The tying of the thali on Aravanis was about to start, but there was a serpentine queue to enter the tiny sanctum sanctorum.
We moved along with the mad crowd, to be occasionally pushed aggressively by groups of Aravanis who wanted to jump the queue. There were loud fights; abusive language flowed liberally.
Inside the temple, there were quite a few priests tying thalis on the Aravani brides. With us were Hariharan, a gay man who worked as an IT expert and community advisor for TAI, and his friend Pooja.
Dressed like a bride, Pooja had been waiting for the day anxiously. When a priest tied a thali around her neck, she closed her eyes to pray and then blushed like a typical bride.
Inside the sanctum, we were pushed, crushed, and jostled around. We almost fainted because of the smoke and suffocation. The same way we were pushed into the temple, we were also pushed out.
Also see: 'We are shunted out of the system'
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