On your Mark!

I have known Marca for over five years now, and he is one of the loudest persons I have ever heard in the queer community. We had hitched a trip together to our desi Bangkok aka Goa; O no, we didn’t get naughty. There were a dozen people with us.

He knew every bit of Goa — every shop, every accent and knew all the street-smart things that people do. I remember how he jumped into the pool in a two-piece swimsuit. There were a bunch of visibly straight men who stopped talking about the women they wanted to date, mate and procreate with, and paid attention to this dude who transformed into a damsel in a split-second.

He was a temptress for those men in the pool — lonely and in distress. Nothing really happened. The earth didn’t shatter. He didn’t date any of them, but all of them stepped aside for Mark to jump and drown, and have a whale of a time in the pool of desire.

Mark was in complete control of his body. He was in complete control of his feminine self as much as he was about his masculine self. He felt no guilt and no awkwardness, despite the fact that he was completely aware of the attention he was getting, and in many ways, revelling in it.

I remember vividly, his crazy yet sweet ways, of bidding goodbye to the room, to the pool and even to the pillow of the hotel in which we stayed. It was a high pitched, “OKAY BYEEEE”.

One must be wondering why I am writing about Marca all of a sudden. It almost seems like a ‘in his memory’ post. Well, he is very much alive and kicking.

But one thing that life has taught me in the past one week, with Sridevi’s passing away, is that life is unpredictable. We can never assume it’s certainty or longevity. We need to celebrate people and celebrate talents, mostly of the lesser-knowns when they are alive and kicking. So here I celebrate Marca for celebrating his feminine side, and for once and for all, giving up the evil desire of addiction, and being addicted to life.

He is a celebration you all should invite yourself to. He is a drag artist, make-up artist and a YouTuber. Mark Mascarenhas, in drag, aahe Tropical Marca. Instagram-var @tropicalmarca.Ofc

If tumhala more aikaaiche aahe. Bara kaa?

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