Question Round # 2 – What Are the Living Condition for Homosexual in India Socially, Culturally and Politically?

For the second question, by Uffe ELbæk, the founder of the Kaospilots, currently heading the World Outgames in Copenhagen 2009, I did an interview with a Indian, reflected, smart and charming man called Kanav, 25 years. Kanav is from Dehli, moving to Mumbai at the end of this week.

I am proud having him talking about the living conditions for homosexual in India here on the Boxy Bloggy Blog -

Thank you very much, Kanav!!

Enjoy I am sure you will…..

Amy interviewing Kanaw in Mumbai,

The True Opening of The Boxy Bloggy Blog

I’m sitting on the balcony of my Mumbai Residence. The tree top of a huge mango tree hangs over the balcony. Its 9 pm, and I can can hear the cars, people and the ‘toot toot’ from the main road around the corner from my road. Mumbai is a noisy city which goes to sleep round 1 am and awakens again in the morning at 6.

On Saturday I’ve been here for a month – time flies…

It took me longer to settle here than I had expected. At the beginning I was longing home and found it hard to get the point of why I am here – what’s the meaning of me in Mumbai I wondered ?? I wasn’t up for it; the meeting with a new context, people,  culture, new smells, taste, sounds – even if I’ve been here before, everything still felt new and different. And I had also come here to work which I wasn’t motivated for then either.

I realized after the first week that this trip wasn’t  going to be what I had thought – mostly because I hadn’t thought much about what this Outpost would have in store for me before leaving Copenhagen or what I wanted to get out of it  I’ve been away before at work as a Kaospilot, South Africa and Belarus, but for much shorter time – not enough time to actually settle and get to feel the need of daily routines. Almost three months in Mumbai is too long not to settle, and I found out after the first week that this was what I had to do. FInd ways to make Mumbai feel like my home.

I went to Goa and spent easter there, on the beach, with some friends from my team. A lot of sun and peace to go back a little and form in my head how I wanted the next two months in Mumbai to be, preparing myself to coming back home – to Mumbai.

As I drove in the taxi late at night from the train station where we came of from Goa I  felt I had come home. I recognized the streets and buildings as we drove closer to where I live in the part of Mumbai called Colaba – my hood…

Now I know the people working in the small shed on the street where I go to buy water every day, occasionally I get one of their fine veg. cheese grilled sandwiches, which they make on the small corner of the small desk. I say ‘good morning’ and ‘good evening’ to the same gang of taxi drivers hanging around on my street corner, they still ask me “taxi, taxi madame? do you want a taxi madame? going to the airport, madame?”. I look at them and they laugh cause they know I’m around for quite some time more… I have an Indian cell phone (+91 9930452593) which is more primitive than the first one I got when I was 17. I have yoga classes (the yoga teacher comes to our house) with a few from my team every tuesday and thursday (wait till I get home, as in home home, I’m going to stronger and longer). I do my own laundry in a bucket in the bathroom and hang it from the orange laundry line which I hung up in the one end of my room the first day I moved here after Goa. I bought books like The Rise of The Creative Class (mammy, I will get you this book – I think you’re going to like it), The God of Small Things, Blink, and In Spite of the Gods – they’re are on the small book shelf next to my bed. Anna, a beautiful, smart and lovely girl I’m living with from my team, and I fixed a small kitchen in an old desk in one corner of our room where we have oats, müsli, coffee, plates etc., and in the fridge we keep milk, cheese, mango juice and the left overs from the various Indian dishes we have delivered to our humble home (all restaurants, and there are many, have free home delivery), like Paneer Palak, a chunky spinage and cheese sauce, Mushroom Mutter Masala, Garlic Naan, veg. raita (raita is cold yoghurt sauce/dip) and what not. I have become a great fan of Indian food (I know you, Piet, will approve, finally you get to bash around with all the Indian spices which I know you love, and make me full and happy as can be). The Indian cuisine of course got me in a two days stomach cramp – wow, it’s up and down with the digestion and such, but I’ve become used to it and yeah, I can say it’s just another part of my daily life down here, and always a topic to talk with the others on my team who’s lives have also gotten that small extra twist to it…

A few days before I went to Goa it struck what I wanted to work on as a project – I got the the idea to do a female taxi company. There are more taxis on the streets than normal cars, they’re all the same, black with yellow rooftops and only men drive them. Anna, the girl i live with, Patrik, a thinker, passionate and dead intelligent man also from my team, and I are the ones working in this project – it’s a killer group!
The original idea (the (pink) taxi madames) has been twisted and turned, we’ve talked a lot about why we joined this project, what we actually want to state with the project and how we can experiment, be creative and stand for the concept, which we developed, in the way we work. For me, for all of us in fact, it has been extremely challenging to leave the idea and go deeper into defining what creativity is, seeing my self as a creative person. One thing I found out is that if it gets too easy, trivial it isn’t creative enough or rather it isn’t creative. With this I mean that the way we work as Kaospilots may be very creative and wild, but I need to go steps further – It’s no good for me to lean back and be creative and do things the way I usually do it. And not for Patrik or Anna either.

The final concept has roots in six core values: contextual pattern breaking (no better word for it in English just now kontektsuel mønsterbrydende), symbolic, visual, compassion, keep it simple and creating an empty space (tomrumsskabende). The last value means making an empty space by doing it all-the-other-values’-way, which leaves an open space for someone to create something new and also observing what happens in the empty space, what are peoples reactions and how are the tackling it (like art). The whole point is we want to help make a change for the better, a very small change or an opportunity for change and in this way we work sustainable. A stone which creates rings on the water…
We in the group have to stand for the values in the concept in the way work – it’s a kick.
We don’t work in the usual project form with milestones, stakeholder’s analyzes and bla bla bla, planning the one thing after the other – we know that drill far too well, which is also why we can put it all aside and fly while we’re building the plane – it’s not exactly the safest way of flying, but it’s more fun – it’s risk-taking, one of the Kaospilot values, and it makes me grow, develop both personally and professionaly…

I know understand the feedback I got from the second time I didn’t get into The School of Graphic Design and Communication (where Piet is). The lady said to me that what I did was very good, nice and neat… She suggested me to go of to France, do an art course and use the big brush and go wild… I feel that’s what I am doing right now – just two years later, in a different course, in India – using the big brush with a lot of paint (I always liked the small pens in dusty colours).

So, with the concept as the ground for our work, we are now working on the product. It may very well be a pink female taxi company/happening – I’ll let you know in the near future…

My thought with the Boxy Bloggy Blog is to update it often, I knew I just had to spend some time writing a long sum-up of what’s happened so far and now I have, so from now on you can expect to get smaller shots from my life here in Mumbai at least a couple of times a week.

I am getting a little sentimental now – don’t really want to end the writing. I have a picture in my head of a big cumfy room with a fire place (not a plastic one, gran), and you’re all here sitting in big chairs, some are lying on the soft carpet floor and I’m  reading all this from a big book while you listen….  Sarah’s just about to fall asleep now (my little put)……………….

I am thinking about you all – all my love to you!!