Where do you find the energy at times of really difficult challenges?
A lot of it comes from very mundane stuff, like gardening. I can spend hours gardening. Or listening to music. Plus, I have incredible friends. I give them a very tight hug and get so much energy from it. I am so lucky to have them. If I just need something, they are there. And of course, my parents --- I cannot tell you how much they have done for me. I could have gone mad at times. But they were there. My friends and family are incredible stabilizing forces in my life, I receive so much love from them, without expectations. I am sure many people have those kinds of relationships, but it definitely is what allowed me to do what I am doing.

How did NAZ happen?
I first got involved into matters related to HIV in a very random way. I was in the US, doing my Masters and had to do an internship. I ended up with an NGO doing community work out of Brooklyn. I was sent for some counselling training. This was New York in the eighties. HIV was devastating the gay world in particular. And I ended up working with many of them.
After ten years in the US I wanted to come back to India, especially to be with my aging parents. At the time, there was almost nothing in India related to HIV and I felt I had enough experience to share.

I was observing what the wives and children of gay men have to go through and felt a lot of it was very wrong. But I did not think it was fair to blame the men either. Their circumstances were also very difficult. The pressure they face to marry, even though they clearly prefer relationships with other men --- nobody talks about it. The lack of community for men having sex with other men was so huge. Younger boys especially would always come to me and ask: “give me a medicine to make it right”. And that always broke my heart. That is why I felt it is so crucial to create a community for them to understand that it is alright to love and care for someone of the same sex, that it does not need to only be about sex, but there is also a loving, caring aspect to that relationship.
I always had a very strong sense of right and wrong and felt very strongly for anyone marginalized, anyone who does not have a voice. Besides, I always felt it is important to create spaces for those voices to be heard. That is also why I feel so strongly for children and animals, both do not have a voice. And that is what led me to this journey and to NAZ.

... contd.