By Sarah Hannan From the time you step in to the society, you are constantly judged by outsiders on how you carry yourself. This week we spoke to an individual who urges the public to look beyond the conventional social angle. Bhagya Prasad had a pleasant childhood and never felt that he was different from any child. But with time, he would feel the prying eyes that would scan him when he took the bus to school or happen to walk alone. “As a child, I didn’t feel that I was different, but I sure found it easier to hang out with girls. My initial years in school were spent at a mixed school, and during the interval, I would sit with the girls in my class and share my meal. I struggled with mathematics during school and always found an excuse to skip the mathematics class. Yet I was good at Ballet dancing. I was adjudged the best dancer at all-island ballet competitions a couple of times,” Bhagya reminisced. According to Bhagya, he was often escorted by his father to school during his younger days. But as he grew older, especially after entering an all-boys school for his secondary education, he wanted to travel in public transport like every other kid. "Like I said, I didn't even feel I was any different from the others. But when I travelled in the bus, people would look at me in a judgmental manner. They would purposely knock against me to agitate me and intimidate me," Bhagya informed. When asked as to how he felt at the time and whether he had confided about these experiences to his parents, Bhagya explained that he was terrified. "Had I informed my parents about the incidents, they would have stopped me from taking the bus to school. I was scared to tell these to my parents or teachers, but I told my classmates about it. I decided to stand up against these fears, and as a teenager, there were times I would get in to fights with these people.” He said that at that time he wasn't even aware that it was inhumane to be cornered and bullied like that in public. When asked whether he was at any time bullied by his classmates, Bhagya said that the schools he attended were more welcoming: “My classmates and the teachers were kind to me. They never mistreated me or cornered me in school, maybe because I won many accolades for the school for ballet dancing. I was also a very friendly kid and meant no harm to anyone.” At present, Bhagya works at a renowned establishment in Colombo. When asked about his journey and how he adjusted to the social pressure after he got out of school, Bhagya recalled the difficulties he had to face: “When you stand out from the rest, it is never easy to be confident. I started off working at a coffee shop; I was very shy, so I was mostly working at the wash station. There were times where I didn’t have the courage to even walk across a hall that had just 10 people.” Bhagya said that he gradually grew out of it. “Life is never easy when you are a child. But yet you don’t think too much about what happens next, and you would take risks. With that in mind, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. Today, I overlook all the negative remarks that are directed at me – be it on social media or straight to my face. I can now walk amidst 1,000 people and not feel anxious on what they would think about me.” Though Bhagya is talented in dancing, he said that his main focus is his carrier. “I get requested to take part in dance shows, modelling and music shoots. But I don’t agree to all those; I have to maintain a good reputation so that I would only pick out a few occasions to showcase my dancing ability or take part in shoots.” Apart from that, Bhagya said that he is actively involved in social work where it concerns; children with special needs, elders and patients at the National Institute for Mental Health: “In every opportunity I get, I visit these places and give alms and spend time with them. It is a good way to realise how blessed we are to be able to be healthy – physically and mentally. It is sad to see that people are always chasing materialistic things and live in a fantasy, and they forget how broken the real world is. I take these things to heart because I, as a person, have faced many obstacles to become stable.” He further added that he always looks at ways to assist people who come from difficult social backgrounds to secure jobs. He said that it is the least he could do to make this world a liveable place to the people who experience poverty. "It is unjust to label people based on their lifestyle or who they associate with. It is quite unfortunate to notice that many transgenders are pushed to pursue carriers only in beauty culture. I always look out for people from the LGBTQI community and encourage them to look at carrier opportunities outside the social norms, which are fixed on them." Bhagya said that he has assisted few people to secure jobs in different sectors: "I motivate people to find their true self and encourage them to secure an occupation, which allows them to build their confidence and build economic stability. One should not forget that the general public is always looking to pin a negative image on the LGBTQI community. To my best of the ability, I am trying to change it." Ending the conversation, Bhagya said that a person should stand strong in the face of adversity, and said: "Beauty and youth will fade away one day and the only thing that you could live by is your self-righteousness and being empathetic towards the entire world."