Setting Things "Straight" {A session on Queer inclusion by Nishtha Nishant (She/Her)}

How many of us have thought about why transgenders in local trains and buses clap? Is there a reason? Why do they, seemingly pitiable people (considering the general society’s lens) always seem to be celebrating by clapping hands? That’s their way of venting out the pent-up negative energy, frustration and desperation and smiling at yet another person.

Nishtha Nishant was the one who made the audience think in that direction. She made everyone sit straight and get it all into place. A transwoman, Nishtha caught attention of the participants of the session by mentioning how she could not enter the women’s washroom due to documents which ascertained her as male (prior to her surgery). She is a scientific researcher, educator, TEDx Speaker and counsellor but funny how ‘trans woman’ topped the list.

There’s a man and woman in all of us,” said Dr. B.S. Ajitkumar, Principal, VPM’s R Z Shah College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai, which proved to be the perfect start to the session on Queer inclusion conducted by Rotary Club of Bombay Mulund Valley along with Rotaract Club of VPM’s R Z Shah College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mulund East, Mumbai.

Nishtha opened a can of worms and rightly so. “Have you heard people saying – ‘I am straight’? What does that mean? Does that mean others are not straight?”, she began by addressing the root cause of the problem faced by Kinnars, Shiv Shaktis or Thirunangai (a word which has been suspended by Tamil Nadu government, and replaced with moondram paalinathavar. “We are not projects. We want to be treated as human beings,” she quoted as an answer to why some have excused themselves from participating in researches conducted on them.

She quoted examples of Zainab Patel (Policy Analyst, UNDP), Dr Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju (Karnataka’s first trans-woman doctor) and others who have been doing a great job at raising discussions on the LGBTQI in India and abroad.

What can the youth do for them?

“The transgenders are deprived of opportunities. Make it beneficial for them when you step out with your projects, in whatever capacity possible. At an individual level, invite people to share their stories with the mainstream society to raise awareness about this rather than boxing rarely seen trans-men under terms like ‘cowboy’ and much else.”

“Be their allies rather than being their advisors.”

Acceptance

How did her parents take to the change? She mentioned how it was difficult especially for her mother to accept the change but ‘Sweekaar – The Rainbow Parents’ helped her overcome her anxieties. Her younger brother says, “She’s like any other elder sister.” That to Nishtha is the sweetest thing.

“But didn’t you mention how you guys fight like crazy?”, Dr. B.S. Ajitkumar quipped in. He knows Nishtha from the time she was a ‘he’ (in his own words). He is also the one professor who saw Nishtha through her ups and downs.

“We are like any other siblings. Fighting like crazy at times but we have got each other’s back.”

What was heart breaking and at the same time brought a smile on the faces of all participants was Nishtha’s one statement, “This is the world where I want to live in. Change is coming.”

Can we all be the change, together?

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