FF #14
“My daughter will start going to school in a few years, I am
seriously considering moving back to India.”
Gourab and I were walking a bit behind the others; his
daughter was asleep in the stroller. I had heard of this older fun-loving
couple earlier from my Indian friends who lived in Cologne; and now a bunch of
the Cologne folks were visiting Munich for the weekend. I’d been showing them
around the city. Indeed, he and his wife were both fun to hang out with, and
interesting to talk to.
“You see,” he continued, “The other day a senior colleague
of mine was telling me that his daughter had announced that she is a lesbian. I
love Germany, but I don’t think I want to bring up my daughter here.”
I wasn’t out to this bunch, but I wasn’t going to let this
go without protest.
“Gourab, what if your daughter did turn out to be lesbian?
Would you force her to get married and lead a painful life?”
“No, no, how could I ever see her pained?” He stopped, bent
down to the stroller and brushed her hair.
“So wouldn’t this is a better place for her to be herself,
if she were different?”
He walked in silence for a bit. I wondered whether I had
offended him.
“Actually, you do have a good point,” he sighed, “I have to really
think about it.”
They did move back to Kolkata after a few years. Their
daughter would probably be in her mid-teens now, discovering and understanding
her own sexuality. It has been a long time that I have completely lost touch
with them, but I am pretty sure her parents will dote on her, no matter who she
becomes.
25 Jun 2016
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