Category: I Am

Support Structures

Published on by Harpreet ChhachhiaLeave a comment

As I stand at the cusp of my fifties, I find myself reflecting on the arc of relationships that have shaped me: the people I’ve grown up with, the ones I’ve grown beside, those I’ve grown distant from, and those I continue to grow with. Most of them have been friends, some family, all deeply woven into the fabric of who I am. Because I’ve always loved with the entirety of myself.

For the longest time, I used to be devastated when relationships fell apart. I took every loss as a personal failure—proof that something in me had failed to be worthy of the love I so readily gave. But with time—and a great deal of heartbreak—I’ve come to see it differently. Now I know: I did the best I could. And so did they. No one is to blame. Life simply moved us in different directions.

Last year, I lost a 32-year-old friendship. It hurt, yes. But I don’t regret it. I stood up for who I am, for what I believe in, and I realised that I was not being treated with the respect I offered so freely. I had accepted my friend entirely, even her flaws. But she couldn’t meet me where I was. That wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t even hers. She simply wasn’t equipped to hold what I was bringing to the table.

Today, another moment came—and passed. An altercation with my partner, Anand, someone I’ve spent 25 years of my life with. We’ve seen some truly destructive storms together and somehow, we’ve always found our way back. Today was no different. He left. I felt the ache, but I didn’t crumble. Because here’s what I’ve learned: the things we believe will destroy us rarely do. The will to survive, to mend, to continue, is always stronger.

I saw it in myself. But I saw something younger in my family. As they watched the disagreement unfold, they became emotional, scattered, concerned not just for me but for him as well. That mattered. What is more important t o note: My family stood by not just me, but the man I love. And in that moment, I saw something I never expected to: the social scaffolding we so often deny queer people in this world—support—had quietly, finally, taken shape around me.

Even my other partner, (I am one in a throuple) asked me to call Anand. And I did. Not out of guilt or obligation, but because I knew there had been no malice in me, no cruelty and I wanted their anxiety to abate. What had occurred was a light-hearted joke misread, so I told Anand to come back if he believed in the word I gave him. And he did.

But it’s not just about that trivial argument. What moved me was everyone who stood by me and said: bring him back home. That’s what mattered. That home is not a place—it’s a choice people make, together, for one another.

In this Pride Month, I want to say this: queer relationships are not made of fairy dust and rebellion. They’re made of daily effort, missteps, recovery, repair. And while straight couples often have the privilege of familial support—two clans coming together to protect the sanctity of their union—queer couples are often left to navigate that terrain alone. When something goes wrong, it’s just the two of us, lost in a storm we’re often too young to steer through.

I see that now. At 50, I have an ingrained emotional sustenance I didn’t have in my twenties or thirties. Now I don’t need my family’s support. But standing slightly apart, observing with a kind of fourth-dimensional wisdom, I realise how rare and necessary it is that they choose to give it anyway.

That’s the heart of this. I’ve become my own person. I no longer need people to feel whole. But I choose them. That’s the truest form of intimacy, of maturity: to choose someone not from need, but from selfhood.

And to anyone reading this during Pride Month: remember that queer love thrives not just on passion, but on structure. On support. On society showing up for us the way it so readily does for others. When a queer couple falters, we too deserve a circle that rallies and restores, that says: bring him back home.

Memorabilia

Published on by Harpreet ChhachhiaLeave a comment

I’ve lived fifty years now. And lately, I find myself drifting gently—sometimes with longing, sometimes with quiet acceptance—into the soft interiors of my past. Rooms, trees, dogs, balconies. I don’t just remember—I love my past.

It comes in flashes. Sitting in goodie Pua’s room, which once was mine. Me on the floor, a book in hand, staring out at a distant building, the same building I used to gaze at as a child, wondering what life would become. There was a hush to those hours. A small stillness, and a vast world just beyond.

I think of Bonzo, my first dog. Amruttara. His head in my lap, and Jim Reeves crooning through the speakers. “Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone…”—a soundtrack to a time when love felt near, and sorrow hadn’t yet introduced itself.

