BENGALURU: There are only few who show the courage to swim against the tide, and city-based transwomen Nakshatra and her three friends, Milana, Anjali and Manasa are among them. To be financially independent after losing losing their livelihoods during the pandemic, they are opening a beauty salon to meet ends meet.
But once again they are facing hurdles. Their salon, Trans Trendz, which was suppose to be inaugurated on October 1, is facing hiccups due to lack of sufficient funds. “Before the pandemic we were trained to be beauticians, so that we could start something of our own. But the lockdown was so bad that we lost whatever we had,” says Nakshatra, who knew two of her partners from the past six years. She further adds, “We have put in all our savings but that is not enough. We will still need some more to make the salon completely functional.” They have set up the salon in Peenya, close to where they reside. Right now, they are looking for more sponsors who could help them with their project.
Prior to the pandemic, the trio was working for a non-profit organisation called Karnataka Jana Seva Trust from which they received `10,000 per month. In addition, they also did odd jobs to tide through the month. But they lost the jobs in the month of April after which life has been hard.
“We used to get ration kits from people, but that was just about enough. If not for this project, we would have to resort to begging,” says Nakshatra, adding that they wanted to capitalise from their skill.
Apart from financial issues, there were many obstacles they had face to come here. “It’s not easy for us to take a place on rent. Overhead costs are high and we have to look at how we are going to sustain and become profitable in the long term We got this place with lot of difficulty, and we don’t even have family backing. So we’re are mostly on our own,” says Nakshatra, adding they are keen to start as soon as possible.