Saharanpur, a small town in western Uttar Pradesh, takes three hours to reach by train from Delhi. It is known for its farmland of sugarcane and its market of wooden furniture. The town finishes in a radius 5 kms. The town has a predominantly Muslim population with a few upper caste Hindus.The basic public transport in the town is a rickety cycle rickshaw or an old three wheeler tempo through narrow by lanes and rubble streets.

Breakthrough had conducted a Rights Advocate Training in a girls college there, with 25 girls from mostly Muslim backgrounds. Every such training is followed by an event, which the participants have to conduct. The trainees decided to do the event in the college and they also decided on doing a film screening for a small group of 75 girls. When it came to which film they would want to screen, we put two options in front of them, one was a bollywood popular film on the issue of discrimination faced by HIV+ woman in the workplace and her fight for justice, with well known actors and the other film was a bilingual film (hindi and english) also on the issue of stigma faced by an HIV+person and his family also dealing with the issue of homosexuality.

As trainers we are used to apprehensions on issues of homosexuality and public discussion on the issue. What surprised us this time was the willingness of these girls to actually discuss the topic. All of them unanimously agreed on screening the film even though most of the dialogues were in English. They screened the film and also took questions on issues of stigma, homosexuality and the feelings of the family who actually goes through such an experience.

That day, while the discussion was going on I asked myself a question, “why are we, as a society, so apprehensive about discussing certain issues?” Just because it is difficult? We always say, that the society/community will not accept it. But the real question is do we even begin to discuss before we make such a generalisation. Those 25 girls made me think, they were everything the stereotypical girls are supposed to be, they wore veils at home, they spoke softly, they were from a small town, with “less exposure” to the issue of homosexuality, or even sexuality to that matter. But what dug into me was their courage. It took courage to actually want to discuss the issue and discuss it in public in front of their professors and fellow students, students who they would meet the next day in the corridor of their college, in their home science lab and in their cafeteria. Girls who knew them and their families personally and who could go out and speak foul about these girls.

When we raised this issue, one of them said, ” Its not that they do not know about the issue or that they have not seen it around them. It is just that they are scared of discussing it, just like we were yesterday.” Another girl said,”Today we know about the issue and we know we are not doing anything wrong, we are not telling anyone to practice it, but just to be sensitive and compassionate towards fellow human beings.”

Even after seven years of experience in trainings and the field, incidents like these, make us believe that there is still hope, there is a little India living and striving in the small lanes and they will lead India into the next decade.