Sarisha Achhami:
Kathmandu, 6 Jun: These days, Yubi Magar lives and moves about however they feel comfortable, without worrying about what others might say.
There was a time when people would gossip about Yubi based on their appearance and behavior. Yubi had to either walk away or silently endure the pain.
But Yubi chose a third path — they openly embraced and revealed their identity to everyone.
Yubi, who was born in Ward No. 4 of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City in Sunsari, loved dancing from a young age. He never missed a single cultural program at school.
As a child, no one had a problem with his style of dressing or his mannerisms. No one gossiped or teased him. But everything started to change as he entered adolescence. When people saw him dance, they began to laugh and mock. Everyone said — “Yubi dances like a girl!”
“They used to call me things like ‘hijra’ and ‘chhakka’. It hurt a lot,” Yubi shared. “I was just being myself. The way I appeared outside was exactly how I felt inside. I had nothing to hide. I always wondered why people would say such things.”
Even though he became a subject of ridicule, Yubi never stopped dancing. Enduring the harsh words of friends and others, he continued to pursue his talent with determination.
In the midst of it all, one question kept troubling Yubi — Why am I always a laughingstock for everyone?
As he grew older, this question started to pierce deeper.
Then, five years ago, a turning point came in Yubi’s life — one that led him to confront and understand his identity for the first time. He finally got the chance to explore and recognize his sexual identity. The question that had haunted him for so long finally began to make sense.
It all began when a couple from Kathmandu came across a video of Yubi dancing on social media. Impressed, they invited him to Kathmandu — even covering his travel expenses.
Excited by the opportunity to earn money through his dancing, Yubi happily accepted and came to the capital.
But things didn’t turn out the way he had imagined.
The people Yubi had trusted and come to Kathmandu for didn’t treat him well.
Eventually, he gathered the courage to leave that couple’s home and began the struggle to stand on his own. During this time, he recalls working at various dance bars across Kathmandu.
“During those difficult days, I got the chance to truly know myself,” he said. “I met others like me. Through them, I discovered who I really was. I found the answer to the question that had been eating away at me for so long. My curiosity and confusion were finally resolved.”
However, accepting that he was not the person he had grown up believing himself to be — that he was someone else entirely — wasn’t easy for Yubi.
Gradually, as he worked through the emotional turmoil, he began to embrace his new identity. Now, he speaks openly in the media, saying confidently: “I am gay.”
Yubi hasn’t told his parents about his sexual identity directly. He hopes they will come to know about it through the media.
