<h1 class="left">By 10:00PM on Sunday evening, Antisocial in Bombay has seen a steady stream of chrome-plate-contraptions, and boots made for strutting, and jewel tones, and dripping crystals woven in and out of mesh, and an array of silver enough to supply the cast of an entire sci-fi film. It’s only fitting that the gathering delivers true to theme– a visualisation of the future bursting with queer joy.</h1>
<h1 class="right">The IT Ball 01 is India’s very first ball hosted by a house, the house of Luna, and everyone present on scene could easily consider themselves part of herstory in the making. The countdown timer ticks down to seconds, and all eyes are fixated at the top of the stairway, awaiting the arrival of the mothership, drag icon to many and mother to few, Glorious Luna.</h1>
<h1 class="right">The crowd parts down the centre to make way for the first presentation of the night, roaring with applause and bows for the drag daughters of the house of Luna, in all their red and pink latex, tentacle-wrapped, back-to-the-future glory. They take the ramp with the ease of seasoned performers, giving the people exactly what they want to see, while knowing full well they’re doing exactly as they please. </h1>
<h1 class="left">The room is electrifying. It carries energy in waves and pumps it into the beating heart of the crowd, renewing it with a fresh lease of life every time someone walks the ramp. The people all recognize the celebration, and protest, that fills the four walls of a gritty room bursting at the seams with people of the community. It’s the hope for a future that’s wholly, and unabashedly, queer. </h1>
<h1 class="left">Glorious Luna saunters down the stairs, light bouncing off of her silver satellite-like hat and walks up to the stage, against the backdrop of screaming voices who have to make sure Luna knows that mother is indeed, mothering. Channelling a sublime humanoid robot-under-construction, she introduces the idea of the The IT Ball 01, and makes an ode to the body of queer history that makes a ball of this magnitude even conceivable in the country. </h1>
<h1 class="right">From the underground balls of Harlem, held in secret by Black and Latino performers, to being exported to the Indian city in its current form, drag ballrooms have seen an evolution of many stages, pioneered by queens who charted the trajectory of queer expression. In the room that night, Luna interrupts the course of the future, announces her place in it, and gives a baby queer the chance to believe as well. </h1>
<h1 class="left">There are categories that follow, and rules for participants, Luna watches it all unfold under her hat, knowingly, as anticipation climbs. The night commences with the OTA runway walk category that sees performers strut down the length of the ramp and strike a pose, being judged on the strength and style of their walk. There’s OTA Bizarre next, and Drag Queen realness is scheduled right at the end. The competition is fierce, and the room vibrates under the rhythm of a rogue heel flying off a performer and landing on the ground. The performers are unaffected, they were forewarned that only the fiercest of the fierce would claim the IT crown. </h1>
<h1 class="right">By now, the aisles on either side are drawing closer in. The hosts have their favourites, and so does the crowd. There is an applause that burgeons when the judges display a perfect score, and a murmur of approval when shade is, very characteristically, thrown. </h1>
<h1 class="right">A performer in a metallic green bodysuit, paired with Maleficent-like horns is christened Ms. Horny, and the crowd takes it and runs with it. A crystal link reminiscent of a chandelier flies off a performer and scatters across the ramp. Butch realness is served in a black velvet suit, while the masc body category has the participants flex a bicep, and their gym membership. A queen draped in pearls and a flowing train takes home the Drag Queen crown, and limbs disperse in all directions to match the beating music in the voguing category. </h1>
<h1 class="left">For those who witnessed the night in all its glory, it’s a time of their lives that’ll remain as one where queer culture in India was built, and rebuilt, before their eyes. Few words do as much justice to this as those of Glorious Luna, who looks at the people before her and exclaims with all trust that springs from gut, “The future is queer, bitch!”</h1>
<h1 class="full">Photographer 1: Mohit Varu</h1>
<h1 class="full">Photographer 2: Mousam Pattanaik</h1>
