Gazal Dhaliwal

Thank you Gunraj...no, sorry, thank you Gazal, for so succinctly describing the un-caging of your original self from captivity you were jailed in for a quarter century. Till I read your beautiful piece in "The Week" (March9,2008), I was one of the thousands who used to view write ups and talks about gender duality as a cover for unnatural relationships. Even the hundreds of Eunuchs I used to meet on my drive down to office and back in Mumbai, also evoked a not too sympathetic or understanding reaction, I must confess. But no longer, Gazal. You have opened up a whole new vision for me and I am sure a thousand others like me. True I may not still fully imbibe the emotions you tried to convey, nor feel the trauma you suffered as Gazal inside Gunraj's body. But in one Para you have made me give out my heart to you and may be many others like you. Gazal, you were so poetic but explicit, when you wrote,"It is not about the way I think, it is about the way I am.I do choose to be like this, Papa. I was born this way. Why don't you go and try living as a member of the opposite gender?" My, you couldn’t have said it better, Gazal. In that last question you have made me realize all the pain, all the torment and all the trepidations. You have made my heart bleed for you and all those like you, some lucky, some still unlucky. You have made me realize that this is also a natural phenomenon in our evolution.

How very true when you say "...there is this one thing I caught up with, recently and not many people do that-Life!". Madam. Aap ne sahi kaha. You have caught up with life, a life you fully deserve, a life filled with happiness, compliments and satisfaction. I only hope your story encourages thousands of Gunrajs in the society to release the Gazals locked inside them, or the other way round. Best of luck, Gazal Dhaliwal.