Shades of gay

“The little boys were gay and happy as they tripped along gaily in their gaily coloured hats .some of them stopped by to pick up the nosegays growing by the side of the road. "


No sniggers, no smiles, no whispers …when I read the passage aloud to the class of VII.
That was then …around ten years back
Here is the …Now …
“Oh he looks so gay” says me seated at a popular eatery at a popular high end mall.
What?! Who? Where? Asks my partner and friend of long doing a pendulum .Using my eyes and hands I do a Kathakali and she spots him “No way, he isn’t”
“I say he is.”
“How would you know?”
“Well from the look he has on his face look at him smiling”
“All smiling men aren’t gay”
“Anyways id say he is...He’s got that something look.”
“You can’t tell if someone is gay going by his expression”
“Why not?”
“Well there are certain other things you have to look for …”
“Like?”
“Well …not from here”, whispers my friend conspiratorially indicating the crowd at the next table
“Oh Okay …” This was getting mysterious by the minute
Our eyes are trained on the subject under discussion .We watch him covertly being the polite citizens who considers staring to be rude.
Suddenly our man jumps up and waves to someone
Our heads attached to our not so young and flexible bodies do a 360 degree.
At the door way stood an attractive thing looking about her .She spies him and breaks into a hop and run .We swivel back on to him She has reached .He stands up to hug her and pulls out a chair for her .
We turn back and look at each other
“See he is not Gay …he’s got a girlfriend”
“But he is ….he is gay because he has a girlfriend.”
We argued on and at the end agreed to disagree on the topic .We left,each of us feeling both happy and gay at having won the argument.
Alls well with this happy and gay world.