“Hurry up! Run, Run” I was screaming to myself in my dreams. I was followed by a ghost and was trying to escape from it. I was gasping and I suddenly woke up from my dream. I looked around. It was dark everywhere. I could only see my brother’s face, lit up, because of the mobile screen. Half awake, I checked the time, it was 2.45 am. I was kind of relieved after escaping from that ugly ghost. I was wondering whether I would get killed by the ghost, if I went back to sleep. This thought brought chills down my nerves. I simply lay on my back looking at the white fan, on the ceiling. I turned around and was trying to go back to sleep, despite the ghosts stalking me in my head. I looked outside the window; the crescent moon was shinning, along with the stars around it. I got up from the bed and went near the window. My eyes caught a beautiful view of a tree, it was shining brightly under the street lamp.
I had this sudden urge to go out and take a walk. I had never done that before. I wanted to explore the night streets. I had always imagined them to be calm, and quiet. Just like any girl, I too was restricted from going out at night but still I badly wanted to go out. I turned around devilishly and looked at my brother. He felt something fishy, and before I could say something, he shouted “No!”
I grinned and went back to bed. After sometime he asked me what I wanted. I said, “Let’s go out, and have Rajasthani Chai.” I thought he would say no, but he agreed. I was happy. There was a small tea stall near my house. It was popular for its taste. The man at the shop always served hot tea; it tasted very different from the others. Though it was a small stall, people used to come from far off places to taste this tea. We silently stepped out of the house.
The shop was around the corner of my street. The walk was very pleasant. Dimmed lights, deserted road, the cool breeze and the thrill of doing this for the first time, made me happy like a child. My brother had his ear pods on, he was enjoying his playlist. We reached the shop; we ordered two cups of tea and sat on the bench. Unlike the usual days, the place was not much crowded. There was another lady, who was sitting on a bench opposite to ours. I could not see her face. She had dressed differently. I gave her a glance and turned quickly. My brother was so busy listening to songs that he did not look around to what was happening. The lady looked sad. I felt like something was bothering her. When I noticed her properly, I realized that she was transsexual. I started judging her. I felt awkward to be standing there. The man at the tea stall asked what her problem was. She said, “Tomorrow is my birthday, and I miss my parents” I suddenly felt a deep pain in my heart. She continued, “I was thrown out of my house when my parents got to know about my hormonal changes. I cried and begged them to let me stay with them, but they heartlessly sent me out. Since then I have been living all alone. I rarely get a permanent shelter to stay. People look at us differently. But not everybody dislikes us.” When she said this, my ears were alarmed. She said, “There are few people who still look at us like normal humans and offer us good job. I am now working as an accountant in a private concern, but I work during the night so that other employees during the daytime do not feel awkward.” I felt happy at the way she was concerned about others. Suddenly, my views about her started changing. She said, “Though my parents neglected me all the time, I still love them and, I miss them badly.” She sat there weeping, no one to help her with what she wanted.
By the time, she could control herself, the police arrived, they were on rounds, seeing her, they started yelling and shooed her away. I felt bad. I started hating myself for judging her character, initially.
We always judge people on their appearance, their character, the way people talk, the way they walk, the things they do, based on the places we see them, the list simply continues. But we never know their story. We never realize that such people do not have choice in their hands. Its nature and just like we accept other things, we need to accept these things too. But we simply judge them. Just because they are not like us, it doesn’t mean we have the right to tease them or look down on them. No one owns the right to judge them.
With all these thought is my mind, I drank my tea and set back home. This 3 am walk taught me two important things. Firstly, night time is not as quiet and calm as I had imagined and secondly, it is not good to judge people.
