A Day In The Life Of Rudrani Chettri, A Trans Woman Doing Her Bit For Her Community In More Ways Than One

"If today I get out of my house and people don't look at me, I feel there is something wrong, why is no one looking at me,” said Rudrani Chhetri while sharing about her daily routine. Rudrani feels that even though there is a lot of chatter about the pride community today, the world isn’t ready to offer an inclusive, safe space to transgenders.

For Rudrani, the challenges lie in the simplest things, for instance, taking a cab to work. "I have to take a taxi to reach here and it's always like if a trans person is sitting in the car, they will ask me questions because for them, I am inferior to any other regular woman who is a part of the society."

"We all have become habitual of how people look at us and treat us. For most people out there, harassment is sexually assaulting a person but it is much more for us and happens daily," Rudrani sighed.

Dealing With Both Negative And Positive Discrimination

The transgender community in India has been at the receiving end of hate, discrimination on both social and economic fronts in the country for years now. Society's indifference towards the community has existed for a long time now and there seems no silver lining despite the growing conversation about transgenders.

It is 2023 and even educated members of the trans community like Rudrani suffer from brutal discrimination daily. “The discrimination is not always direct, people do it indirectly a lot of times. If I am travelling in the metro, people will look at me, laugh out loud and my day ends there, I get so conscious and keep thinking about it.”

"I remember going to a store and I asked 'how much for this', and people around me were like 'You speak English?', for me it is discrimination, I am like 'What made you think I can't speak English',” shared Rudrani.

She added, "Discrimination can be both positive and negative. If a person like me who believes in equality stands in a queue, some people would ask me to go forward, they make me feel like a devi (deity). I wonder how we can break this idea that we are as normal as any other human being.”

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The Fear Of Being Mocked For Their Voice

Rudrani got candid about her transition and shared how it isn't the easiest. She shared that physical and sexual changes begin to happen post the surgery, the vocal chords a lot of times don't change after the hormone therapy and this makes a transgender person's journey more challenging. Chhetri shared how her voice poses problems in her daily life. To keep the issue at bay, she tries to keep mum wherever she goes and there are times when she finds it difficult to tell the OTP too.

Rudrani’s Journey

For over a decade now, Rudrani Chettri, who identifies herself as a transgender woman has been working to make this world an inclusive space for members of her community. Rudrani found the first transgender modelling agency in the year 2015 with the intent to bring about change and break the stigma around transgenders.

Over the years, she has been actively fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights in the country. She founded the Mitr Trust in the year 2005 to reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) among transgenders. The trust provides a shelter home (Garima Greh) for transgender persons along with basic needs like food and medical care.

Throughout her journey, Rudrani's mother was her biggest supporter. After she realised Rudrani was struggling with her gender identity, she told her that if you want to live her life her way, complete her education. Rudrani completed her schooling and then enrolled in distance learning. Chhetri feels that education helped her a lot.

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Rudrani feels that the prejudice towards the trans community roots in social conditioning. The idea that transgenders are not normal and need to be treated differently needs to change. As Rudrani shared, the cycle will break only when we create awareness, and educate people around us that transgenders are no less than us and deserve to be treated with dignity.

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