In 2020, for the very first time, I did some eye makeup.

I am not only respected but celebrated at my workspace. I remember this particular day, when I was still new to the office, and one of my colleagues followed me on Instagram. They approached me to confirm that it was actually me on that account. They also shared my account with my manager.

My manager called me to meet her and asked me if I was a content creator, to which, I replied “Yes, I am.” She asked me if I was able to monetize through my page. I told her that I couldn’t do so because of technical things.

My manager told me with a sense of grit, “Leave the rest to me”. She literally made the entire office follow my page. At that point, I felt I belonged to this place.

However, it was not all the same in my younger days. With a sense of femininity came a lot of bullying. After a time, I totally lost interest in going to school and interacting with people. I was severely introverted up to my 10th grade. Every queer child is born with a special power but must only realize the right time to channel it. For me, this moment was when my accounts teacher told me, “You have some potential in you, you only have to channel it and outshine.” He probably meant it in the academic sense but regardless of what context he meant it in, I took it differently. I tried channelising my inner strength and improved significantly in academics and that's when I decided to make my name a brand.

I started interacting with people and became ferociously confident by the day, my partner at that time did add a lot to my growth.

on my face on the occasion of Pride Month. I didn't really have makeup but the paint from my arts-certified course. I posted pictures of myself online and they were very well received by the people. I wanted to be a Fashion Designer but couldn’t due to financial constraints. At my college farewell, I came up with an Indo-western outfit and wore heels for the first time, I was awarded the style icon of the batch and this was a turning point in my life.

I started creating content and getting brand collaboration. One of my reels received a lot of negative comments but what surpassed all of them was a DM, that said, “Animesh, please keep making content as it has helped me come out to my friends.” Influencers started following and interacting with me. I am really grateful to my cousin sisters, my ex-partner, who for the very first time put eyeliner on my face, and being my support system.

One of my bucket list items for this year is to perform drag at the Lalit Ashok’s drag events, and I’m truly excited to try yet another new thing in my life.