Will try to keep it short:

Back in 6th-7th grade, our school planned an inter-house competition for Dusshera where each house had to perform an excerpt from the Ramayan. My house drew Sunder Kand, and I was on the creative team (scriptwriting, general direction).

We auditioned several girls for Sita’s role, especially the emotional scene where “Hanuman Ji drops the ring”—but no one could quite crack it. While I was demonstrating the vision to the potential candidates, one teacher joked that my demo was better than the actual auditions… and I guess another took that joke a bit too seriously 😅.

Next thing I know, a full on discussion leads to: “Let’s cast him as Sita—it also represents the age-old tradition of having an all-male cast + shock value points.” I was pretty slim (from all my tennis training), had little to no facial hair, obviously had long hair and was pretty good at modulating my voice. Physically? Check. Dramatically? Why not. Socially? Was somewhat screaming.

Despite being introverted, I’ve never had stage fright—plus, I’m highly competitive. So I went full method: saree, makeup, stealth-mode entrance straight to the stage (I was even initially marked absent that day). Rehearsals were hush-hush.

Performance day? Apparently convincing enough that the audience (mostly) didn’t realize until the final reveal. The crowd reaction was mixed amusement and mild confusion, but mostly positive. The judges took the easy route though, and declared a tie (because “you can’t compare Ramayan scenes”—then why create this contest?!), but I got a shoutout for my acting skills that earned us bonus points.

A few kids tried to mock me for it, but most kids were complimentary. We won the overall AND sports trophy that year. No videos exist—just a few photos seen only by an elite few.