One night my school teacher had called 4 of my friends and i out of our room because we were making too much noise. she sent us to one of the camp instructors rooms to be "reprimanded" or "punished". While there we were sexually, verbally and physically abused. I tried calling for help but we were locked in their room, without any means of contacting anybody in a position of authority. Eventually he left us alone for a few moments, in which time i used the room's phone to call my school PE teacher's room (she was the person in charge of our room) and quickly ran her through the situation. Within moments she got us out. The individual was fired as soon as we returned to the school, but the school was unwilling to let go of the organization because they had been partners for over 20 years. Out of the five girls involved in this incident, including myself, two were twins, and one girl's mother was reluctant to advocate strongly. Therefore, three families, including mine, fought as vigorously as possible given their limited numbers, and eventually, with much effort, succeeded in having the agency fired. Other parents were somewhat more apprehensive about challenging the organization, fearing potential repercussions on how the school might treat their child. However, since I had already planned to leave the school, my family took a very assertive approach to the entire situation. After many sleepless nights, I have mostly recovered from the situation, but my friends still aren't the same people they were before.

My birth name was Bhupendra Das Manikpuri and I was born and raised in New Raipur, Banjari, Chhattisgarh. I was born in the body of a boy but since childhood, I always felt like a girl. My actions were like those of a girl and I was always attracted to boys. It kept going on like this and no one said anything in my childhood. But as soon as I turned 10, I started feeling like a girl trapped in a boy’s body. So, I told my mother about how I felt. But, I didn’t tell my father since I was scared that he would verbally or physically abuse me. My mother told me to wait for now and that we would find a “solution” in the future. She believed that we should visit a doctor so they could give medicines to “remove” the condition. In India, in Chhattisgarh, in the village area, there was a lot of superstition and she believed that they could do “jadu tona” (witchcraft) to get rid of this “condition.” But I wanted to stay away from that even though my mother insisted. I was verbally and physically abused for refusing. Eventually, my mother took me to the doctor, who said he needed to do a blood test as well as hormone test. However I told them that my hormones were fine but my mind believes that I am a girl. I asked the doctor if he could change how I felt in my mind and he said no. So I asked what the point of a hormone test was when he was unable to change how I feel. Later, when I was 15 years old, whilst searching on YouTube, I found out about a boy who surgically transitioned to a girl after surgery. After I saw this video, I tried to find more details. I saw many videos, then I got to know the word “transgender” which meant male to female and female to male. The journey shared by this transwoman on YouTube made me realize I was transgender too. Some time later, I showed my mother the video. Since she is not very educated, she couldn’t comprehend what I was telling her. She thought after surgery, I would stay a boy. I reexplained to her but she still didn’t understand. I then told her that I was like the people who danced on trains. She started crying and saying I could not be intersex. I then tried to explain to her that I was not intersex but transgender. My mother then requested me to not do anything to bring disgrace to the family or lowly jobs like dancing on trains. She asked me to stay with her and they would support me. However, living with them, we would get into fights sometimes within the family since my brothers could not accept I was transgender. They didn’t make any attempt to understand. I had to fight a lot of battles within the family to stand up for myself. My father used to work with the government but got paralyzed. So, he started drinking a lot and passed away in when I was 15. I had to take on his responsibilities but would be verbally abused at work too. When I was 19, I decided to leave home. Through my research on YouTube, I found out about Garima Greh, a shelter home for transgender people and got to know about its local presence in Chhattisgarh. After moving into the home, I stopped calling my mother. It’s at that time that she started slowly realizing that she had hurt my feelings very badly and since nobody was fulfilling my dad’s work responsibilities, she realized what she was missing. She told me that she was accepting me for who I was and encouraged me to be myself and not let anyone treat me badly. That day I decided to take on a job I was proud of. I have now applied for a vacancy in the Chhattisgarh police and I am preparing for that job. I am now living in this shelter home with other transgender people like me and I feel very comfortable, something I never felt in my village. And after coming here, my mind feels so different. Earlier, I used to feel depressed. That has now improved. I have a counselor, who has helped me deal with my depression. I now want to be open with my story and tell the whole world about my journey. (translated from Hindi audio to English text)

