word around.

TV9 Hyderabad’s evil exposé

Yesterday, TV9 Hyderabad’s YouTube channel uploaded a video of a slanderouos, maligned news story titled “Gay culture rampant in Hyderabad.” Apparently, undercover reporters from TV9 went to a gay party and covered it. They also created a fake profile on PlanetRomeo.com and called some of its users and recorded the conversations that they had with them. These were used along with private pictures of users on PlanetRomeo.

The LGBT community in India has united and has condemned these actions by the TV channel. The YouTube video has been flagged and YouTube has taken in down, and although I’m sure that this video will be uploaded at other locations soon, it is a positive step in protesting against the channel which has invaded the privacy of innocent people. The latest on the news story is that one student who was exposed in the news story has committed suicide. I don’t have any official confirmation for the same.

Apparently, as a knee-jerk reactions, hundreds of members of PlanetRomeo have deleted/moved profiles and taken off their photos from the site. LGBT community members in Mumbai are planning a peaceful protest at the TV9 office in Mumbai on Friday. This will be against the ridiculous story run by the TV9 Telugu division. The details will be posted soon.

Please help the community in protesting against this serious issue of invasion of privacy. Thank you!

What you can do:

• Flag video/copies of the story online
• Write to the TV channel
• Express solidarity to our friends from Hyderabad
• By talking about this on various social media platforms
• By changing your FaceBook profile picture to a picture which displays protest to TV9
• By changing your Planet Romeo profile to “Hyderabad” and post your pictures on it
• Join the community in our peaceful protest against TV9 on Friday evening at TV9’s office (Details on my next post)

Please do as much as you can. Let this be a movement to prevent such stupid journalism from raising its head again.

A strange plea for help

A week back, I got this message from a friend of mine. It’s about a friend (woman) of his who’s finding it hard to come to term with her sexuality and sexual orientation. I’m pasting the contents of the message below.

“i know a very nice, homely, cool girl who is also highly qualified. She likes rock and roll and is a vocalist. she’s 24. she’s frigid…unable to have sex. family pressure to get married is mounting to a point where she might just decide to end it all. i think you understand better what a fragile situation this is…this is worse than rape.

She wants to meet guys who are gay, but have similar pressures on them to settle down “with a girl”. This way she can be helped…and someone from the male gay community can also breathe easy.

I’m all for the “coming out of the closet” thing. But Kris i also know that there must be people out there who are struggling with gaining acceptance towards their sexuality. Maybe we can help 2 people…

i have seen her state, man. imagine what she’ll have to go through…it bought tears to my eyes…she is a very caring and loving person…”

I don’t know what to tell my friend. Should I talk to his friend, the woman? Should I suggest that she speak to some counsellor? Maybe someone at Humsafar trust? Do you think she can find someone gay who’ll agree to forge a ‘marriage of convenience’ with her? Is that the right step?

To be able to survive

This is another FB poem that is shaping up as we speak.

I don’t know if I will be able to survive | There are so many things from which to hide |

I don’t know if I will be able to survive | There are so many things that I have left by the side |

I don’t know if I will be able to survive | There are so many people to be beside |

I don’t know if I will be able to survive | There is so much to do, and no one by my side |

I don’t know if I will be able to survive | Missing you so much, and you are not by my side |

I don’t know if I will be able to survive | With the foreignness of the truth about which I lied |