Disclaimer: This is my story. It has no relation to anyone. It could be similar or completely unacceptable. No offence.

I belong to a very NICE family. My family background is such, that we never had or saw any bad habits in our home. Though small things used to be the big issues in my family. Like drinking alcohol, non-veg, smoking, abusing, wearing short clothes etc etc..  We were a pure vegetarian, no smoking, no drinking family. My grandfather used to teach yoga, meditation and all good stuff to family members and also outsiders. We were never forced to believe in God or worship idols. But we strongly believed in magical power and OM.

Being in a family like this, we always thought that people who drink and smoke are bad and we are good people. But then the time changed. Things around you changed. Situations changed. And the circumstances changed.

My parents had a social group. Their best friends used to eat non-veg. Slowly and gradually my mother, who used to hate non-veg, started accepting the fact that people who eat non-veg are not-so-bad people. Our minds changed. Our thinking changed. From bad to not-so-bad. You see, it’s all about relativity.

My mom’s sisters got married in a family where family members used to have drinks. And now drinking was also not-so-bad for us.

My brother once said a “dog” in Hindi as an abusive word, and my mother was like… What did u just say with a growl? And my brother was like “Mr Dog Ji” with all due respect. That was funny.  But the story continues. My mom met new people where the abusive language was also not-so-bad. Today we watch Amazon and Netflix series together with all beep words In between. In fact, in Punjabi families, we teach some bad words to very small kids and when they speak we all enjoy :). On the lighter note, again we got comfortable with not-so-bad words.. (But if said only with good intentions)

In my opinion. There is nothing like good or bad. It’s all relative and it’s all in our minds.  It’s up to us where we want to sketch the lines. Like the time is running. My daughter would be experiencing more not-so-bad events and that’s fine.

Accepting and respecting the choices others make is what is needed. It could be bad for you but maybe not-so-bad for them. Having a child without marriage is still a big question mark in our society, but we do have single mothers living in the same society with all respect.

The gay couple, as we all know, took a long while to be accepted in our country. But gradually and slowly it happened. They are respected and not-so-bad people after all. We know half glass full is also half glass empty. It’s all upon us what we think, see and interpret. Your choices or thinking may not change others, but your acceptance would make their life easier.

-Inaya