“This is my existence and I will fight for it till my last breath. You cannot invalidate it, neither can you change it. It is mine and only mine to rule.
It was around the age of 6 when I started realizing that I was different, unique. I’ve always been uncomfortable around boys and related more to being a girl than a boy. I remember when I used to lock myself up in my room, put a bindi, mix kum kum and water to make a lipstick, drape my moms saree and do a small dance along with a twirl. I would look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘this is who I am’.
My family is conservative, orthodox. They thought what I was dealing with, what I am, is a mental illness and that I had to be treated soon. When I was in 10th grade, on television, I saw a Russian transgender model who made it big. That’s when I researched and understood exactly what I was going through. So, one day I went and asked my mom for the surgery and she simply discarded it by saying that it is my 10th board exam stress which is causing me to behave this way.
I had no friends, no one to speak to. I was harassed mentally and physically by my friends, my family and the male lecturers in my educational institutions. I slid into depression. In college, I realized that it was time I stood strong for myself. So in the first week of college, I opened up to my peers and surprisingly, they accepted me. I still sneak out my favourite clothes from my house and change in the college, because till date my mother argues with me and asks me to change myself. I am very comfortable in t-shirts, but more importantly, after all the abuse and torment, I’m finally comfortable with who I am. Society, it’s time to accept people for who they are.
I won’t let you break me down to dust for I am glorious. This is me.”

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