I went to a pride parade.
And it changed my perspective.
It was a day in November when I decided to hang out with some of my freelancing peers in Delhi. Wanting to kill our boredom, we were searching for some hidden gems to visit in Delhi but were going around in circles. That’s when it popped, “Why not go to the pride parade?”. I had only seen random pride parades in late-night YouTube binge sessions, so it was the perfect opportunity to experience something new.
We packed our stuff and headed outside. We looked at each other and were like “yeah its gonna be fun! huh..yy..yeah”. Behind the scenes, I had second thoughts. As I am straight, I had the fear of being rejected by the crowd present. I boarded the metro at Patel Nagar and nosed around for 20 minutes, observing others and staring at the already nervous, blinking metro map above the door. During those minutes, the grey crowd was slowly adding more colors to it on every next station. The rainbow crowd was here, talking, smiling, unfazed by the glaring eyes in the metro. Why would those eyes matter? I understood the whole point, they were celebrating freedom.
I was at Barakhamba road station now. Following the trail of the pride faces, I descend the stairs. Now I could hear the music, the voices, the chaos. The second thoughts were still there, but they didn’t matter now. It seemed like there was no time to think. My eyes and ears guided me and the thoughts took a back seat. As I approached the parade, I was welcomed by Mayank from the LGBTQIA+ community. He asked me, “Shall I paint your arm?”. I didn’t say much as I had a big smile on so I nodded yes. Mayank helped me paint the pride colors and also brought in some of his friends for a chat.
The warmth these people had in them was enough for me to let go of my second thoughts. I no longer felt out of place. These people, with their colorful faces and their rainbow flags, sent out a message loud enough to be heard and bold enough to be seen. It was a simple message, “Live and let live”. Yeah, all they demanded was to be seen as humans and not as a taboo, nothing special right?
The pride parade helped me break my shell and come out as an inclusive person. To me, Mayank and his friends are an example of how we, as humans, should live. After all, all we have are the connections we make.