Once upon a time there were two childhood friends named Ramesh and Umesh. They had always done everything together ever since they were young. It was crystal clear that they had feelings for each other but they were not able to express it. One day Ramesh was brave enough to confess his feelings to Umesh. They both were in a relationship and most of the class knew about it. Some of their classmates were happy for them while some of them looked at them with disgust. Even when they held hands in public people used to stare at them. It was pretty hard for them but they never gave up on each other. One day Ramesh decided to share his relationship with his family but they protested. His family thought that he was some kind of psychopath and they started to look at him with disgust. His family also started to give him lots of mental pressure. When Ramesh told about this to Umesh he was very sad and he knew that his parents would also not accept their  relationship.

After Umessh told everything to his family his parents were surprised at first. They were not able to believe what they just heard. They clearly told Umesh that they could not accept him as such. After hearing that Umesh was very sad and they both decided that they will leave their home and go somewhere else. They had no place to go so they used to sleep on the streets and ask people for food. People used to ignore them so they had to starve sometimes. People also used to stare at them when walking past them. They were treated like some kind of diseased animal. One day, a random passerby asked them about their situation and interviewed them. They shared their story about how they had feelings for each other and how their parents did not accept it and how people used to treat them differently just because they had feelings for the same gender. Soon after they got very viral in social media and lots of people started supporting them. People were touched by their story and started to help them in any way they could.

They were getting lots of support and people also started to question their parents for not accepting them. There were many strikes regarding Ramesh and Umesh’s relationship and that two genders being in a relationship should be normalized. After lots of struggle and convincing people their parents also started to accept their son for who they are. Many people still used to stare at them when they held hands in public but they used to ignore them. After some time there a new law was brought in Nepal regarding LGBTQ+ relationships. Soon after their story became famous worldwide and people were not afraid as before to come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ member. Their story was very heart touching and people were able to see their struggle and how they were forced to leave their own house and live on the roads.

We should also not judge people and accept them for who they are if we want to make this world a better place.

जब आर्थिक वर्षको अन्त्य हुन्छ तब नेपालमा असारे विकास सुरु हुन्छ । ११ महिनासम्म कानमा तेल हालेर बस्ने सरकार वर्षको अन्तिम समयमा आएर धमाधम कहिले बाटो बनाउने नाममा त कहिले ढल हाल्नका लागि बाटो फुटाउने अनि पिच गर्ने, फेरि सोही बाटोलाई नै फुटाएर पानीको पाइप हाल्ने र फेरि महिनौँ पिच नगरेर जनतालाई सताउने काम काम गर्दै आएको तपाईं हामीले देखेका नै छौँ । बाटो पिच गर्नु अगाडि नै ढल, पानीको पाइप जोड्ने आदि कामहरूको व्यवस्थापन सरकारले जानेर नगरेको वा नजानेर नगरेको होला ? । यसरी पटक पटक एउटै काम गर्दा पनि त्यसको समन्वय र व्यवस्थापन किन राम्रो नभएको होला ? सरकारको यस्तो कार्यप्रति हामी जनताले आवाज किन नउठाउने ? सबै कुराको राम्ररी व्यवस्थापन मिलेपछि बल्ल पिच गरे एउटै काम र एउटै ठाउँमा पटक पटक बजेट छुट्याईनु पर्दैन भन्ने कुरा खै त बुझेकाे ? एकपटक राम्ररी पिच गरिसकेको बाटोलाई बजेट सक्ने नाममा पटक पटक भत्काउने काम नगरौँ ।  दिगो विकासको कुरा केवल पाठ्यक्रममा मात्र सीमित नगरौँ आफैँ पनि सो कार्य गरेर देखाऊँ र विद्यार्थीलाई सही उदाहरण दिनुपर्छ भन्ने प्रस्ताव म सरकारलाई मात्र नभएर हरेक नगरपालिका र वडाहरूलाई पनि दिन चाहन्छु । 
योजना मात्र बनाउने तर सही काम नगर्ने बानीको अन्त्य नभएसम्म देश कहिले पनि उँभो लाग्दैन। अब  जनता जागरुक हुने समय आइसकेको छ। सरकारका यस्ता गलत कामको सबैले खुलेर विरोध गरौँ। सही काममा समर्थन गरौँ । यसो गर्न सकेमा मात्रै सरकारी बजेको सही सदुपयोग हुन्छ ।  सरकार र नेताहरू पनि सचेत हुन्छन् । बाटो र ढलको काम असारलाई नराखौँ ।

