We have come a long way in accepting gay people, or transgenders. Yet, the sight of one attracts a lot of unwanted attention, a colleague contended. On her way to the office the other day, she noticed a young girl on the Dwarka Sector 21 Metro Station. Wearing a beautiful dress, the girl was walking up and down the area demarcated for the ladies compartment, earphones from her mobile phone plugged in. As she swung in obvious enjoyment of some music, people could not resist staring at her. The train arrived and in the commotion to board the train, our colleague lost sight of her.

Once inside, her attention was again drawn to the same girl, who was now swinging and dancing from one end of the compartment to the other. Our colleague also sensed an awkwardness and discomfort among the crowd watching her, which she put down to the manner in which the young girl was walking, jumping and speaking loudly. Our friend was, however, in for a shock when the girl passed by her and she saw her face. The "girl", she noticed, was really a young lad, who had cross-dressed.

While our colleague could understand her co-passengers' discomfort she realised there was a feeling of unacceptability. However, the lad appeared to be quite nonchalant. He seemed to have more confidence and self-acceptance than most other people around him. It's not easy to be different, realised our colleague, who was at first shocked, but gradually accepted the gay person's presence. This incident made her realise the double standards of the society we live in. The LGBT community is today accepted around the world. We are ready to protest for their rights and like, comment and share memes, petitions and posters on social media, but hardly does one realise the hypocrisy that exists in one's mindset.

On the one hand, a lot of people yearn for India to be like some of the western nations, where one is free to exercise and express one's emotions and sexuality. On the other hand, one cannot really accept the reality of the existence of such beautiful people, whose only "fault" is that they have different choices.