There was the balcony. That sacred space. My chacha painted his bold, brilliant works there. My grandmother and I sat in wordless rhythm. From there, I watched kestrels fly, tracing circles in the sky for what seemed like hours. Below was Guru Nanak Park, where trees held my childhood laughter like old secrets.

I was taught about Christmas by my closest friends—all girls—who showed me how traditions bloom when shared. I belonged, even if I wasn’t born into their stories. I had my gang too—two Muslim boys. We played without borders. Our games were pure mischief and sunburnt delight.

Then came school. That raucous theatre of growth and crushes and petty fights and stolen glances. Vignettes of benches, chalk dust, and shy grins.

I could go on. I do go on. Because memory doesn’t end—it spills forward, uninvited but always welcome. And then come the losses. The quiet absences. So many deaths. Yet I don’t write this to mourn. Everyone loses. Some have lives infinitely harder than mine. But still—I feel deeply. I remember deeply.

Now, at fifty, a strange quiet has come over me. Not sadness exactly. Not peace either. Something like a hush. A knowing.

I’m still learning things about myself. I haven’t stopped. I still draw attention; I’m still attractive to men. But more than that—I’m aware now that nothing lasts. Everything simply becomes more. I am becoming more.

And yet—I am tired. The body reminds me of its mortality. Aches linger longer. Exhaustion settles faster.

It reminds me of Mary Carson’s words to Father Ralph in The Thorn Birds:

“How unfair, how goddamned unfair it is that the body must age while the heart stays so young. Still wanting, still feeling, still yearning.”

That’s me. Still wanting. Still feeling. Still yearning.

And then, books—my old companions—have come back into my life. I’ve started reading again. And I’m in awe. Words pierce me in ways they didn’t before. Or perhaps, I’m just more porous now. I wish I had never stopped writing. I love it. It’s where I meet myself most honestly.

Sometimes, in reading, I stumble upon truths that feel like echoes of my own heart. Like this, from Marcel Proust:

“The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object…which we do not suspect.”

For me, that object might be a book spine, a balcony railing, the fur on a dog’s head, or a patch of sunlight on a floor.

Or this, by Joan Didion:

“I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be.”

And indeed, I have. But not with sadness. Just a quiet nod to all the Harpreets I’ve been.

And finally, this line by James Baldwin speaks to the weight of remembering:

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.”

Reading, remembering, writing—they make me feel less alone. They remind me that while time may take, it also deepens.

And in all of this reflection, perhaps one of the most important things I’ve learnt is this: I no longer owe anyone an explanation. Not for my life, not for my beliefs, not for who I love, or how I live. I should’ve learnt this when I was younger, but back then I was still trying to prove something to the world—that people like me exist, that we matter, that we deserve to be heard. I wanted to prove that we belong.

But now I see it for what it was. Most of the people who tried to drag me into arguments weren’t interested in the truth. They were interested in control. In power. It wasn’t the content of the argument that mattered to them—it was the fact that I reacted. That I gave them my energy.

Now? I don’t.

There are many arguments not worth having. And silence, I’ve come to realise, is golden—especially when you’re surrounded by those who have no intention of listening. Many people around me are naysayers. Not sceptics—scepticism is curious. These people are dismissive. They’re already decided on their truths—whether about religion, sexuality, science, history, or faith.

I don’t have the bandwidth anymore. Nor the energy. And most certainly, not the inclination to engage with these fucktards.

I’d rather sit with a book. Or with my memories. Or just quietly breathe, knowing that I’ve lived fully, fiercely, and without regret.

I suppose I am someone to be feared and loved. Feared, because I’ve lived, and survived, and carry a quiet intensity. Loved, because my heart has never shut down, not once, despite all it has seen.

I may be growing older, but in so many ways, I am only now growing into myself.

50

Published on by Harpreet ChhachhiaLeave a comment

This Wednesday, I turn fifty.

Fifty years on this planet. Five whole decades of living, loving, losing, and learning. It feels both like the blink of an eye and an eternity.

I still remember that child. The little boy who used to come home with fifteen comic books from the library — Richie Rich and Archie comics tucked under one arm — rushing to the hall sofa, just in time for the setting sun to cast its golden light through the balcony. That glow, those pages, that sense of having the entire evening mapped out in joy — I remember it vividly. I was so happy then, so content with that small treasure trove of stories.