One morning after reading an article on LGBTQI community, Rahul was contemplating his sexuality. Rahul was a shame for his family, his whole family was good-looking but he was the only one who was ugly. At the age of seven, he fell in love with a girl who later rejected him. As a result, his overprotective parents sent him to a boys’ school. Every day after school, his parents would pick him up in a car and wouldn’t let him see a girl out the window. Over the years, he had grown up to become a good-looking boy. At the age of seventeen, he snuck out of his house with his friends. On the streets, he saw a beautiful girl roughly of his age. He hadn’t seen a girl for nearly ten years, his affection towards the girl was different. Unable to resist talking to the girl, he went to her and confessed his love for her. Once again, he was rejected. He was heart-broken again. It took him a few months to recover from this heart-break. He made a decision that he would never talk to a girl ever again. Over the years, he began to develop affection towards boys. His parents had seen his heart broken twice and they could not agree with the fact that their son was “gay”. Due to this, he didn’t speak up to his parents about it. He gathered enough courage and talked with his friend, Shirish, on this topic. People wouldn’t talk much on this topic, Shirish was embarrassed when he found out that his friend was gay. Back then, being gay or lesbian was unheard of in a country like Nepal. If he were to tell the other people that he were gay, they wouldn’t socially accept him, so he kept it hidden. Eventually, he had to speak up about his sexuality and when he did, people in his society did not accept him. Whenever he went outside his house, he was called ‘chakka’. People even went as far as to beat him up just because of his sexuality. Years went by, but he was still abused, verbally as well as physically. Finally it was too much for him to handle, and he ended his life. All because he was socially unacceptable.

सुरेशले आफ्नो परीक्षा दिएर बसेकाे थियाे । ऊ नतिजाकाे पर्खाइमा थियाे । उसले आज नतिजाकाे प्रमाण पत्र पायाे । उसले १०० पूर्णाङ्कमा ७८ अङ्क प्राप्त गर्यो । ऊ उत्कृष्ट विद्यार्थी थिएन तर ऊ त्यति खराब पनि थिएन । उसले विगतमा धेरै राम्रो अङ्क पाएको थियो । तर अहिले केही कारणवश उसको अङ्क खस्किएको छ । उसकाे बुबा आज धेरै समयपछि घर आउँदै हुनुहुन्छ । 
सुरेशकाे परीक्षाकाे नतिजा देखेर उहाँ धेरै रिसाउनुहुन्छ भन्ने थाह थियाे । किनकि उहाँलाई आफ्नो छोरामाथि धेरै गर्व थियो । सुरेश घर आइपुग्दा उसको बुबा सोफामा बस्नुभएकाे थियाे । सुरेशकाे परीक्षाकाे नतिजा देखेपछि बुबाले उसलाई झपार्नुभयाे । उसलाई पढाइ कति महत्त्वपूर्ण छ भनेर बताउनुभयाे । सुरेशका बुबाका यी शब्दहरू उसको टाउको माथि जान्छन् किनकि उसले यस्ता शब्दहरू धेरै सुनेको छ । उसले आफ्नो बुबालाई अर्को परीक्षामा राम्रो अङ्क ल्याउने वाचा गर्याे ।

पहिले जस्तै सुरेशकाे अर्काे परीक्षामा राम्राे अङ्क आएन । नतिजा पहिले जस्तै थियाे । उसले अझै राम्रो अङ्क प्राप्त गरेन । यसपटक उसका बुबाले उसलाई मोबाइल किनिदिने लाेभ देखाए । अबकाे परीक्षामा यदि सुरेशले ९० भन्दा बढी अङ्क ल्याएमा उनले आफ्नो छोरालाई नयाँ मोबाइल किनिदिने छन् । यसले छोराको ध्यान पढाइमा जान्छ र उसले राम्ररी पढ्छ भन्ने उसका बाबुकाे विश्वास छ । आफ्नाे छाेराले लिखित परीक्षामा राम्रो अङ्क ल्याउने गरेको तर गृहकार्य नगर्नु मात्रै समस्या रहेको उनले बुझेका छन् । यसपटक सुरेशले सबै विषयका गृहकार्य पहिलेभन्दा राम्ररी गरेका थियाे । अन्ततः उसले परीक्षामा राम्रो अङ्क प्राप्त गर्याे । उसले आफ्नो बुबालाई, “फोन किन्न कहिले जाने बुबा” भनेर सोध्यो; बुबा जिल्ल परे  ।

