Hello All,
The world is changing… Our laws are more inclusive these days.
We are driving more towards gender equality. But is it just the laws that needs
to be changed! Here is a short story after long time. Read on…
Soldier1: Today, the new Coms is swearing in
Soldier2: Oh, I heard the new chief is a female…
Soldier3: Hey you can’t talk like that. Am a female too.
Soldier1: Are you really!(Soldier3 threw an angry glance)
Soldier4: So female boss for us huh!
Soldier1: Well I also heard she was in Bombay before joining
army.
Soldier3: I heard she has loads of struggles in life. Well, got
to say being a lady and to rise up to the post of chief ain’t any easy.
All the soldiers finished making their beds and headed for
morning drills. What they did not notice was that there was someone sleeping in
the corner bed with sheet drawn all over.
As the chief raised to podium and started to talk, everyone gasped once. New Chief was well built and had different aura with thick voice.
“Hi All, My name is Sheela. And am your new Chief. I had a huge inspiration speech prepared for today. However I am going to keep it aside. I heard some people being curious about me and talking about me in the morning (4 soldiers shifted uncomfortably in the assembly…). So here am I going to talk about myself!
My original name is Priyansh. I was born in Shimla. Around my tenth birthday, I started to realise who I am! I was born boy but I was turning to transgender! Obviously, our society did not accept that to be normal then. So, I found myself with two choices - Hide and live in fear or Run and find myself. I choose later. I ran to Mumbai. I found shelter there, among my kind of people. I found friends who understood me and who stood by me while I under went complete physical changes to be who I am today. I found my new identity of being Sheela.
Things started to get escalted, and I found myself front during our strikes to make amends in
Constitution of India to incorporate us into normal lives. Finally our fights, paid off. Once we were
legally accepted in 2018, all forms changed. I hoped I could now easily find my
career. However life still was a tedious journey up ahead.
I always wanted to serve Indian army as front soldier.
However when I tried to apply they still had not obtained the new forms. Also
the administration office members laughed at me for being determined to join
army. I knew I have to patient to achieve things that I need in my life. It
took few months for just obtaining the revised admission forms including a new
option for gender. Meanwhile I had to endure the constant mockery. Once the
form was accepted, I was called on for physical test. The test officer for that
day, hated eunuchs. So however well I performed
in tests, he was not acknowledging me. Somehow, he kept prioritising others
over me. I stepped up to challenges and in the end he knew he could not let me
go!
After that also my struggle reduced however continues. But, My life turned from being a street beggar to being soldier and struggling to rise above. My position might be questionable however I know I have fought wars to reach here- wars within myself and with the society I live in. I am a Trans and not ashamed to be one. However, I make myself capable enough to be not judged by that. I stand here as Chief today hoping I inspire you and many others that follow.”
Assembly roared with claps.
However, we all learnt a lot from her speech! We learnt how
we treated people badly just because they are different from our nature! We learnt
that changes in laws isn’t sufficient, we need a change in our mentality. I do
hope we always take a small step to change our self for everyone’s better everyday…
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