বাংলায় পড়ুন
India’s first ever transgender poet’s meet was organised in Kolkata on Tuesday 17th July at the Sahitya Academy. It is a first of its kind government-sponsored meet. The meet was officiated by the country’s first transgender college principal Manabi Bandopadhyay. When the entire nation is anticipating the Supreme Court’s judgement on pleas questioning the legitimacy of Section 377, this initiative by the authorities of the Sahitya Academy is like a breath of fresh air.
Six transgender poets participated in the event that included Rani Majumdar, Aruna Nath, Anjali Mandal, Debdutta Biswas and Debojyoti Bhattacharya. Each of them was given almost 15 minutes to recite their poetry. Apart from the main six poets, the audience got to listen to two more transgender poets.
Social activist-turned-news anchor Anurag Maitreyee read out “Antoja”, “Anuranan”, “Anneshan”, and “Prantik”. Poet Tista Ghosh read out “Aposh”, “Tarpan” and “Bhashan”. Manabi Bandopadhyay anchored the event and kick-started it by reading her own works. In addition to the recitation, few other members of the community performed a song and dance sequence.
It was a challenge for Manabi to get everyone of her community to attend this meet but as they say, ‘All’s well that ends well’, the meet ended on an optimistic note hoping for more such events in the near future.
