One Indian Love Story ✔

Chapter 4

"Wahh!", I shriek in pain after I feel my hair being pulled out of my scalp. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the lights in the terminal as I open them after the traumatizing experience. I turn back and look towards the direction from which my precious long hair which I preserved for years was pulled. I see nothing except a pair of tiny hands wrapped over the backrest of the couch I am sitting in. Following those tiny pair of hands came a tiny coconut ponytail secured with a fancy colorful elastic. Before I know what is happening, a pair of big eyes which is obviously out of proportion compared to the tiny face, stare directly at me while I hear a little giggle coming from the baby human being standing on tiptoes in front of me. She extends her hand slowly while I feel myself smile a little looking at her.

"I apologize! She has been so naughty these days, its draining me out so much!!" I hear a woman say while approaching the little fluff ball and engulfing her in a hug in an attempt to avoid any more damage to my hair.

"It's alright. She's cute so I am letting it slide!", I try to say in a slightly cheerful tone.

I look at the little girl struggling to get away from her mother's tight grip. As a result of the little war, her rainbow pattern sock falls to the ground. Rainbow. I feel myself drowning in my thoughts as I sit back on the couch.

Past

I hear the sound of notifications rapidly flooding my phone while I am trying to finish the presentation which was meant to be the monster aka my manager's work. I quickly pick my phone up to silence the sounds as I feel the prying eyes of my co-workers on me. I unlock the phone to find notifications from all the social media I am active in, plus three missed calls from Naksh.

'#love_wins has been trending...' what?.

'India has come a long way...' huh?.

"Well I am sure I wanted the presentation on my table before 11 A.M. Mr. Ettan", I hear the devil shouting through the slightly opened door of his cabin with his head peeping out. Does this man really have no job apart from being a nosy jerk? I couldn't even read the complete notification.

"Almost done, Sir", I reply politely while stabbing him seventy-five times in my head. Why seventy-five you ask? That jerk earns 70k per month just to boss around and be a big bitch. I can show him who the real bitch is. At least in my head and mind. I am allowed to do that. Yes, definitely. After losing two very adorable and sweet colleagues due to the unruly, nosy and arrogant nature of this devil, and to have handed over their pending work apart from my own work, working for extra hours, and most importantly not being able to spend time and communicate properly with Naksh, all because of this filthy man who is currently looking at the laptop which I am sure he doesn't know how to switch on considering the fact that I prepare all his presentations, I guess I am eligible to stab him at least three hundred times. I put my phone in the little locker under my desk and continue to work. As lunch time arrives I quickly unlock my phone to read everything that I miss. By this time, the notification count has gone up to 108 and missed calls from Naksh to 7. I quickly call Naksh considering he never calls me more than three times if I don't attend the calls during work hours.

"Hey,Et--".

"What's wrong? Is there any problem? Is everyth-", I started panicking.

"Ettan! Calm down! I am alright!!".

"Oh. Okay, I got a little carried away. So what is it anyway?".

"Eth, are you serious? Didn't you check the notifications?".

"What? Nope, not yet. Gimme a sec!".

I take the phone away from my ear and look the notifications.

'India has come a long way and the journey was never easy. Decriminalization of the #section377 has made what the youth calls 'rainbow revolution' ..", What? What? Is this true? My eyes grow wider with every news I read. I comb my long hair backward with my hands as place the phone oven my ear again.

"So...".

"Yeah Eth. It really did happen. It's legal now. 'We' can be legal now".

I can't quite put my emotions into words now. I struggle to find words to say to Naksh. This makes me happy and emotional.

"Eth, are you there?".

"Huh? Uh yeah!".

"I know you are stunned but I really gotta run. I left a plan hanging in there and I hope my dumb team mate wouldn't spoil it".

"Okay. I'll call you later".

"Yes, bye!".

I look through number of other articles and news excerpts before going back to work. The rest of the day goes in a blur with my boss being in his usual crack nature and me doing my work but with a full heart. I reach home evening, and find the news channels filled with the news of #section377 being decriminalized and several footage of youngsters waving the pride flag and wearing rainbow colored apparels. For India, it definitely is a win. For us, it is freedom. A freedom of an unknown sort. For a typically orthodox country with very few thousand of woke people who know what LGBTQ+ even stands for, this is definitely a win. Now that at least people know about the existence of such communities, will they accept us? I feel my phone vibrating.

'Did you see the news?' -Kat. What a perfect time. She always knows the right time to contact me. I still remember Kat being one of the first few people to whom I came out to.

"What is important is that you should accept yourself, Eth. I think to accept oneself is the real deal. There are people who can't even come to terms with their own emotions, there are people who are unaware of these things and blame themselves thinking this is some disease or some sin which clearly, it is not. Now tell me your order because I am a busy person unlike you".

I smile at the memory as I press the call button on my phone to call her. We talk for a while about everything we missed since the last call. I have dinner after the call and call Naksh only to find out about his participation in a pride parade.

"Eth, I think you should join. If you can't join me here in Bangalore, at least join the one being held in Kolkata"

"As much as I want to, I can't. The devil will slaughter me in pieces"

"But this is our little contribution to the movement"

"I know! And I really want to join you, but I really can't Naksh"

"Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand so that I can carry you in my pocket and make your boss's wig disappear"

"He will be more concerned about my disappearance than being exposed of this non existent hair line. That is how much of a sadist jerk he is"

"Touche. But Eth, I really want you here with me."

"Oh! I am sure you have your "hang out" people and you won't even notice my absence."I say in a teasing tone.

"Bitch please"

I giggle at his response and the night passes by with random conversations with Naksh. I wake up in an unusually good mood considering I am never in a good mood to go to work. I receive photos and videos of Naksh at the parade. He quite is free considering he has such a demanding job.

'An amazing couple. Look at the cheeks of their baby angel. Aren't they adorable?' - Naksh.

I open the image to find a little girl with a pride flag painted on her cheeks squeezed between her parents who seem to be extremely sweet and supportive. Before I could even reply, my boyfriend sends number of other images. One of the images show a two girls holding hands and holding a #loveislove banner on the other. In between looking at the images and feeling bad for not attending, I get a message from Naksh.

'Met these amazing gentlemen. Lot to learn. #inspiration' it read, while an image of two elderly men smiling happily at the camera appeared following it. How hard would it have been, to live with a constant feeling of guilt but actually doing nothing wrong for all these years and finally to see the light. For a country like India, customs and traditions are hard to break unlike a person's heart and confidence. I mark the date on my calender with a big heart, September 6, 2018.

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