KARIMNAGAR: It reads like a fairy tale. A trans-woman beggar Asha has become a businesswoman in Karimangar. She discovered that she has an innate talent for portrait photography and pursued her ambition. She now has a photography shop in Karimnagar and has overnight become a role model for other transwomen.
She took the first step towards setting up her own shop after getting a bank loan of Rs 5 lakh. Unable to come to terms with the “other gender” characteristics of her body, Asha underwent gender reassignment treatment in her early teens without the knowledge of her family members.
Later her family also supported her as she began making an attempt to break from begging. Till then she used to beg with other trans women known to her on the streets. Finding it easy to make good money by begging, she even went to Delhi. But she returned home and, with the support of her family, she did a course in hotel management and learned graphic designing and photography.
“At the training centre, others used to look at her oddly. But I began ignoring them. I concentrated on my life’s goal - pursuing my passion and making a sincere effort to have a total break from begging,” she said.
Before setting up her photography shop, she tried for jobs in the private sector but she could not land any. No one was ready to take her because of what she is. She was in fact forced to continue begging. It was not easy going about begging as she had problems with the rowdy gangs and the police. “I had to pay them a portion of my earnings or they would beat me black and blue,” she said She recalled how she escaped from a road accident one day while begging. Then she began thinking as to why she should continue begging and why not rather try to improve her life as well as those of other transwomen. Now she is happy that she has a photography shop in Karimang. “I am now making a new beginning. Let me see how society would accept me in this profession,” she said.
She was profusely thankful to District Collector RV Karnan, Additional Collector Garima Agarwal, and District Welfare Officer K Sabita Kumari for helping her get a bank loan to set up her photography shop. District Women and Child Welfare officer Karra Sabita Kumari said that Asha is the first transgender woman to get a Rs 5 lakh loan under Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Scheme (PMEGS) through SBI, Karimnagar.