<h1 class="full">By 10:00PM on Sunday evening, Antisocial in Bombay has seen a steady stream of chrome-plate-contraptions, and boots made for strutting, and jewel tones, and dripping crystals woven in and out of mesh, and an array of silver enough to supply the cast of an entire sci-fi film. It’s only fitting that the gathering delivers true to theme– a visualisation of the future bursting with queer joy.</h1>
<h1 class="full">The IT Ball 01 is India’s very first ball hosted by a house, the house of Luna, and everyone present on scene could easily consider themselves part of herstory in the making. The countdown timer ticks down to seconds, and all eyes are fixated at the top of the stairway, awaiting the arrival of the mothership, drag icon to many and mother to few, Glorious Luna.</h1>
<h1 class="full">The crowd parts down the centre to make way for the first presentation of the night, roaring with applause and bows for the drag daughters of the house of Luna, in all their red and pink latex, tentacle-wrapped, back-to-the-future glory. They take the ramp with the ease of seasoned performers, giving the people exactly what they want to see, while knowing full well they’re doing exactly as they please. </h1>
<h1 class="full">The room is electrifying. It carries energy in waves and pumps it into the beating heart of the crowd, renewing it with a fresh lease of life every time someone walks the ramp. The people all recognize the celebration, and protest, that fills the four walls of a gritty room bursting at the seams with people of the community. It’s the hope for a future that’s wholly, and unabashedly, queer. </h1>
<h1 class="full">Glorious Luna saunters down the stairs, light bouncing off of her silver satellite-like hat and walks up to the stage, against the backdrop of screaming voices who have to make sure Luna knows that mother is indeed, mothering. Channelling a sublime humanoid robot-under-construction, she introduces the idea of the The IT Ball 01, and makes an ode to the body of queer history that makes a ball of this magnitude even conceivable in the country. </h1>
<h1 class="full">From the underground balls of Harlem, held in secret by Black and Latino performers, to being exported to the Indian city in its current form, drag ballrooms have seen an evolution of many stages, pioneered by queens who charted the trajectory of queer expression. In the room that night, Luna interrupts the course of the future, announces her place in it, and gives a baby queer the chance to believe as well. </h1>
<h1 class="full">There are categories that follow, and rules for participants, Luna watches it all unfold under her hat, knowingly, as anticipation climbs. The night commences with the OTA runway walk category that sees performers strut down the length of the ramp and strike a pose, being judged on the strength and style of their walk. There’s OTA Bizarre next, and Drag Queen realness is scheduled right at the end. The competition is fierce, and the room vibrates under the rhythm of a rogue heel flying off a performer and landing on the ground. The performers are unaffected, they were forewarned that only the fiercest of the fierce would claim the IT crown. </h1>
<h1 class="full">By now, the aisles on either side are drawing closer in. The hosts have their favourites, and so does the crowd. There is an applause that burgeons when the judges display a perfect score, and a murmur of approval when shade is, very characteristically, thrown. </h1>
<h1 class="full">A performer in a metallic green bodysuit, paired with Maleficent-like horns is christened Ms. Horny, and the crowd takes it and runs with it. A crystal link reminiscent of a chandelier flies off a performer and scatters across the ramp. Butch realness is served in a black velvet suit, while the masc body category has the participants flex a bicep, and their gym membership. A queen draped in pearls and a flowing train takes home the Drag Queen crown, and limbs disperse in all directions to match the beating music in the voguing category. </h1>
<h1 class="full">For those who witnessed the night in all its glory, it’s a time of their lives that’ll remain as one where queer culture in India was built, and rebuilt, before their eyes. Few words do as much justice to this as those of Glorious Luna, who looks at the people before her and exclaims with all trust that springs from gut, “The future is queer, bitch!”</h1>
<h1 class="full">Photographer 1: Mohit Varu</h1>
<h1 class="full">Photographer 2: Mousam Pattanaik</h1>