An Honourable Encounter!

"Hello, I do not know you and you do not know me. So there is no chance that you could judge me and even if you do, it would hardly matter to me. I have a burden in my heart. Been carrying it from a long time now. Haven’t said another soul yet, but I can’t keep it in anymore. So, I am telling you.

I love watching makeup videos, love applying makeup on myself. Yes, I am a guy and I like doing makeup. No, I am not gay or bisexual. I am a straight adult male, who enjoys applying makeup on himself. Love lipstick the most, deeper darker shades! Lipstick is love for me! When I put makeup I feel so happy. But that happiness is limited to my locked room only!

Here you go, this is my truth. And now you know it. You wanna judge me? I would love it if you don’t, but feel free! I had never shared this with anyone else. If you judge me, I will get a firsthand practice of how much it will sting if the world has problem with my choice of look. I was scared shit of coming out in front of my family and friends. But I had to share with someone, could not breathe otherwise. The truth was choking me from inside." 

This was a message I received today early morning in my Instagram account. An unknown person had shared his most delicate secret with me. I woke up to this. How would you react to this? Would you beat him up some more, criticise him for his choices and his happiness? I don’t know. I can only share what I felt. I felt honoured. Surprised. Curious. Impressed, even. Most of all, honoured that someone trusted me with something of such importance- The coming out moment, something I have no idea about. I felt I should respect his choices and support him however I can. That was my first response. We had a good chat and by the end of it he had put on pink lipstick and shared his pic with me. He was happy. And I was happy that I could help him with my words. It does not matter what others would think. I know if he would have been my younger brother, I would have supported him all the way. You may not agree to my choice of action. Well, that's your opinion and it was my choice. End of discussion.

Our choices have an impact on our lives and of those around us. I agree. But the most affected are ourselves. If a person wants something or someone out of the ordinary, it does not make the person odd, it makes them different. And you cannot suppress these things, you cannot "cure" it. You can only accept it and let the person be. I am a straight woman, I feel I am ordinary and I am okay with it. But there are so many different people, so many different thoughts, different choices, so many different ways a mind works, a body works. How can a handful of people decide and label the whole country? 

This was my first personal encounter with legal and liberal India of the 21^st century where you are free to be yourself. And I am proud to have been a part of this generation. Today I experienced the true power and merit of social media. Wasn’t Facebook invented to bring people closer? It was a notable moment for me, I am so happy to have seen this day, to have been able to help at least one person to break the chain. It inspired me so much, that I could finally break my year-long silence on this blog, because I finally found something worth talking about.

Today Love is free, as it should have been always, so are our choices to express ourselves. It will take time, of course, to completely change the mindset, to eradicate the prejudice and to evade all staring eyes. It may not be easy always, but you will always find a friend. You will always have time.

Time will save you, you don’t need to save yourself!