‘My community gives me strength” says seventeen year old activist, Anushree
Islampur is a small town at the foothills of the Himalayas, surrounded by sprawling tea gardens.. There is also a well-knit and thriving trans community led by Joyeeta Mondal, who also recently became the country’s first transwoman judge. Her organization, Dinajpur Notun Alo has been a safe space for many young trans kids to be able to openly express themselves for over five years.
Dressed in a pink tee shirt, eyes adorned with kajal and bright red lipstick, seventeen year old Anushree is a picture of confidence. She is always the first one to volunteer for any community outreach programmes that happen in her town. She is passionate about activism and more importantly forging love and friendship within the community. As the youngest member of the group her sisters from the community are very affectionate with her and are able to give her the support she needs. She is a student of class 11, at a local Catholic school. She dreams of leaving her town to move to a bigger city to study fashion Design.
Her Catholic school is very intolerant of her trans identity. She is not allowed to grow her hair or wear make-up in school. She is routinely harassed verbally by her classmates. ‘Thankfully, I have my queer family to come back home to’, she smiles and says. “ We have a teacher who is Koti. I am jealous of them when they flirt with men. I wish I were that confident with men’. Abhijit, a ‘koti ‘ elder says affectionately that she barely studies for her exams and hangs out with them all the time instead. Although very young, Anusree is very active in the activism circles in North Bengal.
When asked about her childhood, Anushree says that she always knew that she was a girl. When she was a child, her mother would dress her up in saris. Her mother always saw the little girl in her. But, as she grew older, things started changing. Her feminine self was perceived as a childish phase that she needed to grow out of. She was expected to perform a more masculine role by the men in her family, which made her deeply uncomfortable. Her father has vehemently opposed her identity as a transwoman, and has been occasionally violent towards her. She was harassed and called names by the neighbourhood boys.Her classmates from the Catholic Boys school she goes to, are deeply intolerant and she has been subjected to physical and sexual harassment. A deep sense of isolation plagued her in her early teenage years.Her mother was the only one who was able to understand what she was going through. When she was around fifteen, she was in a difficult mental and emotional state. it was around this time that she first met Joyeeta who introduced her to the trans community. She could slowly feel her deep sense of loneliness ebbing. Anushree admits that she had a lot of internalized transphobia when she first met her community. It took her time to admit to herself that she was also a part of the community.She finally had the vocabulary and the support to understand who she was. Meeting her sisters from the community gave her the confidence to be her authentic self. Joyeeta has been a constant pillar of support ever since she met her. She affectionately calls Joyeeta her mother from the community. For the past one year, she has been feeling confident enough to wear make-up and express her femme self in public.. Her blood family has been very hostile towards her new friends and have tried to prevent her from meeting her friends and isolate .Her persistent resilience has helped her fight her own battles and the battles of her community. The love and care that Anushree has received from her koti and trans elders has been unparalleled to anything she has received her entire life . They have helped her grow into the beautiful, confident young woman she has become.
She firmly believes that a lot of work needs to be done by the government to support young trans people. She believes that there should be proper gender sensitisation in schools. The government should have schemes for young trans folks to access proper healthcare and education. Her confidence and her resilience make her a beacon of hope for younger queer people.
Illustrated by Nandini Moitra