Indu sat on the park bench and looked at the boys play.

Two or three kids just stood around at the end of the field chatting about something – probably why the rakshasas could never really beat chota Bheem in spite of him being so chota.

One of them stood at one end of the park, holding a ball, ready to throw it. Another stood with a bat at the opposite end. There were other kids, all spread around the field.

They were playing cricket.

And they all looked like they were having fun.

Indu pushed her long hair out of her face and tucked it neatly behind her ear.

She wanted to play too.

She turned around. There were girls playing at the other end of the field. They were swinging on swings, they were sliding on slides, and they were gossiping on park benches about, boys probably, or perhaps some TV show they had all watched.

Indu frowned.

That definitely wasn’t what she wanted to do.

She sighed and sat still at the park, holding her doll, and looking at the kids play.

She didn’t belong anywhere.

She turned her attention back to the boys.

The boys played cheerfully. They howled, they whistled, they cheered, and they laughed. They looked like they were having a really good time.

Then, one batsman hit the ball hard. It arched upwards, in the sky, and barreled down towards her. It fell to the ground, a few feet away from her, bounced once, then twice, then three more times and stopped near her.

She looked at the ball, then up at the kids playing.

“Aye,” shouted one of the kids. “Aye Ajay, throw the ball.”

Indu snarled.

“My name,” she screamed back. “Is not Ajay. It’s Indu.” She picked up the ball and flung it at the boys.

They all started laughing.

“Aye, ladki sala.” shouted one of the boys.

“Look at him, wearing a frock and roaming around.” shouted another.

“Aye, Indu.” Shouted a third.

And they made fun of her. They made a lot of fun.

Indu was close to breaking down. Any second now, the tears would burst out.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Indu turned around and saw one of the girs standing behind her.

“You can come play with us.” said the girl. And she dragged Indu to where the rest of the girls were.

And they surrounded her, like a shield.

“I like your doll” said one girl, taking the thing from her hands. Another handed her a doll of her own. “Look, my father got this from abroad. It can speak too.”

Indu broke down.

A note from Ashwin

I’d like to say I wrote this keeping in mind gender issues, and the stigma men and women go through when they have to change their gender and live with all the baggage that comes with that, but, I didn’t. I randomly had an idea one day about a boy being mistaken for a boy, but he’s really a girl inside and I just wrote the damn thing.

okbyethanks.