Pushpa Gidwani
Birthplace:
Jaipur, Rajasthan
Residence:
Jaipur, Rajasthan
Qualification:
B.A. (Arts) and M.A. (Music)
Inspiration:
Her mother and Laxmi Narayan Tripathi
PAVING THE INCLUSIVE WAY
A livewire and confidence-personified, she makes light of her early struggles but intends to use her knowledge, education, and experience to help her community integrate with mainstream society, spreading her fragrance, so to speak. Founder of Nai Bhor Sanstha, she has been a pioneer in spreading awareness of the issues faced by the transgender community.
When Pradeep was born, a biological male, on 29 August 1973 to Rajkumari and Bhagchand Gidwani, the child was considered lucky – the family finally bought a big bungalow in one of the posh areas of the city.
As the child grew up, the behaviour turned more feminine than masculine, something unexpected for the family. Yet, they supported their child, they considered her special, and never reprimanded for her choice of gender expression.
“I was very lucky. My sisters and parents supported me fully and I will be forever indebted to them for their unwavering and unconditional support.”
In school, the child actively participated in dance and music programmes. “I used to perform to Bollywood numbers in my school programmes and my school seniors and sisters helped me dress up,” Pradeep aka Pushpa (her new name) remembers fondly.
The question of her identity bothered her often. And then, Pushpa had a love-relationship with a boy from her residential colony who told her family about their relationship. Pushpa was deeply disturbed and went into emotional turmoil.
“I felt cheated and vulnerable, and began to question my choices. I suffered silently because I felt guilty of inflicting pain on my family. I met a few hijra members and requested them to take me along with them. But they refused saying I was not doing the right thing.
“When my family came to know about this, they comforted me. They assured me that I would forever be their precious child and advised me to not do anything that might bring infamy to the family. It was then that I decided I would never do anything to hurt the image of my family.”
Source of strength
In 1994, her father – her strength and constant support – passed away. “My mother and I came even closer; her support was extremely comforting to me. Instead of wallowing in self-pity and melancholy, I chose to complete my education. In 1996, I started a travel agency, Raj Tours and Travels, from our garage in my mother’s name. This venture was in collaboration with other travel groups. Though it was tough to run it initially, I managed to clear off our loans within a year and a half.”
But what is life if it is one smooth road? Pushpa’s mother fell ill and passed away in 2000. “This broke me. I was completely devastated and lost,” she says.
It was around this time that an NGO, working to create awareness of HIV/AIDS, approached her to volunteer for them. She agreed. During a year of her time there, she met a lot of transgender people.
“I met and interacted with many community members and felt good. This motivated me to start something of my own to help the community. Thus, the idea of Nai Bhor Sanstha was born.”
With very limited funds to start with, she decided to gather her community members and perform shows at functions and weddings.
“It acted as a coping mechanism and distraction for them and helped them deal with the frustrations.” She got her organisation registered in 2005.
Stupendous work
“People in Rajasthan are quite old-fashioned, so we had to fight hard to spread awareness about the community. We started with talking about HIV/AIDS and other health concerns among the community members, and moved onto highlighting other concerns affecting the LGBTQIA+ members.”
In 2013, she managed to convince the state government to provide reservations to the community in state transport.
“We collaborated with a charitable trust, SAATHII and one of the projects was to brief the community about their legal and social protection and to connect them with the relevant government schemes. In one of the meetings with the state transport department, I was the speaker and talked of the need for reservations for the community. I felt proud to represent my community.”
Their stupendous work was getting recognised and the Supreme Court Judgement in 2014 recognising the third gender added the much-needed fillip for them.
“The judgement was as if we were given a spine. It mentioned that there should be a transgender welfare board in every state so I went to every office and demanded it. Finally, on 26 August 2016, a welfare board was constituted.”
She remembers it to be a huge challenge. “Every time an officer changed I had to redo my briefing and start from scratch.”
Things took a long time and Pushpa often inched to the end of her patience, but never gave up.
“I was confident that once the board is set up, the situation of the transgender community in Rajasthan would change for the better. I always had confidence in myself. I was educated and was aware of the laws.
“Yes, it takes time, pressure builds up, but accepting defeat is not a solution. To get things moving in the bureaucracy, one must have tremendous willpower,” she says.
The board sees the representations of 16 departments. The working of the board, the people to be included and the projects to be undertaken are all for her and other members to decide.
“Nahid Mohammed of the Rajasthan State AIDS Control Society has been of great help with his support by providing technical help and other know-how. I am forever grateful to him.”
Her team joined forces with the Jaipur Development Association and Jaipur Metro and together with their cisgender supporters painted a whole metro station in vibrant colours.
“We reflect the different colours – of patience, of trust, of struggles, of persistence, of blessings, of pertinence – we reflect the vibrance the world should know of!”
VISION FOR THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY
Pushpa started the PRIDE parades in Jaipur and says the increase in the number of participants means growing awareness. “I want to see the entire community integrate well in society and it is of utmost importance for us to know our legal rights.” They have reached out to Hindustan Zinc, Tata Steel and other reputed corporations to hire members of the community and help them better their living standards by providing them with respectable jobs. “This integration at various levels will help the community develop a sense of confidence and purpose in them.”
MESSAGE FOR THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY
Equality and inclusion, she says, are to be recognised for every human. “Treat every human being as a human being – without any discrimination.” One way to ensure this is to have signages in the restroom saying for men and trans men, and women and trans women. That way one need not provide separate restrooms for them but use the existing ones. To the parents, she says ensure love and protection for every child. Once parents are able to provide support and education, the children need not run away and struggle for existence.
FIVE FACTS ABOUT PUSHPA
She plans to start a community radio station to communicate the issues of the transgender community with society.
She has been practicing meditation since 2013 and says this has helped her battle loneliness and become a better person.
She feels at peace in temples.
She likes relaxing music and ghazals.
She is a confident and outspoken personality and is the livewire of every meeting.
