Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
BASANT PANCHAMI CELEBRATIONS
City International School celebrated Basant Panchami by celebrating childhood. The day started by worship Goddess Saraswati. The school walls were adorned by the children on the theme Poetry in Paint and variety of colourful cultural programmes were held on the occasion. The special guests were Mir Jafar Abdullah, Lalit Singh, Souvik Chakravarty and Abhishek Dixit. School’s director Dr Sunita Gandhi and City Montessori School founder director Bharti Gandhi interacted with the visitors and participated in the activities too. Principal Archana Gaur appreciated the efforts made by the students under the guidance of teachers.
People in rainbow coloured costume thronged the Ashok Marg during the third Queer Pride Parade held in Lucknow on Sunday.
The yatra was the first since the repeal of Section 377 of the IPC that decriminalised gay sex among consulting adults.
Over 250 people from the LGBTQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transsexual and Queer) community participated in the march. The participants swayed rainbow flags, danced and hailed ‘Love is Love’ on the sound of ‘bhangra’ drum beats as they moved down slowly towards the Hazratganj crossing. The march started from Rana Pratap Marg crossing and ended at the Gandhi Smarak near GPO.
“This parade is a message for people in the society that we are not abnormal. We are just a group of people that understand their sexuality and are brave enough to accept it,” said Yadvendra Singh from Awadh Queer Pride Committee that organised the march. The group has been organising the march since 2017.
The members of the community that have come in support of the pride parade were from Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Mumbai, Kolkata.
Besides Lucknow, members of the community from Barabanki, Unnao, Hardoi, Shahjahanpur, Allahabad, Ayodhya and Gorakhpur participated in the yatra.
A member of the community from Old Lucknow, who didn’t want to be named, said: ”I have been attending the march since it started in 2017. I have seen it grow over the years. It shows how more and more people are accepting the reality and not worried to share it with the world.” Besides those from LGBTQ community, the march was also attended by other people from the society.
Swati Sharma, a resident of Gomti Nagar, attended the march to accompany two of her friends from the LGBTQ community. Carrying a rainbow coloured handkerchief that she waived in unison with her friends, she said: “My friends are from the queer community. I am here to show my support to them and hope that other people in the community will also accept them as their own.”