Chapter 91
After almost 3
days of silence, today morning we had a meeting at Aangan Hamara to decide
whether I should leave the old age home so that those hooligans do no harm to
this holy place or should I stay here and give those assholes a fight back that
they will remember for years to come. The trustee of the old age home –
Mr.Jayeshbhai Maganlal Patel - had also come today. I am never ever going to forget
what happened today as it was one of the most moving things happened in my life
till now.
In the center
of Aangan Hamara there is this small garden where every old soul gathered to
decide whether I should leave or stay. Sanjaybhau, the manager of the old age
home, started the meeting by sharing with everyone the first hand information
about what happened on 20th
April. The majority of the grannies and grandpas had a very confusing look on
their faces as on one hand there was the issue of security of their home and on
the other hand it was about my dismissal not only from the old age home but
also from their lives. The trustee was of the opinion that majority would
decide my fate. He threw the question to the people in the audience. Bhagat
dada from Pandharpur said that he would side with the safety of the old age
home rather than risk their life for me. Shaanti daadi from Vasai also took his
side. Baalu dada
from Thane also
took their side. My heart was pounding with each vote going against me.
Just then
Kavita Amma came forward and said, “Dear all, I know what happened that day. I
saw that those mavaali people came and threatened us to have our sweet Rahul
thrown out of this old age home. If I were to be selfish then yes even I would
ask Rahul to leave this place and let us be safe. But you only tell me dear
brothers and sisters, with Rahul’s exit would our Aangan Hamara be the same as
before? Would there be the same energy and optimism and liveliness and
positivity without our Rahul. Rahul is not just another stranger for us. He
knows more about us than our own children who disowned us in the prime of our
life. This sweet kid here- Rahul- knows what I like for breakfast. He knows
what you- Bhagatbhai- like for dinner. He knows what you-Deshpande behen- like
to wear on Tuesdays when you want to go to the nearby Ganesha temple. He knows
what upsets us and what keeps us happy. Tell me even one single incident since
his arrival when we haven’t enjoyed his company. Tell me one single moment when
we have cribbed having him around. Tell me just one day when we felt we were
better off without this sweet kid. Normally we believe that love should happen
only between opposite genders. Right? Boy should love a girl and vice versa.
But where in our scriptures is it written that love for the same gender is
wrong. And even if it is opposed in those scriptures written thousands of years
ago, I don’t agree with them. One should change with time. Rules should change
with time. Our mindsets should change with time. As a kid I was always told not
to cut nails and hair on a Saturday. What is the
logic behind it
in current times? None. How on earth is cutting nails on a Saturday going to
offend any God? Change is the only constant thing in life and we should change
with time. We need to see what is right for our times and implement the rules
accordingly. It is quite possible that generations ago it was never even
thought that a boy can like a boy or a girl can like a girl. That doesn’t mean
there were no guys who liked guys or no women who loved women. It is quite
possible that we all had one friend in our childhood too who liked person of
same sex. Isn’t is possible Bansal behen? Shailesh bhai, when I first met you
here, I saw you were staring at the handsome Bhagat bhai. So it is quite
possible that you are gay too! I am not saying that you are, don’t worry. All I
am trying to say is that liking someone from same gender is not wrong and that
we should not be very judgemental about our sweet Rahul and we should try to
think from his angle and let him live a happy life here itself at Aangan
Hamara. As long as love between same gender doesn’t personally cause a problems
to others, I think we should support our Rahul and thousands who are like
Rahul.”
When Kavita Amma
ended her speech, I just couldn’t hold back my tears. I didn’t give a damn
whether I would be told to go or stay. For a second I just stood there
wondering how inhumane her kids had to be to keep such a loving and understanding
woman away! I ran and hugged Amma. After Amma’s speech, a poll was taken about
my fate. The hands that wanted me to leave were now the ones who wanted me to
stay back and be a part of their life. Every damn soul in the audience wanted
me to keep being a part of this lovely Aangan
Hamara family.
Even everyone from the cooking staff, maintenance staff and watchmen raised
hand in my favour. Sneha also couldn’t stop crying. She came and hugged me and
assured that she would be by my side forever. With so much love from elders and
caring from a friend like Sneha and faith and backing from the people of my
community, kisika baap bhi mera kuch nahi bigaad sakta!!!
All the while
my eyes were searching for Saahil. I thought that he might have realised his
mistake and would come to the old age home again. Whatever he decides, I just
wish the best for him. It’s time to fight back and give the anti-gay jerks
something that they will never forget!
Chapter 92
Sneha’s Diary
Hi Georgie,
yesterday there was a meeting at the old age home to decide whether Rahul
should continue to stay there or not. Everyone from Aangan Hamara was asked to
vote about Rahul’s future.
