Aryan Pasha was a 23-year-old law student when he first met transgender activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi at a queer convention in Delhi. If Pasha was quiet and dreamy, Tripathi was fiery and outgoing. Despite their contrasting demeanours, the two hit it off at get go. So much so, that their 14-year-age difference ceased to matter. "We would keep running into each other at events, and she would flirt [with me]. Yes, I was a little awestruck but I never reciprocated the romantic overtures because I was not interested in dating... Not her, but anybody." At the time, Pasha was still transitioning—he was born a girl, Naiyla, in a well-to-do family in Delhi. Tripathi, by then, was already a formidable figure in the transgender community.

The two eventually went on to date different people.