Party with Pride

The Pride March,with its bursts of rainbow colour,ended at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar,but the party was yet to begin. Large groups made their way to the Rock for Rights concert,organised by Engendered,a transnational arts and rights organisation,at The Lalit hotel. This is where a range of music talent promised a musical blast to end the evening. Like most fashionable events,Rock for Rights was delayed by an hour-and-a-half,and the nippy night at the open space did not help the waiting audience.

While pop artiste Suman Sridhar kick-started the evening with a quirky and light performance,Assamese group Papon and the East India Company upped the ante with impressive renditions of Assamese folk and Bollywood numbers. Alisha Batth came in next,with a range of edgy English numbers,including a cover of Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn. But,the evening clearly belonged to playback singer Rekha Bhardwaj,who belted out a series of Bollywood hits. Her performance ensured that everybody was on their feet,including Papon,international DJ Ma Faiza and Alisha Batth,swaying to Genda Phool and Namak Ishq Ka.