It was the time after world war 2 had ended. The war had just settled and peace was blooming. The people were happy that the war had ended; however, the death and destruction it left behind was beyond imagination. As soon as war ended Lynda was born in a family of a Nazi officer at 3:24 am 19 September, 1945 Berlin, Germany.  Her father was stern. He restricted many things and he firmly believed in traditional gender roles. At the age of 14 she began developing feelings for girls. She knew that she was a lesbian but could do nothing about it as society was against homosexual relationships. 
She had a good friend named Louise and they always used to spend time together. She told Louise that she was a lesbian. Louise showed support for her friend. One day while they were talking in Lynda’s room her father eavesdropped on their conversation and he overhears how Lynda felt towards girls. Her father got angry and he only saw red. He pushed the door, grabbed his daughter by her hair and pulled her out of the house and kicked her out. He yelled all sort of vile words at her. She was shocked and in dismay. It happened all of a sudden. Tears streamed from her eyes but she didn’t utter a single word. She was thinking whether she was in a dream or not. After a minute she stood up, fixed herself and left crying still. She didn’t know where she was heading. Just heading straight, wiping the tears that just wouldn’t stop dropping. Louise came running after her. She was comforted and took her to a place near her home. She asked her to stay here for a minute and she later popped up with some food, water and a blanket for her. She wanted Lynda to stay with her but she knew her father would ask Lynda was kicked out and her secret could not be kept. She thanked Louise with eyes filled with tears. One week passed and the food Louise gave was about to finish. Lynda had no money to buy food. She had two options either to give up on her life or do something. After thinking for an hour she thought of doing something. In the moment of desperation she turned towards sex work, for her that was the easiest and the fastest way to earn money for her survival. She was immediately hired at a brothel. She never liked her job but she was hopeless she could never get a job except for this. She had to earn money and with whatever she earned she spent as little as possible as she dreamt leaving this horrid job.  After 4 years, she was able to save enough to move to another town; Regensburg. She opened a bar. She was new in town so no one knew she was a lesbian. People started to come to her bar, after all alcohol was consumed heavily. Day by day her customers increased. After a few months her bar became famous. The money she earned from the bar was used to upgrade it to a restaurant which eventually became even more famous. After a couple of years she became one of the richest woman in the city. She opened a camp where she gave shelter to the queer children who were kicked out from their houses and gave them a place to stay and training to sharpen their skills in order to survive in the real world. Lynda became a wealthy and active person. Although she thought about her family a lot, she was hurt but at the same time thankful for her father had kicked her out. If not she would not be who she is today. All because her friend supported her and all because she had the spirit of not giving up.
 

मेरो विचारमा अहिले कक्षा ७ भन्दा माथिका विद्यार्थीहरू सबैको कलेज पढ्न विदेश जाने याेजना बनाएका छन् जस्ताे लाग्छ । कतिपय मानिसहरू नेपालका युवा विदेश गए भने नेपालमा कसले विकाश गर्छ ? “नेपालमा नै बस, देशको विकाश गर, नेपालमा पनि विश्वविद्यालयहरू छन् त” यस्ता कुराहरू भन्छन् ।
नेपालमा बसेर देशको विकाश गर्न भने जस्तो सजिलो भएको भए यति धेरै युवाहरू किन विदेश पलायन हुन्थे । साच्चिकैमा भन्नुपर्दा हाम्रो देशको राजनीतिक अस्थिरताले गर्दा नै देश विकाशको कुरा ओझेलमा पर्दै गएको छ । राजनीतिक क्षेत्रमा जान पनि त्यति सजिलो छैन । नेपालीको औसत आयु नै ७० वर्ष रहेको छ । देश चलाउने देशको नेतृत्व गर्ने मानिसको आयु ७५ वर्ष छ । नेपाली राजनीतिमा लागेका मानिसको भिजन नै छैन जोसँग भिजन छ, उसले राजनीतिमा आउने र केही गरेर देखाउने अवसर नै पाउँदैन । नियुक्ति पाउन नेताका आफन्त हुनुपर्छ। अर्को कुरा नेपालमा श्रमको मूल्य छैन । दिनभर काम गरेको पारिश्रमिक उसले पाउने घन्टामा काम गरेको  भन्दा पनि थोरै हुन्छ । उसको सिप र श्रमको कदर छैन ।
नेपालमा अहिलसम्म महिला र पुरुष बिचको विभेद पनि अन्त्य भएको छैन । समलिङ्‌गी मानिसहरू को त के कुरा नै भयो र ? तिनीहरू त  समाजमा आफ्नो पहिचान खुलाउन सक्दैनन् । केटाले केटा र केटीले केटी मन पराउने कुरा अरू मुलुकमा सामान्य मानिन्छ । तर नेपाली समाजले यो कुरा सोच्न पनि सक्दैन । सबैलाई त नभनौँ तर प्रायलाई सानैदेखि केटालाई केटी र केटीलाई केटासँग बिहे गर्नैपर्छ भनेर सिकाइएको हुन्छ । योभन्दा केही फरक गरियो भने त्यो समाज र पारिवारबाट बहिस्कृत हुन्छ । मानिसको सबैभन्दा ठुलो कुरा भनेकाे आफ्नो स्वतन्त्रता हो । विदेशमा यस्ता व्यक्तिगत स्वतन्त्रका कुरालाई खासै वास्ता गरिँदैन । उसले आफूले पाएको जीवन आफूले चाहे जसरी बिताउन पाउनुपर्छ । यी विविध कारणले पनि मानिस आआफ्ना इच्छा चाहना पूरा गर्न विदेश जाने सोचमा हुन्छन् भने घेरे जसो पढाइ र कमाइको सिलसिलामा विदेश जान खोज्छन् ।
अहिले धेरै मानिसहरूले नेपालमा पढाइ र कामको क्षेत्र धेरै राम्रो छ भन्छन् । चिकित्सा क्षेत्र , इन्जिनियरिङ, कानुन आदि । अहिलेको जमाना भनेको डाक्टर ,इन्जिनियर र पाइलट बन्न प्रोत्साहन गर्ने समय  मात्र हाेइन । नेपाली समाजलाई के कुरा बुझाउन गारो छ भने अहिले पढाइ र सिकाइका क्षेत्र व्यापक छन् । नेपाल केवल बुद्धको देश र सगरमाथाको देश भएर मात्र भएन यहाँ आफूले चाहेको जस्तो शैक्षिक वातावरण र शिक्षा दिने परिपाटी र विश्वविद्यालयको अभाव छ । भौगोलिक रूपले नेपाल विश्वकै सुन्दर देश हो तर यहाँका मानिसको सोचाइ र व्यवहारका कारण पनि मानिस विदेश जान बाध्य छन् । त्यसैले सोचेको जस्तो सजिलो पक्कै छैन नेपालमा बस्न ।

