Transgender people in India face a lot of problems. Once they reveal their sexual orientation, they are in trouble. People start avoiding them. One such case is that of Kiran Sakhi, a transgender woman has been reduced to begging in the national capital and living in a state of penury after she lost her job and faced discrimination in the society.
Kiran who has a post-graduate degree in computer science, lost her job two years ago for revealing her identity as a transgender and since then, she has had to resort to begging to sustain herself. She said that even after her revelation, the company accepted her as a transgender, but she herself started feeling uncomfortable. She finds it difficult to work with her junior colleagues since she has become a laughing stock among them. Finally, in March 2014, she quit her job though her company urged her to continue the job.
She says that due to her gender, she could not find a job and to survive she has now begging for a living while at the same time applying for jobs. She also thanked the hijra community that they took her under their wings and treated her as a family member.
Due to their lack of access to jobs and education, many of India's transgenders - also known as 'hijras' - are forced to work as sex workers or beg on the streets.
"I faced a lot of difficulties, I did sex work, begging, I did everything I could to make ends meet. I didn't have these feelings before; life was pretty simple back then. But since I became a transgender, then I realized how tough life is. Now I am begging in Delhi, life is tough and it is difficult to survive but overall I am happy," said Sakhi.
