Barren | ✓

r a i n b o w

"

our society leaves us untrained about a lot of things.

one such thing is sensitivity.

there are several topics that are still taboo to speak about, acknowledging them still a matter of shame and detest.

i have never understood why.

it always starts from school.

being part of a school with boys and girls means you get to learn a lot of things about both genders as you grow up after a certain age. it is both fun and exasperating and at times embarrassing too.

the other thing that happens is making friends. some pick the big and mighty groups of kids who come from families of influence while some kids form groups within their own decent standing.

the rest of them are treated as outcasts.

school and high school were personally brilliant experiences for me. i came from a reasonably well to do family and was decent at academics and sports. i had a warm set of friends.

i never gave any thought to social paradigms and groupism because i never found myself in a situation that demanded that from me.

until one day, that changed.

it was in the morning post recess when i returned back to class.

there was a girl at the last bench with her head down and i could see her body visibly shaking with what i assumed was sobs.

"what's with her?" i asked my friend and she gave me a slightly uncomfortable look.

"didn't you hear? she tried to kiss louisa yesterday?"

"what?! but isn't she a girl too- oh... she's... that?"

"oh tess, don't be so shy. you can say it."

"um, okay," was all i could say before we were interrupted by the rest of the class joining in.

it didn't feel like i was in the same class anymore. where once oblivious, i could now see my classmates constantly ogling at her and throwing snide remarks in serpentine whispers.

the girl was aware about it and yet didn't dare raise her head. nobody seemed to care that she didn't, either.

within a few days, the matter cooled down and she was now treated as a leper to be kept away from. nobody spoke to her and people were certainly interested in making her life more difficult.

one afternoon, i happened to find her in the loo alone.

she saw me and diverted her eyes almost immediately and chose to enter a stall instead.

i went on with my normal ablution until i heard a strangled sob escape.

my heart bled for the girl.

in all earnest, i couldn't understand the hype people made about the situation. she behaved like any normal girl, and she was a human being like the rest.

she preferred girls over boys.

why did that change the way people saw her?

"she's sinning so bad, even hell would be ashamed to take her in."

"her mother should have sent her to church, maybe then jesus would have saved her soul."

"maybe she's born with some kind of deformity."