From the Pen of Lopa

India is considered to be synonymous with culture on the face of the earth. The history of this country has reflected many ethics and etiquettes about different aspects of life. One of the common aspects is respecting the elders, as the common saying across every other Indian household: “respect your elders”. Indeed, we all grew up listening to this one dialogue from our parents, grandparents, relatives and every other person we met. And this is how this dialogue got intertwined in our sub-conscious mind. Moving to school, the teachers would preach the same about respecting the elders, as our culture has always taught us. Coming back from the school, we will see an alternate reality of our father scolding his old father or mother about something as petty as spilled chai due to their Parkinson’s disease or asking to bring some medicine. And slowly the theory that we have been fed would contradict the reality. Yes, this is the story of numerous households, where the senior

India, the land of colors, has opposed the rainbows for too long just like many other nations. It is a country where people are unable to accept Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer community for their preferences. The common dialogues floating around the societies include, “oh look, how is he speaking and dressed’, “why is she dating a girl” or going down to the foolish thoughts of men wearing pink is ‘gay’ and so on. Yes, incredible India is not that incredible for the LGBTQ community at all. This is why coming out of the closet is not something that is very common, owing to the honor killings and hate crimes done in the name of genders and faiths. The previous generations might not accept or acknowledge the beauty of love in this form. Not the previous generations alone, but even the current generations spew venom against such relations, calling them names and sharing nothing but hatred against them. Sometimes, they argue by bringing in culture and history in