They make a handsome couple — one is tall, dark and handsome, but reserved; the other is fair, attractive and a chatter box. Introducing Shoban (23) and Vinod (22), students of fashion design.
Though everything from outside looks perfect, these two guys, didn’t have easy lives. Both of them have had tumultuous pasts that still have a haunting effect on them.
Vinod said, “When I was seven, I was raped by my older cousin who was 16. Then I didn’t know what was happening to me. When I was 12, again another family member molested me. Men strangely found me attractive. I came to the point I hated beauty and sex, the qualities that made me a victim.”
Vinod said, “Luckily, I was saved by the female friends in school; they gave me hope. I managed to get some good friends who liked me for the person I am.” He continued, “Later, as I was entering my teens I found that I was getting attracted to boys, not girls. But I pushed the thought away and wanted to give myself a real chance with a girl. When I went to college, I dated one of my female classmates. But, when I tried to get physical with her, I realised that I wasn’t attracted to women.”
Vinod and Shoban met in college in 2011 and came to know that Shoban had also been molested by their relatives. Vinod said, “Shoban had just joined college, and I was his senior. One day, I saw some boys bullying him. I wanted to protect him.” After this, they started hanging out together. Vinod said, “I found him very shy and reserved.” The year that followed was stormy, as they went through the typical cycle of high-voltage drama of an intense love, which reached its height when Shoban, the less vocal of the two, made a suicide attempt when Vinod threatened to break up after a fight.
Vinod said, “After the whole suicide attempt, I was upset and didn’t want to be with a guy who was emotionally explosive. But later, when I thought about it, I realised that he had done all this because he was so much in love with me.” When it comes to children, Vinod said, “I never really had a childhood; I want to give a child a perfect childhood.”