INDIA: Parents March In Solidarity With LGBT Children At Mumbai Pride 2015

DNA India reports:

Bigger, bolder and more politically assertive. The gay pride march was all these things as Mumbai kept its annual date with the Rainbow on Saturday. The streets were bursting with colours and the energy was palpable. Among the nearly 5,000 that walked, a substantial chunk was formed by the parents of members of the LGBTQ community, who came to support their children and each other. Several others from different parts of the world also flew down to be a part of this fast-growing movement. Pradip Divgikar, whose actor, VJ, and choreographer son Sushant represented India at the Mr Gay World competition last year, grinned as he told dna, "He's gay and I'm happy." Sushant, the industrial psychology post-grad, hugged his dad as he said, "I want all parents of LGBTQ children to be like him.

This weekend's march was also a protest of Section 377, India's recently reinstated criminalization of homosexuality.

INDIA: Record Crowd For Mumbai Pride

Unswayed by the Indian Supreme Court's refusal last month to reconsider its recriminalization of homosexuality, a record crowd turned out for Mumbai's gay pride events this weekend.

In its seventh edition, Mumbai’s Gay Pride got bigger and bolder, attracting crowds from across the globe. Colourful costumes, innovative headgear and a multitude of balloons in rainbow colours only added to the atmosphere charged with slogans, chanting, singing and waving of whacky, tongue-in-cheek banners and posters which left many chortling and some agape. “Ideally, the march is about taking pride in what you are. But this year’s upsurge in numbers is a reflection of the community’s anger and hurt over being recriminalised,” said one of India’s gay rights pioneer Ashok Row Kavi. “If courts think they can brush us off and treat us like sub-humans they need to see how they have ended up giving the movement a shot in the arm instead. This movement will grow and succeed.”

Mumbai Queer Flashmob

(Via Towleroad)

The World's Most Expensive House

Mukesh Ambani, the fourth-wealthiest person in the world, has built himself the first-ever billion-dollar home in Mumbai.

The lavish building– named Antilia, after the mythical island– has 27 stories, is 173 meters high and has 37,000 square meters of floor space — more than the Palace of Versailles. It contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, at least one swimming pool, a ballroom, guestrooms, a variety of lounges and a 50-seat cinema. There are three helicopter pads on the roof and a car park for 160 vehicles on the ground floors. It's obviously quite a job keeping all this running smoothly, so the house, if you can call it that, also boasts a staff of 600. And all this for just Ambani, his wife and their three children to enjoy.

Spectacularly ugly.

Terror Attacks On Tourists In Mumbai

A coordinated series of terror attacks aimed at Western tourists took place across Mumbai, India today with scores of people killed.

At least 78 people were killed and 200 injured today when gunmen opened fire on a crowded Mumbai railway station, luxury hotels and a restaurant popular with tourists. Johnny Joseph, chief secretary for Maharashtra state in India, of which Mumbai is the capital, says the death toll could rise further. The gunmen attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station in southern Mumbai and Leopold's restaurant, a Mumbai landmark, along with the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels. The motive for the attacks was not immediately clear but Mumbai has frequently been targeted in terror attacks, often blamed on Muslim militants, including a series of blasts in July last year that killed 187 people.

CNN International is reporting that the attackers were demanding to know who had British or American passports and that an unknown number of tourists are being held captive.