Kaushalya Nand Giri
Birthplace:
Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand)
Residence:
Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
Qualification:
Class 10
Inspiration:
Guru ji, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Aryan Pasha, Zainab Patel and Reshma Prasad
RESOLVE, REVOLUTION AND RISING
Mahamandaleshwar of the UP Kinner Akhara, social worker, LGBTQ+ rights activist, member of the UP Transgender Welfare Board, filmmaker (Tara; 2020), and most important of all, an icon for her community. She was dumped as a toddler when her parents got an inkling of her gender, and she was raised by a kinner. It’s a story of immense courage and grit – one that counts among the most heroic. She’s traversed a path of thorns taking all the hurt so that her community can see the dawn of a new morrow.
The great sage Valmiki wrote:
Maagh makargat rabi jab hoi, teerath-patihi aav sab koi
Dev danuj kinner nar shreni, saadar majjahin sakal tribeni
(In the month of Magha, when the sun enters Capricorn, everyone visits the chief holy place of Prayag. Gods, demons, kinners (demigods) and humans, all devoutly bathe in the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati.)
Considering what sage Valmiki says here, isn’t it paradoxical for anyone having imbibed philosophies from the epic Ramayana, themselves becoming the oppressors of transgenders? This question posed by Kaushalya Nandgiri comes as rather unsettling. It reflects degenerated values over the centuries – ostracising a community that once enjoyed the status of demigods.
Sans family memories
All that Kaushalya knows about her family is the name of her parents, that she has four siblings, that she was born in Dehrahoon, and her recorded birth date is 1 April 1986.
The story of how she landed in the lap of her Guru ji in Prayagraj is one of family apathy, contempt, or even helplessness. No one knows the details. She doesn’t dig deeper either.
“My parents understood at my birth that I was neither male nor female. They did try to seek medical help and when nothing worked, they left me with Guru ji. I must have been a toddler then,” she says.
Her guru, Anjali aka Salma ji, a kinner, took in a toddler and raised her as her own, giving her all the love a child longs for from its parents. When Kaushalya was around five, she took her to a local school for enrolment.
“Guru ji wanted me to get an education because she wished a good life for her disciple.”
Kaushalya couldn’t understand why the school refused her admission. “That memory is still raw. Holding my little hand tightly Guru ji led me back home, tears streaming down her cheeks. All I could understand then was that I wasn’t like other children and that Guru ji was not like the mothers defined by societal norms and definitions,” she recalls.
Unfazed, they went from school to school seeking admission, Guru ji beseeching principals, often falling at their feet.
“They thought that if transgender children were allowed into schools, other students would become like them.”
Striking with the right WHYS!
When society can care for the physically challenged, in fact, go out of the way to help and facilitate things for them, why are transgender people treated with contempt, she questions.
“Having one part of the anatomy different doesn’t make us abnormal or unfit for mainstream society. Our fight for equal rights stems from this regressive mindset,” she iterates.
However, when Kaushalya did finally get into a school, the path became thornier. Classmates would not share their benches with her; there was name-calling and jeering. She would come back home crying every day, fighting with herself and God.
“I had become a spectacle and an object of harassment. At the tender age of 12, I tried to end it all. After that failed attempt at suicide, Guru ji made me understand that it’s a blessing to be born a human and that I would find the purpose in my life and would soon show my real worth to the society that rejected me.”
That day, she pledged to change the way she thought about herself and the way people treated her. While she stumbled and met with failures many times but she always got back up and continued with her resolve.
“Guru ji often told me that the road ahead was a long and difficult one and I couldn’t get tired.”
Attending high school was really tough. Friends gradually distanced themselves because she was effeminate.
“I wasn’t an ideal friend in their opinion. The loneliness would get to me, but at the same time it would also fuel my determination to show people my worth,” she asserts.
Be the change you want…
… so said Mahatma Gandhi. And so believed Kaushalya. She started working to bring the barriers down and build bridges to mainstream society.
At 15, she began tutoring primary schoolchildren in her locality. Their parents were from the lower strata of society and the children had no one to help or guide them with their studies. “I began with just two children and as they began performing well in school, the word spread, and more joined in.”
“I felt proud when their parents showered me with praise and was really happy that I had made it into the mainstream society.”
As years went by, she started helping couples from poor backgrounds to tie the knot, or funding children’s education. She associated with Abdul Kalam Gramin Seva Sansthan and many other organisations working for the poor, women and the oppressed.
What’s more, she challenged the boundaries of traditional kinner professions. In 2017, she founded Samarpit Trust which took in transgender children begging at bus stops, traffic signals and in trains, and put them on the path to a good life through education. She also worked on raising awareness among transgender people of their rights, and how they could empower themselves and become financially independent.
Kaushalya’s astounding work brought her fame and recognition and so when she formed the kinner akhara in 2019, she was made its head – the Mahamandaleshwar.
“Many sadhus were against it, but there were supporters too like Harigiri Maharaj ji of the Juna Akhada.”
So, one who was rejected by society was now known as Teena Ma.
The world is your oyster, but…
When Section 377 was scrapped, Teena Maa felt like the entire world now belonged to the community. Such was the sense of relief and happiness.
“This was the result of a long-drawn-out battle by the likes of Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Aryan Pasha, Zainab Patel and Reshma Prasad. Their untiring efforts have been inspiring and I have learned a lot from them,” she avers.
Despite the ill-treatment meted out to them, the community is going out of its way to prove itself, but assimilation requires efforts from both sides, she notes. “The community understands its social responsibility and is doing more than its capacity. People need to change their restrictive mindset.”
On her part, Kaushalya is preparing the younger generation of transgender people for the future. “I counsel them on identifying themselves and breaking social gender norms. If they don’t understand themselves, how will they tell their families? Yes, education is the key to awareness.”
VISION FOR THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY
The Uttar Pradesh Transgender Welfare Board was formed in 2021, and Teena Ma hopes that fund allocation will begin soon. “The government needs to look more deeply into issues like education, health care, housing, jobs and political representation. “Schools, healthcare clinics, old-age homes and free education for transgender people until high school in every district is what we are targeting. “We also want the opportunity to represent ourselves in Parliament so that we can be the community’s voice to and within the government.” She, however, adds, “LGBTQIA+ policies are being formulated by those who have no knowledge of the community.” She wants equal rights just like both other genders. “Just a handful of people have changed, most of them haven’t. I am invited into homes, maybe because of who I am today. “Is the whole community treated the same way? I can’t answer that in a sureshot yes.”
MESSAGE FOR THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY
Teena Ma tells all those who see the entire community as aggressive people who beg, dance, and undress in public, “Not everyone is the same. Behave respectfully with us, we will reciprocate. We will even work as house helps. But will you hire us?” Transgender persons are either not taken as tenants or charged thrice the normal rent. They are disowned by their parents and don’t enjoy a supportive environment. “Had my guru not been as loving as she was, where would I have been? Just understand we are humans too.”
FIVE FACTS ABOUT ABHINA
She will resume education to earn a law degree.
Her biggest strength is her Guru ji.
She loves travelling.
‘Aye mere watan ke logon’ is her favourite song.
She describes herself as generous.
