A Glimpse into the Life of a Transgender

Tasnuva Shishir was born as a man. However, she used to act in a feminine manner and preferred women’s dance styles more than that of men in her dance classes. She eventually came out as a transgender during her twenties. She plans to become a professional model in the future so that she can represent the transgender community in the modeling industry. She is currently working as a social worker for Bandhu Welfare Society.

Shishir was born to her parents after four daughters. While growing up she often became the subject of mocking and ridicule. She realised that something was ‘wrong’ with her body at the height of her adolescence. This lead her to get into a state of depression because of which she performed badly in her SSC examinations.

She gave home tutions to children, and secretly took dancing lessons with the money that she earned because her father was very conservative. When he came to know about her dance lessons, he banished her from the house. That’s when she started working as a volunteer at Bandhu Welfare Society, a welfare trust that worked with mental health and transgender rights. Here she realised that there were others like her who also faced the same things like she did. Gradually, her depression started to wane.

However, her struggles are not over yet. One of the major struggles is not having a separate toilet for transgenders, which is a basic human right.

“Everyone should be knowledgeable about their forte and work accordingly — man, woman, or transgender. As long as people are hardworking and dedicated, there’s no scope for bickering, backbiting and pulling others down. In order to prove oneself to the world and rise beyond any sort of apprehension, everyone must be diligent and work towards their goal. Then, definitely, in the near future, Bangladesh will be completely different from what we see today,” she said.

Source: The Daily Star