It was 9 in the evening. I was sad as I had missed my bus. I didn't have enough energy to walk home. That seemed like the worst day of my life, first I lost my job and now this. I was heading home thinking how I would be able to travel such a long distance at this time. Then I saw someone running towards me. “HEY” he shouts. He was wearing scrubs, had long brown hair, a sharp jawline and was wearing scrubs so I assumed he must be a doctor. Basically he was the type of man I wanted. He  walks closer and I start getting nervous. “Did I miss the bus?” he asks. I just nodded trying to hide the nervousness in my voice.

“Oh”. “So did I” I say trying not to lose the chance of a conversation with a guy this gorgeous. “Really where were you going? New Baneshwor, what about you? Wow I also live in New Baneshwor, where do you actually live in New Baneshwor? I live in Bhimsengola, where do you live? Oh that’s close to where I live in Shantinagar, do you want to walk home together? Wow, I was already attracted to this guy and the fact that he was willing  to befriend me even though he could clearly see that I'm a transwoman was reassuring. I agreed to walk with him and on the way we talked about each other's life. Rishav (I found out this was his name) is actually pansexual which gave me hope. I finally will be able to date someone. (I thought)

Walking home with him was fun. We were about 20 mins away from the house when we saw some drunk people walking towards us.  They asked me why I was dressed like a girl and I tried to explain to them I'm a trans woman but as soon as they heard that they got fired up they started pushing me and when Rishav tried to save me they asked if he's saving me because he was also like me. He fought back but they overpowered him. Both of us were heavily injured but he was unconscious and bleeding more than I was so I called the ambulance and the police.

Rishav was advised to stay in the hostel that night so I stayed with him. We filed the complaint but the police did not take us seriously. They said they would try to find the people but when we went for follow-up there was no update and after a few visits to the police station they started coming at the station and started insulting me. We never got justice. My name is Ramila Dangol and this is my story. 

Sailesh had recently seen a quote while surfing through instagram, “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” This quote had made a big impact on him and had not left his mind since he had seen it. It was a quote by Harvey Fierstein. He had always admired Harvey Fierstein, an american actor, and screen writer, because the actor had always supported gay rights issues. The quote by Harvey Fierstein had reminded him to be true to himself and live courageously accepting himself. It created a huge debate in his mind about was he really being true to himself ? Also he was debating over opening up about his sexuality with his parents. However he was terrified of the consequences he might have to face. 

