Pageant Rituals

[Shana A]

Pageant Rituals
Premankumar Biswas

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Pageant-Rituals/568255

There is one cardinal law to be followed in India's first transgender beauty contest—be yourself

Sussanne's voice has a pleasant lilt. She finishes sentences on a high note, so that any statement she makes sounds like a tentative question. As she sits in front of a mirror in a makeshift green room, dabbing some foundation on her cheeks, her friend Bhanupriya playfully accuses her of trying to hog all the limelight. "But I need time to get ready..." she protests, more a question than a statement.

Barely an hour later, Suassane took the ramp of the Indian Super Queen (India's first national transgender beauty pageant) beauty contest with a sense of rhythm that could only have derived from the vibrant bylanes of Beleghata (where she hails from).