India is a secular country which has different rights- A personal rant.

When I was a student, all I knew was that India was a secular country and we have different rights. I also grew up believing it.

When I came out and had this exposure called social media, I first was excited to share my thoughts, learn new things, and be an extrovert.

Now, I'm afraid of sharing my thoughts because I know I'm going to be questioned, degraded by one or the other.

I saw someone expressed their thought about particular actor's movie. she was abused verbally with words, most of which I'm unheard of. I was taken aback. I never knew that the line between "right to speak" and "abuse someone" can be taken easily.

I was worried that many don't realize the fact that everybody has their own opinion and it has to be respected even though it is different than ours.

I'm spiritual and I believe in God but that doesn't mean I'm a keen follower of the caste system. I'm just neutral. I always admired different practices in different religions. I was bullied for supporting the practices of other religion. I was discouraged once again, for obeying the practices of mine. I was degraded and judged by "few" so-called activists and so-called atheists for following the traditions of mine. I was generalized based on caste and was made fun.

I was also misunderstood just like the word feminism. Of course, Feminists are those who fight for equal rights among the genders and not the one who wants one gender to be above the other. I guess we generalized in a wrong way because people we saw are those who put one gender above the other. When I said people that I'm a feminist, I became a meme topic for few.

People who know me, know that I'm an ardent sports follower. There are like at least 10 people a week who asks me especially this-"I'm surprised that you are a girl and you follow sports? wow!" (I mean, when did the sports become gender biased? we have women playing it and making us proud. Oh, wait! I do have people who ask if I play the sport(if not, should I not follow one?) So, If I'm a girl and If I follow the sport, I have to be a player. Just Wow!

Since I'm an Indian, I'm not supposed to support any other country in sports. I'm a fan of Afridi and few other cricketers from Pakistan. When I updated a status about Afridi after he won the match for Pakistan, I updated the status with a heart nearby Pakistan and yes, I was a victim of verbal abuse that day.

I'm not a supporter of any huge political party but there are leaders who inspired me in some way. When I updated a status for former CM(whose death is still a mystery and hey who cares man!) I was taunted.

When I posted something related to a reality show and the importance I felt we should have given to the "real problems" we faced, I was called an "ass."

There have been many other situations where I was dragged, pushed down, discouraged for whatever I did.

If you ask any of this had an impact on me, yes it did. In a positive way. I understood the art of acceptance.

For the stuff I was taught in the school about our country, I still search that India or considering our syllabus I guess I was just born in a wrong generation.