HYDERABAD: They too have families, they have children, they work, they live and they make investments for their future. Being HIV positive has hardly deterred them.

"We find ourselves more happy and content than most others. Our children are not necessarily HIV positive. We enjoy every second of our life and aim to spread awareness about the virus for more such happy families to exist," says A. Ramesh Babu, who along with his wife Salamma, has been HIV positive for the last 13 years.

Moral support

"When I got infected, the doctor told me that I had just three months. A year went by and I did not die; it was then that I decided to fight back. My wife has been a great support throughout. There was a point of time when I was really down, weighing just 36 kg. She did not give up even then," says Babu, who is also the president of Telugu Network of Positive People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+).

"Initially, we faced problems from all ends, including relatives and neighbours, but now everything is normal," says Salamma, a counsellor for women in TNP+.

Meaning of a family

So, what does a family mean to them?

"Family is all about love, understanding, wife, husband and children," says the couple unanimously.

Ramesh Babu and Salamma are not the only ones in the battle of life.

M. Swapna and her husband too have a similar tale. What brought the couple together was their similar past.

They were travellers on the same road and soon their goal became one too - eradicate the stigma associated with HIV.

Posing a question

"I always tell families who come to me for counselling, if your husband or wife would have got diabetes, would you have left them? They should understand one thing that with love, support and care of their partner, they can improve their life," says Swapna, vice-president of TNP+.

Not the end

Her husband, MJ Rajasekhar, says, "Life has lots of turns and HIV is one of them. Take hold of it and move on. It's not an end and HIV does not lead to death. It is quite sad that till date, people do not know the difference between HIV and AIDS."

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