Since his childhood, Sailesh had craved and wanted love and love doesn’t necessarily mean having a romantic relationship with someone. He craved for someone who understood him, supported him and accepted him as a whole. He had discovered about his sexuality as a gay person, when he was 12 years old. He had noticed that he had stronger attraction towards the male sex rather than the female ones. At that time he was too young to accept himself and had even tried to harm himself for being strange and different from the other boys in his class. But now, as he had grown up as an 18 year old teenager, he had accepted himself for who he was, and he had understood that being a gay person or belonging to a LGBTQIA+ community doesn’t mean that a person is “different from the others”. So, he certainly didn’t hate himself nor did he love himself. He just wanted the acceptance of the people who he cared the most in his life, his parents. Coming out as a gay person in his south east asian family and being accepted was almost impossible in his point of view. So he had always chickened out of talking about it with his parents. The thing that scared Sailesh the most was that his parents were old- fashioned and had not opened up to the world yet. 

Sailesh was currently in his senior year of high school and he was very social as well. Even though he had many friends in his school who he got along with, he had a small group of friends who he had trusted the most in his life. Also, he had come out to his close friends when he had started exploring his sexuality. Even though his friends were straight, they always supported him and encouraged him to come out to everyone, especially his parents. However they also respected his decisions, being a true friend to him. After years and years of trying to encourage Sailesh to come out to his parents, the friends had finally succeeded. Sailesh had planned to tell his parents about his sexuality during a normal dinner. During the dinner, making the excuse about frequent mentions of LGBTQIA+ in media, Sailesh had casually asked his parents, “What do you think about LGBTQIA+ community members?” There was no reply and the happy, joyful dinner suddenly seemed like a war zone for him. He repeated himself to be greeted with a proper answer, however all he got was a weird look and a reply in a low alerting voice, “Don’t bring this topic up again,” Sailesh saw no more chances of being accepted and started quietly eating his food in the tense atmosphere of the room. He felt defeated and hopeless about the whole scenario and returned to his room without finishing his meal. Panicking, he called his friends to talk about the dinner and after explaining the whole situation, he repeatedly asked, “What should I do now? My parents have even restricted me from mentioning LGBTQIA+. What would happen if they find out that I am a part of it?” The friends try to calm him down and talk to him but he continues worrying about it. At that very moment, he realized his mother was standing at the door of his room holding his leftover meal with a shocked and angry expression. 

“So is this why you asked the question earlier, spoiling our pleasant dinner?” his mother said in a monotone voice with an angry expression on her face. Nervously Sailesh responded, “Yes, mamu but I was not trying to-” Before he could complete his explanation, his mother instead interrupted him saying, “How did you fall out of line? Where did we, your father and I go wrong in parenting you? You have become such a disappointment for us.” Saislesh was actually hoping that if not accept him at least his mother would understand him or listen to his explanation. However he was wrong, instead she had shut him down and blamed him for not being a good child to them. Sailesh was heartbroken and the flood he was trying to control released from his eyes pouring down his face before he could comprehend what was going on. His mind was filled with disgust towards himself for not being normal. He was just a disappointment and nothing at all. All those years he had convinced himself that he was not different and he had learned to accept himself however it crashed down in just a second. He broke down in front of his angry mother and his mother instead of comforting him, gave him a deadline until his 19th birthday to change himself. 
The time passed, and unlike how his mother had thought, it was not just a phase. His 19th birthday had arrived and he had not changed at all, he couldn’t. He could not deny his feelings and mend his broken heart. Instead he was always occupied within self-hate and self-belittlement. During his whole ordeal, he had told everything to his friends, and his friends and even their parents had become an emotional support to him. After not seeing any changes in him, his mother had told about it to his dad and his dad’s reaction was even worse. He had disowned him on his 19th birthday. With no place to go, his friends and their family had welcomed him as their own family member and trying to figure out his life, Sailesh stayed with his friends for some time. Afterwards, not living with his family even though he was hurt, he started feeling free and out of the suffocated life. He started accepting himself more and even learnt to love himself slowly. In the end, he had become a brave soul who was brave to exist in his own skin and not afraid to face the world... 

दिनको २ बजेको थियो । सुरेश बेच्नको लागि फोहोर खोज्दै थिए । आज सामान्यभन्दा राम्रो दिन थियो । उसले बाटोमा भेट्टाएका चीजहरूले उसलाई धेरै दिनसम्म खुवाउन पर्याप्त पैसा कमाउने थियो । उसले आफ्ना सामग्रीहरूलाई रद्दीटोकरी पसलमा लग्याे । उसले जम्मा  एक हजार रुपियाँ प्राप्त गर्यो । जुन उसले सोचेभन्दा धेरै थियो । उसले त्यो पैसा आफ्नो पाइन्टमा राख्यो जसमा प्वालहरू थिए । उसले आफ्नो कम्मरमाथि कुनै पनि कपडा लगाएको थिएन । ऊ बस स्टप नजिकै गयाे । जहाँ ऊ सामान्यतया सुत्छ । उसले आफ्नो बोराकाे ओछ्यान मिलाउँछ । जसमा मुनिबाट पराल हुन्छ । ऊसँग अर्को झोला छ जसमा प्लास्टिक छ उसले सिरानीको रूपमा प्रयोग गर्दछ ।

