GloMag GloMagMarch2020 | Page 201

transcend social divisions like caste, and gender in your case." Kanaka agreed, "You're right. We too have been feeling strongly about the changes necessary in our conservative society. It's so true in our own plight and how we can never have a normal life together." Seetha added, "If we could afford it, we would emigrate to Belgium, Denmark, Sweden or Switzerland. It's not illegal or criminal to be gay in these countries. Imagine it was very recently, just about three years ago, for the first time in the world, that psychiatrists in Australia said homosexuality is not an illness." After our lunch we went to their house for coffee, when I found out more about their romantic relationship with each other. They said they were happy to have me as a friend who understood them. Seetha was from Eluru and Kanaka from Machilipatnam. While they were in college together in Vijayawada, they became aware of the attraction they had towards each other. As luck would have it, they landed jobs in Vijayawada and had been living together ever since without raising eyebrows because two working women renting a house together was an accepted practice, and they had been careful not to show their affection in public. 201