Story of Masdur 'When my wife left me, I felt so relieved'

Homosexuality is not a crime in India anymore and it is not a mental disorder, five Supreme Court judges declared on Thursday in a spectacular leap for gay rights in the country and a rainbow moment in its history. But what is the impact on the underprivileged LGBTQ community?

Meet him. He is Masdur. He is basically from a small village of Bihar but lives at a slum near Howrah Railway station. Working as a construction labor. When I contacted him after the scrapping down of IPC377, he got very surprised. 

"Is it really happened? Does the Government have accepted us? Police won't harass us anymore in parks and other places?" Masdur asked everything in one breathe and then started crying. 

I met him first time in July this year. He used to think that he is having some impotency. He got married at a young age. But after two years they departed from each other. 'When my wife left me, I felt so relieved. It was like I got back my life again. I could deny my family for getting married again. Everyone in the village used to laugh at me as my wife left me. It's okay if you left your wife, but if the wife left you society would ridicule you. But actually its worked as a blessing for me and with those excuses, I left my family and village easily. Started living here in city. Could able escape from that life where I never want to go back again" 

'But why did you marry a woman?' He replied, ' I thought after marriage everything would be fine. It's a disease and the only remedy is to marry a girl. In the village, I never saw anyone who was like me. But sometimes after getting drunk, I put my hands inside the lungi of my friends and that's all. It’s only after coming to Kolkata, I came to know there are so many guys who are like me. Still, I always felt sad thinking that we all are very much abnormal. I blamed Allah so many times for making me such a way. But now you educated guys are saying it’s okay to do sex with a man, then must be you guys are right.'

He never knew there was any law against the same-sex sexual relationship in India. He didn't know people were fighting for the rights of same-sex activities. When he listened to it, he laughed out, “Is not it a matter of shame to talk about all these men to men sex in Court? I think, You are kidding with me as I am uneducated'. 

"Haha, not at all. Many people like us are fighting for it. Come with me for Pride walk I will introduce you to all of them". (explained to him what is pride walk).  

"I am very poor, uneducated, will they talk to me?"

"Yes, you will come with me", I smiled. He smiled. “If you guys win in court, please let me inform. I will pray for you".

The guy who never knew what is 'Gay' what is called 'sexuality', what is '377', who considered himself a sick person for the entire life, crying today after the verdict. This is how scrapping down of this law freed so many people who never knew they were living in a confined jail.  

“Hey, can I ask you something?" He was hesitating.

"Sure, anything."

"Will you show me men to men porn some day in your mobile? I have never seen in my life"

It made me surprised, no money, no job,  how small someone’s desire could be !!!

(Published with his consent)