ऊ सुत्न लागेकाे थियाे । केही रक्सीले मातेका मानिसहरू आए र ऊ त्यहाँ बस्नाकाे कारण सोधे। उसले आफ्नो परिवार आगोमा जलेर मृत्यु भएको र ऊ अहिले एक्लाे भएकाले घर नभएका कारण बस स्टपमा सुतिरहेको बतायाे । रक्सीले मातेका मानिसहरूले उसको कुरा सुनेनन् र उसलाई जिस्काउन थाले । उसलाई जथाभावी शब्दहरू प्रयोग गर्न थाले । उसले तिनीहरूलाई बेवास्ता गर्न खोज्यो तर तिनीहरूले उसलाई लात हान्न थाले । ऊ जम्मा ११ र्षको थियाे । त्यसैले उसले उनीहरूलाई केही गर्न पनि सकेन । उसले तिनीहरूलाई वास्ता गर्न छाडेपछि त्यहाँबाट गए।

तपाईंहरूले सोचिरहनुभएको होला कि सरकारले किन यस्ता असहायलाई सहयोग नगरेको बच्चालाई यति धेरै सहयोगको आवश्यकता छ । सहयाेग जाेसुकैले पनि गर्न सक्छ । ऊसँग उसका कुनै पनि परिवारका सदस्य छैनन् । उसले सानो उमेरबाटै कमाउनुपर्छ । यो उसको कमाउने उमेर होइन । खेल्ने, रमाउने र सिक्ने उमेर हो । यसले नेपाली समाजको यथार्थलाई देखाउँछ । यसले निम्न वर्गका मानिसहरूको जीवनस्तर कति दयनीय छ भन्ने कुरा देखाउँछ । मानिसहरू कसरी बाँच्नका लागि फोहोर जम्मा गर्न बाध्य छन् । किनभने तिनीहरूसँग अर्काे कुनै विकल्प छैन । हामीले परिवर्तन गर्न सँगै काम गर्नुपर्छ तर परिवर्तनको सुरुवात अरूबाट हाेइन त्याे आफैँबाट सुरु हुनुपर्छ ।

हामी पृथ्वीमा बस्छौँ । पृथ्वी प्रकृतिले घेरिएको छ । प्रकृति हाम्रो वरिपरिको सबै कुरा हो । प्रकृति संसारको सबैभन्दा सुन्दर चिज हो । रूखबिरुवा, ताल, पोखरी, नदी, आदि सबै कुरा प्रकृति हुन् । वर्षा, प्रकाश, घाम, खडेरी, हिउँ, बिरुवा आदि पनि प्रकृतिका रूप हुन् । यिनीहरू कहिले आउँछन् र जाँन्छन् त्यो हामीले परिवर्तन गर्न सक्दैनौं । हामीले स्वच्छ हावा, स्वच्छ पानी जस्ता कुरा प्रकृतिबाटै पाउँछाैँ । 
हामीले हाम्रो प्रकृतिलाई बिगार्नु हुँदैन किनकि प्रकृतिकै कारणले हामी बाचेका छाैँ । हामीले हाम्रो प्रकृति जोगाउन सक्दो प्रयास गर्नुपर्छ । प्रकृतिले हामीलाई खाना, लुगालगायत सम्पूर्ण कुराहरू पाउँछाैँ । हाम्रो जीवन प्रकृतिमा निर्भर छ । यदि, प्रकृति नष्ट भयो भने हामी पनि बाँच्दैनाैँ । हाम्रो प्रकृतिलाई जाेगाउन निम्न कुरामा ध्यान दिनुपर्छ ।
प्लाष्टिकको प्रयोग बन्द गर्ने,
नवीकरणीय चीजहरूकाे प्रयोग, 
पानीका मुहानहरू सफा राख्ने,
आजकाल मानिसले प्रकृतिलाई ख्याल नगरी आफ्नाे स्वार्थ पूरा गर्ने काम मात्रै गर्दा प्रकृति कुरूप बन्दै गइरहेकाे छ । हाम्रो प्रकृति यसरी नै नष्ट भइरह्यो भने हामीसँग विकासका लागि धेरै स्रोतहरू बाँकी रहनेदैनन् । हामीलाई खाना र पानीको पनि अभाव हुन सक्छ ।
पहिला प्रकृति सफा थियाे किनकि त्यतिबेला मानिसहरूको जनसङ्ख्या कम थियाे । जब मानिसकाे जनसङ्ख्या बढ्दै गयाे तब प्रकृति कुरूप बन्दै गयाे । विकास गर्नु नराम्रो कुरा होइन तर प्रकृतिजस्तो कुरालाई नष्ट गर्नु नराम्रो कुरा हो ।  यदि प्रकृति अस्तित्वमा नभएको भए हामी पनि अस्तित्वमा हुने थिएनौँ ।  हाम्रो विकाशको कारण प्रकृति नै हो । यदि हामीले हाम्रो प्रकृतिलाई हानी पुर्यायाैँ भने अब आउने पुस्तालाई धेरै अप्ठ्याराे हुन्छ । त्यसकारण हामीले हाम्रो प्रकृतिको रक्षा गर्नुपर्छ ।
अन्त्यमा, प्रकृति नै हाम्रो बाँच्ने आधार हो । त्यसैले हामीले प्रकृतिकाे सुरक्षा गर्नुपर्छ । हामीले जलवायु परिवर्तनबारे चेतना फैलाउनुपर्छ । हामीले सानै उमेरमा बालबालिकालाई प्रकृतिको महत्त्वबारे सिकाउनुपर्छ र हामी प्रकृतिबारे सचेत हुुनुपर्छ । 