My name used to be Siddhant Nage and I have now officially changed it to Siddhi “Sakshi” Nage. I am from Jagdalpur city in the Bastar district in Chhattisgarh. I have been living in a shelter home for transgender people for the last three and a half years. I was born in a male body and my family thought that I was a boy. Up to age 10, I did not know what I was. I lived like a normal boy. But my way of living was different. I liked to play with dolls. Boys played with bikes, cars, and cricket. I did not have any interest in that. I did not have any interest in boys' games. When I was 10 years old, I started noticing the differences. When I used to see sarees or make-up, I used to feel like wearing them. But my family did not support me. My father used to hate it. He thought I was destroying my life. At home, I used to take my mother's sarees and bangles, and my sister's make-up, go to a separate room at midnight, close the door and secretly try them on, making sure no one at home or outside could see me. My school life was very difficult. The teachers and students used to torture me. They used to call me “chhakka” (derogatory word for intersex people) in 6th grade. They used to call me gay when I was in 9th grade and made me stay away from them since I was different. The teachers and students alike would laugh at me. The boys would pull my pants down to check whether I was male or female or lock me in the bathroom. They would tear my shirt or tear pages in my book. The teachers would ridicule my clothes. Nobody would sit with me since I was different. Consequently, I dropped out after finishing 11th grade since I was depressed. I was tense because I didn't know myself. On top of that, people verbally or physically abused me. If I told my family or school, they would blame me. Everything was negative for me. So, I decided to take stock of my life and managed to get a job in room service at a hotel. However, the managers and guests of the hotel also eventually verbally or sexually abused me. I somehow managed to work there with great difficulty for 6 months and then used the money to buy a phone. The first thing I learnt by browsing the web on this phone was what LGBTQ meant. Until I had this phone, I didn't know myself. Was I a man, a woman, trans, gay? I didn't know. The day I got the phone, I searched on YouTube what boy-boy love was. I searched a lot. I used to search on Google every day about boys not interested in girls. I did always want a husband and family even if I couldn’t have kids biologically. But I could get a surgery and live a good life. I knew then I was a transwoman. Then I downloaded the Grindr app. There was a lot of dating on it. But then I found a boy and was in a relationship with him for 7 years. He was from Bhanupratapur. Initially my family didn't realize what it was and thought he was a friend. I would visit him at his home too. Then I decided I wanted to live with him forever. When his family got to know, they got very upset and verbally abused both of us. I came back home and stopped talking to him. And then I was depressed for 12 months and couldn’t eat or do anything because of that. So I joined a “Kinnar” (intersex and transgender) group against my family’s wishes. My father came to pick me up a few times and even filed a police report but I continued staying with them. But, they tortured me there as well. I was physically abused and they would force me to beg and work as a sex worker. Then my mother got sick so I came home. But some of the transgender people came to my house and started beating me up. They even threatened my parents so I ran away and hid out for 2-3 days without eating or drinking. After that, the news spread in my village that I was transgender so I didn't know where to go. I was alone. I contacted my transgender friend who informed me that there was a vacancy in Bastar Fighters (police). So I moved to Raipur into the hostel. After living there for two years, I got a job as a security guard at a company called Vedanta Limited Company in Jhansuguda. I was very happy. I was very happy because I was getting a job with my identity. I lived well for two months. After that, gradually people started asking me why I dressed differently and acted differently. One night a man came into my room and tried to force himself on me but I somehow ran away. I went back into depression and returned home. My mother was fine but my father looked at me angrily and asked me why I dressed like a woman or grew my hair. He yelled at my mother and physically abused her for me being transgender. I was the first person in Bastar with official documents stating I am transgender. The collector helped me with this transition very quickly and I was able to change my sex officially in a month. This gave me a lot of courage. I have now been preparing for a police constable job for the last 7 months. And my hope is that once I get a job, my life will change. Thanks to Garima Greh, transgender people have had a chance to live in Chhattisgarh. To make things better for us, we, as a society, need to provide education about transgender people at schools so children grow up understanding, accepting and respecting us. (translated from Hindi audio to English text)