I cannot even
tell you how moved I was to see the support of those dear grannies and
grandpas. Kavita Amma as ever was my hero. She delivered a very passionate
speech as to why Rahul and the likes of Rahul are not doing anything wrong in
this world by asking for their rights. Everyone heard her speech in rapt
attention.
Tomorrow a few
LGBT friends of Rahul are going to meet him at the old age home to decide how
we should fight back the goons who are making my Rahul’s life hell. I will
update you soon when we have that discussion.
By the way I
have consciously decided not to hate Saahil for the nice guy he is. After his
proposal that day and the way my dreams got crushed, I now understand how
difficult it must be for him to face rejection from the one girl that he loved
like anything. I now respect his feelings and I will make sure that I don’t do
anything to hurt him further.
By the way tonight Aai and Baba are going to US to be near my dear
Vandu now that she is pregnant. Lucky she is na! Good looking Jiju,
nice salary,
living in clean and spacious homes unlike the dirty and cramped 2 BHK here L. And on the top of all those good things, she
is now going to be a mother! Lucky! Wonder when I will get lucky! Georgie,
please pray for me naL
I too want a daughter like the sweetu cutu Aditi from my building. BTW Sunita
didi has filed for a divorce and her husband is still in jail under the section
377 which says that gay sex is illegal. One thing that I think is wrong here is
that gay sex is illegal. I totally agree that her husband be punished for
cheating her and now making her life hell. Imagine the humiliation Sunita didi
is facing now! But I don’t think that Aditi’s father should be jailed for same
gender sex. Cheating your wife is definitely wrong. But if you are 18 and above
and are having sex with an adult from same gender then that shouldn’t not be
considered wrong; at least that is what I think.
Anyway, will let you know what we brainstorm tomorrow.
Chapter 93
Sneha’s Diary
25th April 2012
Today was a
very fulfilling day for me as my perspective towards life has changed a lot
today. I reached Rahul’s room at around 11.00 AM. 3 girls and 4 boys were
already sitting there. Rahul introduced me as one of his best friends. I felt
so good. J Then those 7
guys and girls also introduced themselves. Those girls were lesbians. And the
guys were gays. I always used to wonder how these LGBT people would be like.
Would they be having horns on their heads that differentiates them from the
heterosexuals or would they be having a totally weird style of talking or
behaving! But I was shocked to find that they were as similar to me as any
other heterosexual person. All that was different about them was that the girls
liked girls and the boys liked boys. That’s it! These 7 had met Rahul at the
gay pride parade. I recollected their faces from the video that Rahul had made
me when he outed himself to me.
Vrajesh,
Rahul’s friend who was recently attacked by the goons, was also there in the
meeting. We brainstormed a lot of ideas as to what could be done to give an
appropriate answer to the fundamentalists and the dogs of the local politician
who challenged Rahul to stand against him in the upcoming municipal elections.
Dikshita, a
Jain girl from Borivli, suggested that we should start a massive campaign to
urge every homosexual in India to come out of
the closet on
May 17th as it is also
popular as the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. She
suggested that every LGBT person should come out of the closet on 17th May and put
a status on every damn social networking site like Facebook or Twitter and
others. There should be an avalanche of some sort and only then there will be
an impact that the media will care to cover. Nice idea I think. Then Vrajesh
suggested that we need to start creating ripples in the political arena first
and then one day there will be a tsunami of change that India is waiting to
witness. He suggested that we should field our candidates in every constituency
in municipal corporation in Maharashtra – be it Mumbai, Pune or Thane or any
and every corporation in Maharashtra. Rahul raised a doubt whether the general
people will even give a damn to LGBT people standing against the already
influential heterosexuals in those constituencies. But Aslam, who handles one
of the largest pages on Facebook, suggested that they should take the risk if
they want to do something huge. Every journey starts with a small step. So now
this is our plan.
1)
Start a campaign to urge every LGBT person to gather courage and out
themselves (if they haven’t yet) on 17th May 2012 and also post their acceptance of true
identity on social networking sites with a hashtag of #YesIamFree. Also
campaign to convince the heterosexual people to share the success stories of
their friends coming out by using the hashtag #ProudLGBTSupporter
2)
In the meantime try to meet as many people from the LGBT community
and convince able candidates to contest the upcoming municipal elections in
July.
3)
Start campaign to create awareness about the universal rights of
every human being in this country.
I have taken up
the challenge to spread the awareness in Dombivli and Kalyan constituencies.
Soumya, Dikshita’s love, suggested that I also contest the elections from the
Kalyan Dombivli Municipal corporation and not just try to spread the awareness.
