Are you feeling gay?

The gay parade in Delhi took me quite by surprise...but in a good way. It's heartening to see that the government is finally at least looking positive about repealing Article 377 of the IPC. To bring clarity to people who don't know what this law is about, let me explain. Basically it prohibits intercourse against "the order of nature". Which means that if you belong to, what is commonly known as the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community- it a criminal offence in our country. Such unlawful sex can land you a heavy fine and even a 10 year sentence!

The question then is that if a person is born like this, then isn't it Nature's doing? And so, how can you be against the order of nature? What is funnier is that in a democracy, a person basically does not have the right to choose his life partner. When I hear politicians, clerics, maulvis, priests and pundits say that this is a sin or that it is against their scriptures- I wanna give them 1 tight slap (MTV style!)
a) Because we all know that these people just want power and have never been modern thinkers. They will hardly support any idea of change.
b) Stop the crap about how this is against Indian culture and how we Indians are so culturally rich etc etc... The country is bursting from its seams because of its uncontrollable population- which means that somebody is getting laid. So just cut the pretence of being seedha-saadha...
c) We keep hearing stories about young boys and girls being abused by priests and pundits. Now that's unnatural!

Every time a discussion has been started about this law, the ministers from the concerned ministries have themselves been orthodox thinkers and have not been able to even come to a consensus regarding at least modifying Article 377. (But this time around I'm hoping we'll see something concrete happen).
I know it will take a long time for the LGBT community to become a part of the mainstream community in a country like ours. But it's definitely heartening to see that there seems to be a positive change and acceptance and more and more people have the courage to come out of the closet.

Stop Child Abuse

A woman comes and tells me that she is worried that her father-in-law is sexually abusing her 2 year old daughter. Read it carefully- 2 years old!! She doesn't know what to do; her husband has so far placated her fears by saying, "It's not possible!" But now she is more or less sure. Expecting support from her mom-in-law or the younger brother-in-law is out of the question. What should she do now, she asks me. Should she confront him, should she move out of the house, how should she stop the man's access to her daughter? He is after all the kid's grandfather, and as far as people are concerned, a very doting grandfather!

I dont have answers for her. I have learnt how to handle queries, how to give comfort, how to be sympathetic.... but I don't have answers to questions like these. There are just so many threads to each situation like this. There are so many people/family members involved....I'd like to think that I explained the importance and urgency of the situation very well to her... and also convinced her to talk to her husband. But everytime I come across cases like these, I get more and more frustrated... I don't get the feeling that I'm doing any good in the world (or not enough at least). I'd like to see Elaan have a full-fledged intervention cell, where we can actually protect victims like these... but I know that's not happening any time soon... and that's what scares me... there are so many children out there and no one to listen to them, support them or stand for them...

p.s. Photograph by Paromita Deb Areng

Lessons learnt from Life

a) Never work on a business with friends or relatives

b) Keep professional and personal lives mutually exclusive

c) Don't trust people

d) Your family is the only one to stick with you in times of trouble. They will always be there for you and will always have your best in mind.

e) Never trust men, where business is concerned. They are far more manipulative than women can even imagine!

f) People come alone in this world and go alone. This journey of life should be travelled alone and with supreme self-confidence

g) Writing stuff like this in a blog won't help. What will help is to go back to the drawing board and learn from your mistakes and move on. A couple of knocks in life shouldn't bog you down!