“I was 13 years old when I came to know about the LGBTQIA+ community. It wasn’t until that moment that everything made so much sense to me. It took a long time to understand my gender and my sexual orientation but am glad that I had the life that I had.

As a queer child who loved hanging out with cis-boys, I often found myself at the receiving end of many slut-shaming insults. I was mercilessly bullied and life was hellish before my parents decided to move me to an international school.

Here the atmosphere was quite new and I developed so many new friendships. And it was here that one of my friends from a close circle of mine came out as bisexual. Just having someone come out openly about their sexual orientation felt like redemption to me.

Until then, I had always been at conflict as to my gender and my sexual orientation. And coming from an orthodox household and school, things were not smooth sailing at all. But my friend’s coming out story sent me down a tailspin to finally discover my true identity.

I started to research and read more about the gender spectrum and I started to explore literature surrounding the queer community. This opened me to a whole new level of possibilities and I experimented with different labels before finally coming to terms with the fact that I am a transgender man.

It was a difficult road from there to come out to the people around me and also, making certain lifestyle changes. But I must admit that I am quite privileged to be accepted for the person I am today. Since then, I am on a mission to spread awareness about the queer community and been vocal on so many issues that have pertained to this.

Throughout all of this, music has been my only solace. Being trained in singing from a young age, I ventured into songwriting and I have sung in a track for an upcoming kollywood movie. I have also performed in different places and I have been blessed enough to have worked with Gautam Vasudev Menon sir.
Throughout all of this, I am utmost grateful to my brother who played an important role in helping me transition and also my number 1 ally. The world is finally opening its arms to be more inclusive but it has to go a long way yet. We are making small yet significant steps but someday soon, I hope to see us get there. Until then, my fight for equal rights will never end.”