I was kind of shocked because I was just thinking to be a part of all this for
Rahul’s sake and to be, you know, an actual doer or an important person in the
whole thought changing process, I would have to contemplate a lot more. I said
that I would require time to think whether I would actually stand in the
upcoming KDMC elections and project myself as an LGBT candidate. Normally I
don’t think much about what Deshpande kaaku or Joshi kaka or Vernekar maavshi
would think about whatever I do in life. But if I nominate myself as a
candidate and start taking up these LGBT issues in the open, then people might
think that I am a lesbian!!! Oh god no!
I don’t think I should show so much enthu in all this.
Or should I?
By the way I
will also include Saahil into all this. I am sure he wouldn’t say no to my
request. Why should I be the only heterosexual in the core team? His company
will make me feel good and he can also make some PJs when our team needs some
relaxation. J
Am I not a smart girl, Georgie? J
Chapter 94
Saahil’s Diary
26th April 2012
Hi Diaz,
Today Sneha mailed me. She has now joined some LGBT movement to fight
for the rights of homosexuals. She now wants me to join their core team. She
said that my accounting and banking knowledge would come handy to their team.
Not sure how. But let’s c.
Btw my inbox is
nowadays flooded with fan-mails. Yes! Fan mails! And that too female fan
mails!!! My dream is coming true! Many girls seemed to have been floored by my
story “the park bench” in the recent anthology. That anthology is on number one
in every damn bookstore. I am very happy. There is this one girl who is like
totally bowled over me. This is what she writes:
“hi dear Saahil,
Loveliest
regards to one of the loveliest authors I have read in recent times. I read
your story “the park bench” and I was like totally totally floored. I was like
totally crazy over that story. I sooooooooooo loved the character of Sumedha
and like totally adored the way how she finds her true love at the park bench.
I too hope to be somebody’s Sumedha someday. I don’t want to sound very typical
girlie types, but
do you have any
such Sumedha in real life? If not then maybe we can meet for a coffee or
something at some park. What say?
I hope you do
reply. Chances are less because you are such a big-shot author!
Anyway,
Bbye
Lovely kisses from your biggest fan-
Virali Modi.”
I received that
mail in the morning and I still can’t stop blushing! I mean I am now like a hot
property all of a sudden! I am getting fan mails and now Sneha also is trying
to be in touch! Looks like Shanidev is cooling off for a while! Good for me!
Chapter 95
Hi dear diary.
Saahil has again joined the old age home. He strictly told me that I should
know my boundaries and that he will not give a warning if I cross the line and
try to be over friendly with him. He said that he was convinced by Sneha to
rejoin the old age home and that he will contemplate over how he can be of use
in helping us in the LGBT movement. Whatever works for him!
We 9- Aslam
-the handsome hunk-, Vrajesh, Sneha and 2 more guys and 3 girls gathered at my
room on 25th to discuss
what we could do to change the landscape for the LGBT brethren in India. A few
ideas thrown around were about having an LGBT awareness campaign, fighting the
municipal elections from every seat from Maharashtra, a mass-coming out of the
closet on May 17th
…
Yesterday I had
a word with Sanjay bhau the manager about what our core team has planned. He
was pretty OK with it as long as the old age home was not under threat. I had
an hour long discussion with Kavita amma about what I was doing and where we
were heading in the fight to create a better environment for my brethren. Amma
was pretty excited about my idea of fighting the elections against that
politician. At one point she suggested that she would also like to be a part of
the movement. I smiled and pulled her cheeks and thanked her for even
saying that.
But on a serious note I wouldn't want to bother her or anyone from Aangan
Hamara.
It’s been
around a week that we had registered an FIR against the goons who had tried to
threaten me, but still no action from the police. Support from the rouge
politician must have helped those goons. It’s so worth noting how these
anti-social elements and fundamentalist come to together burning the religion
divide to stand against something that is being done to help millions of people
live a happy contended life being comfortable in their own skin.
After 13 days
we will have a march right from the far flung Mumbai suburbs and far off places
to south Mumbai. That march will be to highlight the mass-coming out on May 17th and also to
spread a message that WE are not alone and WE are going to start from the
bottom of the politics i.e. the municipal elections. I am going to head the
creative and strategy team. So it’s a big responsibility for me because
tomorrow if this movement slows down or fizzles out, then it will be because of
me. And I will not fucking let that happen. Not till my last breath.
So with such a
busy schedule I hope I get time to update you dear diary.
I know I must
have said this before but I really like coming to you and sharing what I go
through. It kind of lessens my pain and makes me stronger to face a new day. I
feel that everyone should have this diary writing hobby. I am really thankful
to Abhishek Agarwal sir for inculcating this diary writing hobby in me! If and
when I defeat that sly
politician in
the upcoming elections, I will surely go and meet Abhishek sir and thank him
for the motivation.
Gotta sleep now dear diary. Gn.
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