Pavitra Manikrao Nimbhorkar
Birthplace:
Amravati (Maharashtra)
Residence:
Nagpur (Maharashtra)
Qualification:
B.Sc. in Nursing
Inspiration:
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi
AIDS AND RIGHTS CRUSADER
Although life tossed several curveballs at her, her determination and positive attitude made her come up trumps in every aspect. Tuning every adversity into opportunity, she truly has left her footprints on the sand of time. She has been actively involved in spreading awareness of AIDS and STDs in the community, gradually widening her reach to small villages too. A Mahamandaleshwar with a nursing degree, she truly is a force to reckon with.
A boy, born on 20 April 1976, was given a charming name by his parents, Kantabai and Manikrao. They called him Gyaneshwar. It was a patriarchal joint family setting with a strict father and brothers.
“My father may have been strict but I was very close to him. I am Pavitra now but I won’t take Manikrao out of my name – my father’s name,” says Pavitra.
Her father left the family when she was three years old and never came back.
“Nobody knows why he left or where he is now. My family tried in vain to find him. We have no news of him,” she narrates emotionally.
Pavitra, as a child, had started reflecting feminine attributes: applying stolen lipsticks and nail paints from sisters or trying on their dresses when no one watched and then being often reprimanded and beaten up by the family.
Pushing the child on the brink of depression and isolation was school.
“My parents and brothers even took me to the hospital and doctors to have me checked to bring out my masculine qualities and I was prescribed sleeping pills. Teachers and peers would discriminate and ridicule me. Confusion clouded me – whatever they felt wrong about me, wasn’t it the way God planned? Or was it my fault that I was put under so much pressure?”
Although she wanted to continue studying, she left school in class 4, “because I could not tolerate it any longer”.
She was then sent to an aunt’s home to continue school. There too, she suffered the same problems of abuse and negativity.
“I still was blamed for every problem. Unable to bear it any longer, I decided to end it all by jumping into a well. But the villagers saved me,” she narrates.
Fighting for change
The urge to free herself from the blame persisted and soon, she left home. “How long could I have continued with so much negativity thrown at me? I went to Nagpur and stayed in a temple for about a year, doing mundane chores like cooking and cleaning,” she informs.
This was the time she realised her gender identity. “I was a woman. I had always been one. I realised this was not a disease. I was just the way God designed me. There were so many others like me.”
She then decided to pursue her studies and successfully graduated with a degree in Nursing from Nagpur Medical College.
“I had the fortune to work with the reputed neurologist, Dr. Gautam Darda, and ortho-pediatrician, Dr. Naidu,” she recalls.
“I also started connecting with several other transgender people and felt the lack of everything that every person in the community faces. I had to do something concrete for their betterment.”
A close friend, Anand Chandrani, supported her and she began to educate the community about the ways to deal with their issues and help those in need.”
While working at Saarthi Trust, she began spreading awareness and educating people about the challenges faced by the community.
“We provide counselling to the parents of the transgender children, helping them to cope well. We tried to explain to them that this does not change anything, rather they need to support and educate their children so that they can make a better and informed life for themselves.”
Health advocacy
Her active advocacy for the health concerns of the transgender community is commendable. She started her first NGO, Sambodhan, in Nagpur in 1986 – the same year that the government actively and visibly started fighting HIV/AIDS. Later on, two other NGOs followed – Sarathi Trust and Spandan.
She has been actively involved in spreading awareness of AIDS and STDs in the community, gradually widening her reach to small villages too.
“I started getting recognition with time. I then met Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and was deeply fascinated by her. I wish to reciprocate her work and strive for the uplift of the entire community,” she says about her inspiration.
A disciple of Hari Giri Maharaj and Swami Avdheshanand Giri Maharaj, she was appointed the Mahamandaleshwar and an office-bearer of the Kinner Akhada from Ujjain Peeth. An avid follower of Sanatana Dharma, she strives relentlessly for the betterment of her community.
“I have attended several conferences in Bangladesh and Thailand for HIV/AIDS awareness among the transgender community.”
In between all this, she managed to complete her graduation in science and also completed a diploma in nursing. She was among the few Kinnar Akhada seers representing the entire community at Kumbh 2019 and has noticed the happy change in some few people.
“It’s a snail-paced change but it sure is there. Happy for it, hopeful for more.”
She exhorts parents of transgender children to be more resilient and accepting of their children and provide them with complete education.
“I know it will be difficult for every parent, yet they need to be the strongest wall shielding their transgender children from every vice of society. The well-being of their children is their responsibility – support and love are all that the children seek and this will ensure that they earn a successful and safe future.”
Spreading awareness about the health concerns among medical staff is the need of the hour, she believes.
“Doctors, nurses, residents, technicians, patient advocates – every person to deal with the hospital ecosystem needs to be aware of the physical requirements of the pre- and post-transition phase, about those who don’t transition, about those who don’t conform to chromosomal differences, etc. Lack of awareness has many times resulted in serious tragedies.”
Holistic awareness, she emphasizes firmly, is the key.
VISION FOR THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY
“I want the community to have respectable jobs and live their life on their terms.” Education, she believes, is paramount for the betterment of the transgender community as it gives them the option to pursue their dreams without depending on others. “I want the next generation of the community to lead a happy and struggle-free life. They should not be subjected to discrimination and prejudices. They should be accepted by family and society. They should be allowed to pursue their desired career. It might be a far-fetched dream but at least the suicide rate or at least the attempt rate should come down drastically,” she says with hope.
MESSAGE FOR THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY
Everyone on this earth is a creation of God, yet there’s so much discrimination against certain people. Why, asks Pavitra. “If the society is to excel and prosper, understanding every segment of people is a must – just as much as it is important for every segment of people to behave responsibly. Acceptance and thus the scope for education and work will come only when society starts understanding us.”
FIVE FACTS ABOUT PAVITRA
She sonsiders her experience her strength.
She loves cooking and her favourite food is dosa.
Although a vegetarian, she cooks mouth-watering mutton biryani and kebabs.
She misses working in farms.
She didn’t include pulses and vegetables in her meals until age 30.
