Bakaat - Memoirs of a Closeted Indian Boy

While English was our primary language growing up in Calcutta, India; I was exposed to a great deal of Gujarati (along side Hindi in school and modest doses of Bengali).

While I picked up a fair amount of Gujarati, the language of our ‘foreparents’, mom always used to say, I constantly found it difficult to vocalize or pronounce two words, making my mom wonder if I would be growing up with speech difficulties or some form of dyslexia.

The first of the two words was taklif (तकलीफ in Hindi and તકલીફ in Gujarati) meaning troubles, difficulties or challenges. The few times I had to say this word, I would say, taf-lik.

The second one was kabaat (कबाट in Hindi and કબાટ in Gujarati) meaning closet, cupboard or almirah; a word I used more frequently, owing to many cupboards and almirahs we had at home. My way of saying kabaat was bakaat.

BAKAAT is my journey, my story, my memoirs of many tafliks in the closet.