Bihar’s capital city Patna is fast catching up with the metros in terms of lifestyle. Perhaps for the first time it was evident in a city’s popular cafe which has offered a platform to the PRIDE community to present their talent via events on this Valentine’s Day on Tuesday.

In a warm multi-colour hall, a drag artist performs a history in a city like Patna. With bold costumes, make up and characters drag taps into our human desire for fun and creativity.

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Historically, drag queens are gay men dressed as female impersonators or trans-women. Drag shows are a form of entertainment that has become very popular in the modern world where the audience is receptive towards drag artists or people who put on clothes and make up that amplify the appearance of a gender, says owner of the cafe Romsha Singh.

At the Valentine’s pop up festival, we started the opening ceremony with Teen Tenor’s ‘ Jugalbandi’ and concluded on Valentine’s Day, says Romsha.

Talking to The Statesmen, Romsha Singh said: “We involved and introduced drag artist Kaushik Kumar an active LGBTQAI member as Lizzie who performed on Madonna numbers. Kaushik as Rubayat (stage name) also performed on Indian romantic songs.”

Last year, Abhishek Singhania, a drag artist from NYC, performed at a pride event. He had performed a theatrical act to spread awareness of the plight of a gay person in the society and its unacceptability. Further he had danced on the popular song, “I will survive”.

 “We at a cafe have become a pillar of standing for causes such as gender equality, mental wellness and the rights of LGBTQAI through creative medium of art and drag shows. Reshma, a transgender and LGBTQAI activist and several others from the community received a medium to share their stories too”, says another activist.

This particular cafe called “Kokomojo” located on the main Boring road is safe and has been synonymous to inclusivity. All the staff are well trained and conditioned to treat everyone equally. Anyone who comes here feels free from fear of being judged, raised eyebrows, mockeries and being served with stares.

Dozens of cafes, parks and restaurants are packed with couples and love birds in different locations of the city.