TAQIUL GHANI, BANGLADESH
July 24, 2019
"People often call me mysterious, questioning my identity. I was born into a very conservative and traditional family, no cell phones, cameras, desktops, nothing. We had TVs but those only had selected TV channels and I guess I couldn't complain much. Mine wasn’t just any kind of conservative Asian family. I was born into a military family. I grew up in a rural city, in a closed society of military officers so I had little interaction with the outside world. It was a very strange childhood, mainly because when your father is in the military you’re given respect for nothing. I used to move around with a bodyguard which earned me a lot of stares and unnecessary reverence. But I could never understand why, I wasn't taught to differ. I had no idea what it was like to be normal for about eleven years of my life, ten of which I spent with few friends in a big house with my sister, 2 national TV channels and my bicycle. This military life came with transfers to different countries and cities. Once I moved to a city for the first time, I was puzzled with the difference of our lifestyle. People wouldn’t stare or call me "uncle"' (a title of respect), I went to a normal school where the kids would actually sneer and gossip. Where I could actually get a proper education after 11 years and not get away without doing homework. Then eventually I moved to Kuwait at 12 and things took a 180 degree turn, like seriously. The first day I walked into class, a thin, scrawny and shy boy among all these teenagers who looked like they had very functional gym memberships, rich powerful parents, everybody laughed. For the first time, I questioned my identity and my sheltered life had come to an end. My English was terrible so that didn’t help me make friends any faster. And thus began my life at the very bottom of my new school’s social ladder with only my family by my side. Eventually, a couple of weeks down the line, I got the guts to ask this one HUGE kid who was bullying me why he was doing it, and he simply said because I was from Bangladesh and my skin colour is brown. For the first time I actually experienced racism, and how it was to be inferior. He made fun of my accent, how my skin was darker than all the other Arabs and how thin and short I was. But looking back at it now, I’m immensely grateful for that time because for the first time in my life I was curious about something and it grew and grew and never stopped. I didn’t have my own father’s respect to feed from and for once I had to work for the respect myself. Then grade 8 happened and that summer changed my life. I made some friends and learned how to play football; how to talk to people; approach girls… I mean REALLY it all sounds like simple stuff but it was different to me. Fast forward, my dad got shifted back to Bangladesh when I was 16 and I was back to square one and I know I needed to change. After sleepless nights trying to break the cycle, I started boxing and with the support of my family I opened up a small restaurant with my childhood friend on my 17th birthday with earnings from boxing and MMA tournaments. However, I didn't want to stop there. I trained 6 hours everyday and after months of hardship at the verge of my limit, I was selected to fight for my club and eventually my country, which was a massive breakthrough for me. I have never stopped being curious. But there was something else that didn't stop, it was the will to lead my country one day. One Taqi figured his way and had coloured the brightest picture for himself, but there are others like me who don't know the option exists. I don't wish for anyone to suffer from racism, body shaming or just getting disgraced but I'm grateful for who it has made me today."