“What do you want to be today?” A princess once asked, “A leaf, with all the colours,” replied a man. “A footballer,” replied another. That was how the Drag Story Hour and Tea Party began at Gender Bender a three-day event held recently. Princess Shy (Sayantika Majumdar) read out excerpts from two unique children’s books on the stories of queer children at the Max Muller Bhavan.
The Many Colours of Anshu, the first book read by Princess Shy was written by Anshumaan Sathe. The story follows the tale of spunky little Anshu as he explores the world and the options of who he could be, A boy? A girl? Or Anything he wants to be! While reading an excerpt from the book, Princess Shy screamed and cried just like the little kid in the book and took everyone into the world of Anshu.
Princess Shy asked the audience again what they wanted to be. A person with bright blue hair said they wanted to be calm so they could get through the day, and another wanted to be a pretty fairy sitting on a daffodil. Princess Shy introduced the second book, Boy in the Cupboard, written by Harshala Gupte and illustrated by Priya Dali.