I remember Diana, the dog I once had, who was taken away by the municipality. I couldn’t stop it. I was a child. And I remember Appu, the black and white dog who lived at the street corner. I remember going down every morning to play with Mithun Chakraborty’s dogs, their tails wagging in a chorus of companionship.

I remember the rains — always a little joyous, always a little sad. June rains meant school would begin. But even that brought its own delight: brown paper book covers, my mother’s careful hands helping me prepare for the term. School was, for the most part, a happy place. I remember my aunts. I remember my uncle. My grandmother. Mornings steeped in calm. Nights cloaked in childhood’s imagined fears. A home filled with noise and ideas and art. A black and white TV that turned into a colour one because of my aunt’s gift.

I remember my childhood with startling clarity. And I remember my teenage years with equal intensity — only that those were darker years. Years of confusion. Of trying to understand my place in a world that seemed to offer me none. Years of grappling with a truth I couldn’t speak aloud just yet. Of learning about my sexuality. Of facing bullies. Of surviving an alcoholic father. Those years taught me that if I had to live in this world, it would have to be on my own terms. Because the world’s terms were unacceptable.

And then came books. Oh, the saving grace of books. Moving from Bandra to Versova, I moved from Famous Five to Johanna Lindsey, to Jude Deveraux, and then into the warm, vast embrace of literature. I read and read — and through those pages, I escaped. I built myself through the words of others. I found my best friend. I found my tribe. I found love. My first love brought me dance — something I had always dreamt of — and then he brought me heartbreak. At twenty, my world cracked open.

My 20s were a storm of romance, heartbreak, yearning. They were about finding my place in the spectrum of the LGBT+ mantle. Finding my tribe. I met the love that would last a lifetime. I lost a huge love when I lost my gran. My first furkid died. Then my second. Then my third. The decade made me understand things about death that would only broaden my mind and understand my existence better.

My 30s were about trying to understand friendship, loyalty, and my place in the broader social world. I faced severe body image issues. I learned that love doesn’t come with promises of the future. There is no happily ever after, just the here and now and what I could and would make of it. I understood what cancer was when it attacked my mom and our family. I understood how it felt to be cheated on and what I could do with shattered dreams. I accepted that there were more ways of being in a relationship with a man that I love without sticking to what I was told and learned through heteronormativity.

And then came my 40s — a decade of awakening. I realised I was the creator of my own destiny. I had power. I had choice. I grew into the man I always hoped I would be. I still carry insecurities — about the way I look, the way I speak, the way I behave. But I have come to love my skin. And I’ve learnt not to care too much about those who don’t like what I say or do. That’s their business.

Yes, I had another heartbreaking love in my 40s. I lost my best friend. I lost my aunts, women who were like second mothers to me. I’ve buried people I loved. I’ve buried four children — the dogs who were my family. Death has become a familiar companion. But I no longer see it as a finality. I think we carry the people we love with us. And as long as we do that, they live on. Perhaps that’s how immortality works.

Even today, someone banged into my car — a delivery boy, clearly poor, clearly terrified. I could have raised hell. I had the power. But I didn’t. I just told him sternly to be more careful and let him go. That’s where I am now. I no longer feel the need to shout or punish. Everything is so temporary. And kindness is what stays.

I’ve lost homes. I’ve moved often. But I’ve learnt that home is not a place. It’s people. Wherever the ones I love go, that becomes my home.

And now my 50s begin. I know there will be more challenges. That’s the nature of life. But I also know I am ready for them. Everything changes. Everything passes. Even the hardest times. Even the best ones.

But here I am — at the doorstep of fifty — with no regrets. Because I have lived. And more importantly, I have loved. Fiercely. Freely. Deeply. I have been loved in return. I have said the things I needed to say. I have done the things I wanted to do.

And if this is the final stretch, I go into it with a full heart.

So here’s to another decade — of becoming, of letting go, of still loving, still dancing, still dreaming. I’m ready.

And I’m grateful.