Here are somethings you don't know about me

I’m 5’6 tall (a female giraffe by desi standards). My favourite colour is all shades of blue. I LOVE chocolates, specifically galaxy flutes, so much so that since we’ve been together my husband HAS to buy me one every weekend (if he didn’t keep a check I would have indulged everyday). I am a bit of a day dreamer, have walked into a trash can once while daydreaming. I love cuddling babies and kids but the prospect of having my own little humans freaks me out. I have a morbid sense of humour that weirds out people at times. I’m a romantic fool deep down and love grand gestures of love. At the same time, a hug and a little peck on the cheek can make my day too. I believe in this much demonised thing called feminism.

I also wear the hijab and proudly associate as a brown Muslim woman.

My best friend is a fierce gym rat. She is eating healthy when she is not working out. She lifts like no one else and has biceps to kill for.

She also shares my silly humour and we have literally rolled on the floor laughing oh so many times. She is an amazing cook who can whip up fabulous meals from the most meagre ingredients.

She is Sri Lankan. She is also a niqabi. Which means if you are a man, you’ll likely never see anything more than her eyes.

My husband loves boxing, wrestling, and anything else that requires strength. He adores Muhammad Ali. [edit: He also wants to name our future children Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.] He cracks the funniest jokes that have me chuckling forever. He watches documentaries on literally everything and has more information on aluminium, sugar, and salt than most normal people would have. If he finds a scene in a movie funny he replays it till he has exhausted all his laughs and I have gone mad.

He is as brown as they come and also has an unmistakably Muslim-y beard.

Imagine you met us for the first time without knowing any of these things about us. What would be the first things you would associate with us? What would those assumptions be based on?

How do you feel about us after reading these things? A little more closer? Like someone you know?

This. Acknowledge this. We are all a little bit of each other in some or the other way. But our external appearances and the labels we attach to it separate us.

So don’t assume, ask. Get to know that one person you feel is ‘weird’ or ‘different’. Sit down with them over tea, or biriyani, and talk. You will be surprised at how many of your assumptions and presumptions fizzle out when the other person opens up to you. Make that effort. I assure you that it will be worthwhile.