24/06/2020
★★ The Pride Issue ★★
"Make yourself comfortable Amit. How are you feeling today?", the therapist said as she sat down onto her chair. I lay onto a bent chair. Staring into the ceiling, I answered, "I'm fine." "What brings you here?", she asked, sipping onto her tea.
"Well I don't have any reason to be... my parents sent me in.", I replied, still gazing into the ceiling.
"What was their cause?", she asked.
"I'm a trans. But they think it is a mental disorder. They need your help not me."
I smiled.
I slowly got up, and left the place. Not making any eye contact with the lady. She got up. Placing a hand on me shoulder she said, " You're not alone. I was in the same place a few years back."
"Are You..", I mumbled, "Yeah, I am a Transgender too.", she smiled back at me.
"Are your parents waiting outside? Tell them to come in"
"Yeah sure.", I rushed out of the doors.
My parents just sat there dejected and full of shame, in complete silence.
"Mom, Dad... The therapist wants to meet You."
I blurted.
They didn't break their silence. They just got up, and walked their ways into the office.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Gupta. Please take a seat.", she said.
They grabbed a seat for themselves.
"What do you think is wrong with your son?", she inquired.
"He wants to wear makeup, dresses, heels... and keeps on uttering the rubbish that I want to be a woman. Now what kind of a new trend is this Huh?", uttered my father in disgust.
"We just want our son to be a normal kid like the rest of his peers.", my mom added.
"Well why do you think if he want to wear dresses there's something wrong with him?", she questioned.
"Which guy wears dresses and makeup??", asked my father.
"There are plenty of them.", she replied.
"My question is why do you think it's wrong if a guy wants to wear dresses and makeup?", she questioned again.
"Ugh Ma'am, you've been in this profession for a long time, you must know how a person's dressing sense reflects their attitude. He is a 16 year old boy and he should dress like one. That's it.", my father replied.
"Where in the world has it been defined what a 16 year old boy should wear?", she asked him. " Is there any law in our country which states that guys shouldn't wear dresses?".
MY father was silent.
" Ma'am we just want our son to have a normal life. The society will never accept him the way he is.", my mother cried out.
" Well, do you people accept him the way he is? Do you people give him what he needs? All he needs a support from his near ones. You all need to provide him with what he needs- love, care and support. And maybe taking him to a doctor and put him onto hormones if he wants to transition. He doesn't need me. He isn't having any mental disorder. He was just born with a s*x he doesn't identify as. And that's totally normal. Just give him what he needs- Genuine love, care and support. He won't give a damn about the world, if you people give him all the care he needs.
I have been in his Place, trapped inside of a man's body. I felt suffocated, I gasped for life. This society shall always hold what's against their present conventions as 'shameful'. But, that doesn't mean you should stop expressing yourself. No one's opinion should matter.
Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, let your son live his life. For he'll never get another one."
©Shinjinee Bhattacharyya
★★ Pride Month || Post - 8 ★★
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