I have always found myself being different from others. I’m not normal, is what they have made me believe. I’ve been away from home for about 6 months. I’ve had no contact with my family. It seems they’ve really forgotten about me. After hearing what I had to say, they had created a toxic environment. Saying they were going to “fix me”. I tried to stay quiet and go with their toxic behaviour but I couldn’t handle it any longer.

I had to escape.

So, I got my own apartment. And I’ve been living alone at 23 with my girlfriend. 
I always thought I was weird for liking girls. Since I was a girl myself. I thought something was wrong with me. But I never told my parents. Maybe I just knew that they were homophobes and wouldn’t handle me being a lesbian. I thought that maybe it was just a phase and I would eventually get out of it. I was taught strictly that heterosexual marriages were the norm and same-sex marriage was a sin. Fearing I was a sinner, I kept my mouth shut, suffering alone at 12 without telling anyone.

My parents are first-class homophobes. Like everything I owned had to be pink. Everything my brother owned had to be blue. We were expected to act feminine and masculine. While I sat doing all the chores in the house, my brother did nothing. I wouldn’t really blame him as he sometimes tries to help me but my mother just kicks him out of the kitchen. They expect me and my brother to get married after 25 and produce grandbabies for them.

By the time I was 14. I had more knowledge about my sexuality. My source was, of course, the internet. There, I learned that it was normal to like people of the same gender.

I was in 9th grade at the time. That’s when I first saw her, Lucinda. She was a transfer in our class. She was fairly very attractive. She had black hair, blue eyes, thick eyebrows, long lashes and heart-shaped lips. It was almost love at first sight. I had completely drowned myself in the thought that I would never be able to be with a girl as beautiful as her.

“Mary” was considered the most beautiful girl before Lucinda. She was always jealous of her. She often bullied Lucinda. No one spoke up to her fearing they would be her next victims.

Lucinda always seemed lonely. She sat alone at lunch. She didn’t have any friends. She was totally capable of destroying Mary’s popularity. But she didn’t do anything. She always sat back and let people bully her. She seemed like a very kind soul who just didn’t want extra trouble. Since we were both lonely people at school, I befriended her. I didn’t mind getting bullied by Mary for befriending Lucinda. She had already been bullying me since the 5th grade. I never got why she needed to do that.

Lucinda and I instantly got close. It was like we were childhood best friends. We just clicked. We had a lot of things in common. From a friend’s perspective, she is an amazing person. From a lover’s perspective, she is the most beautiful, creative and passionate and kind person I’ve ever met.

I enjoyed being with her a lot. By the end of 12th grade, we had become so close that people on the street often stared at us or asked us if we were “lesbians”. We always said we were best friends but I knew that we both didn’t like calling ourselves some platonic best friends. So, at the end of 12th grade, I knew I had to confess my feelings. I always had a feeling she liked me back. The feeling was, in fact, true. She instantly took the rose from my hand and started kissing me. Honestly, it felt like paradise.

After dating her for 5 years throughout my bachelor years. I knew it was time to come out to my parents. I thought it was now or never. I thought they would understand me better since I was an adult and accept me as I am. I didn’t expect them to accept me right away. But coming out was a huge mistake. They started taking me to temples and started hiring people to do witchcraft on me. They even took me to the doctors but the nurses just asked my mother if she was crazy and asked me to contact them if I needed any help. I stayed quiet for a month. Waiting for them to come to their senses. But after it seemed like they weren’t gonna change at all, I left. I left home.

