Apsara Reddy
Birthplace:
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Residence:
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Qualifications:
B.A. (Journalism), M.A. (Broadcasting, specialisation in Developmental Economics)
Inspiration:
J. Jayalalithaa
MAKING HISTORY
As the first transgender to hold office in a 134-year-old leading national political party, she has achieved a feat that puts her in a different league altogether. Breaking gender barriers, she has worked her way up and worked hard to make history.
When life throws up challenges, it tests one’s mettle – a person’s ability to cope well with difficulties, their spirit, their resilience. During these probing times, those with grit and determination can chart their course. They choose their way and make it work for them. Apsara Reddy is one of them – those known for their dogged determination to come up with trumps despite the hardships.
Born Ajay, Apsara had to tread a path adorned with agonies and steep challenges, but she was determined not to resort to confrontation or running away. “Growing up, I always felt I was trapped in the male body and that I was meant to be so much more. I knew there was nothing wrong with me and there was a meaningful place for me in the God-willed world,” she says.
“I wasn’t breaking any law nor was I hurting anybody. I was pretty clear who I wanted to be and that I had to be patient and convince people that I would be as responsible, intelligent, and focused.”
She wanted her gender reassignment process to be as “collaborative as possible with everyone – my family and friends. I wanted everyone to understand and it took a little time.”
Apsara recalls putting on her mother’s shoes and using a towel to braid her hair like girls even at age four. “But I communicated that when I was about 15 and I started my hormone therapy a year after and had my gender reassignment done when I was about 20.”
Extreme reactions
When she first told her family about her need to change, there were extreme reactions. “The emotions were running high. My mother cried, my father was angry, my uncle and aunt came home and everybody wanted to know why. I was told not to go to school or groom myself at salons.”
Apsara, however, was patient. “I told them it would not in any way take away my intelligence and potential, and a lot of people all around the world have done it successfully.”
They were concerned that she wouldn’t be able to give birth to children. “I told them that being a good parent had nothing to do with gender, for there are many biological mothers who are not good at raising their children.”
The only child of the family, she found school rather tough as she was ridiculed for being different although that only made her resolve stronger. “I knew that I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
The tough times helped her face her ICSE exams and in class 12, she secured an overall 199 out of 200. “Very early on I understood that my success and performance would decide how people accept me. While they may not understand my behaviour, they would understand my success. Do well, ace the performance and acceptance comes, one way or the other,” she points out.
Apsara attended Monash University in Australia and studied Investigative Journalism and Marketing. “It was very different there. A lot of it was based on research and visiting libraries. I also volunteered to work for the Indian consulate while studying Journalism. The Consul General was gracious enough to let me work part-time as an assistant media advisor.”
She was eventually absorbed full-time as a media advisor. She also holds a master’s degree in Broadcasting, specialisation in Developmental Economics, from City University London.
“I thought if I wanted to be a woman, I had to mainstream my life like one. I went about getting an education, getting a career, and getting my family, friends and people I knew to accept me as a woman. It was always on the point of being a woman and never like a transgender person. I never took a primary identity of a transgender so I never really went out looking for support systems.”
Apsara feels that any kind of support system for transgender persons by the government or organisations should not just be token support. “Every organisation has great purpose and vision but does not necessarily have the wherewithal. If trans-persons are to get education, jobs or subsidies, these organisations need to have the right people with the right frame of mind manning them.”
Budgetary allocation
The government, says Apsara, must have some budgetary allocation for organisations that help the transgender community. “If a transgender woman moves out of her home, how is she supposed to feed herself, or where does she find the right home? I think there’s a need for shelters for such people where they could get succour and medical subsidies.
“Also, one important point I want to draw attention to is the discrimination at the policy and law-making level, which needs to be corrected. The punishment for rape of a cisgender has been extended up to seven years, but if a transgender person is molested it is only up to six months. Transgender people have the same emotions and bodies and probably have it more complicated. Such differences should be questioned and ruled out.”
Nonetheless, she thanks the government and the Supreme Court of India for scrapping Section 377 of the Constitution. She adds, “But legislation alone is not enough as society too needs to change drastically.”
Apsara calls for outreach programmes in schools and colleges for gender sensitisation where students are encouraged to accept and celebrate diversity.
The fact that Apsara is a very visible face of politics in conservative South India has shocked many. “I stand my ground and I always substantiate my point with facts and research for the best of the society,” she notes.
Apsara now lives with her family. “It took about a year or so to convince them but halfway through that, I started my hormone treatment. I didn’t want to go anywhere without their support. I could understand their apprehensions but I was sure I would do it only with their support,” she reiterates.
“Now my family, including my 86-year-old grandmother, are all okay with it. My grandmother and I have started a small pickle business together. I am just glad that my father was able to see me here and also accept me as I was, before passing away last year.”
It was a moment of real pride for her father when in 2016, at a public meeting, J. Jayalalithaa, the then chief minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, announced Apsara as the National Spokesperson of the AIADMK.
“What brought me here, among several other things, is my focus. If I set my mind to something, I do everything to achieve it,” Apsara makes clear.
“When you have established a connection in a job or relationship, gender makes for very little. It is whether you can deliver and what you bring to the table that matters more than what gender you are. Those are the yardsticks that matter and that is something I have achieved in my life personally because I have taken the focus away completely from my gender, be it the kind of causes I have taken up or the work that I have done. I am much more than my gender and what’s between my eyes is what I think I should be known for,” she points out.
VISION FOR THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY
Apsara says her vision is to see transgender women being a valuable part of society in terms of economic and cultural contribution and not someone who needs charity. She adds, “I believe India will see a transgender chief minister one day. Won’t it be great to live in a country as accepting as that?”
MESSAGE FOR THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY
Apsara says, “Everyone is God’s child and it is completely inhuman to call anyone lesser. Empathise, never sympathise, if you are better off or if you are not a minority of any sort. Let others be the way they want if they are not harming society. Discrimination is always wrong. Try being in their shoes and then try discriminating and you’d get to know how hard it comes.”
FIVE FACTS ABOUT APSARA
She loves gardening and grows her vegetables.
She is an adventure-lover and also loves visiting ashrams and temples.
She is a wonderful cook.
She is always seen in a saree.
She is presently writing a book, Not Lost in Translation.