I got an apartment with Lucinda. Living with each other made us closer than ever. Of course, we fought sometimes. We weren’t perfect. But I guess relationships do need some conflicts because every time we fight, we end up getting even closer to each other.

I always knew I was going to marry Lucinda. So, after 6 years of dating, I finally proposed to her a month ago. She accepted it with flying arms and kisses. It felt like the first time she accepted my proposal. Like paradise. I truly loved this girl.

During June this year, we even participated in the pride parade. We made so many new friends. It was the best month ever. My brother cut off all his contact with our parents. They were very toxic to both of us. Turns out they started forcing marriage and responsibilities on him. He needed to break free. He left home as well a month ago. We’re very close. We’ve always been close. We call each other twice or thrice a week. Just last night, he told me he found out he was bi and was dating his first male lover. I was extremely happy for him. And we got even closer because of it. We even went on a double date. His boyfriend is absolutely amazing.

My parents have been trying to get in contact with me and my brother after he left. Maybe they realised that they won’t be able to survive old age without their two children who they absolutely tormented. After consulting with my brother and my girlfriend. We’ve decided to give them one last chance since they are our parents after all. I’ve invited them to the wedding in 2 months. We have no intentions of meeting them before that. But I guess only time will decide whether they deserve their own children or not.

“I, Mia Shrestha stand here today not to give a motivational speech but to share the story of my life that I have been hiding and I think I am ready to let you all know this part of my life. A particular story I am really grateful for. This is my first time sharing this story with anyone else. So here it goes. I always knew I was different from others. My friends always talked about developing feelings for the opposite genders but never for the same one or both genders. I developed feelings for both genders so I thought something was wrong with me and I had some issues but I was too scared to talk to anyone about it or ask anyone for help. I thought if I ever told any of my friends about it they would laugh at me and call me “weird”.

I was too curious so one day I googled it and found out that nothing was wrong with me and I was just a part of a community where there are a lot of people who are like me, the LGBTQ+ community. I found out I was bisexual, an individual who likes both genders. I was happy that I finally got answers to all my questions through google and it gave me the joy to learn more and more about the LGBTQ+ community. Once while talking to my friends during lunch break, somehow we landed on the LGBTQ+ topic and my friends seemed to be really supportive and had a lot of knowledge about it. So I decided to come out to them as they were the ones I trusted the most once and I was surprised by how supportive they were about it. It was the first day of 10th grade and surprisingly a new girl came to our school. The moment I saw her hazel brown hazel eyes, her waist long black hair. She was wearing a long blue bodycon which complimented her body perfectly and she looked gorgeous in it. I felt like I had never seen anyone as beautiful as her. I went to her and introduced myself and she told me her name was Alisha Neupane. Later on, I learned that she was also part of the community which made me ecstatic. I wanted to confess my feelings toward her but was too scared about it. Six months later I still had a crush on her and we got closer in those months and I gathered all my courage to confess my feelings. Surprisingly she reciprocated my feelings. Eventually we began dating, we were young but it felt right. 6 months passed and we were happier than ever. We told our friends about it and they supported us too. But right after giving SLC things started going downhill. She became distant and rude, and I felt like she got annoyed with me. One day she came to me and told me that she was pretending to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community and all this was a joke. She made 6 months a joke. I was completely shattered and heartbroken. Of course we broke up. We blocked each other and became strangers but with a lot of fun memories together. A week later my friend sent me a screenshot of a picture of her holding hands with a girl in which she had written the caption “My love forever and ever.” I was shocked to see it but somewhere in my heart knew that it would happen so I ignored it. I moved on slowly but surely. I graduated from high school and joined a university. One Saturday I was chilling at my house when I received an envelope from Alisha. It was her wedding card. I was happy for her but somewhere debating if I should go or not but I remembered the time when we had promised each other that no matter what we would always be there for each other at their happiest times. So I decided to go. She looked different but pretty. She was the most beautiful bride I had ever seen. When she saw me, she was shocked. It was extremely visible on her face that she did not expect me to be there. She would have not expected me to be there as she did not come to even see me off as I moved to my dream university. It was hard seeing her getting married to someone else but deep down I knew she was happy and that made me happy. She is now happily married. Whereas I got married to an amazing woman named Maria who loves me very much. We are even planning to adopt kids. We have been married for 2 years and I am really happy. Thank You”

This was the first time she came out to the world. No one knew that she got married to a girl as they had court marriages. Only people from her close family and friends knew about this secret. She now felt like a huge burden had come off her as now she can freely walk around calling Maria her wife and holding hands without thinking about what other people would think as she was a public figure to be more clear a public speaker.