INDIAN, TRANS, A UNIQUE STANCE TRINETRA HALDAR GUMMARAJU

INTRODUCTION

Dr. Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju (born 17 June 1997) is an Indian LGBTQ(LGBT is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender, instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. )+ advocate, Internship medical intern, actress, and content creator. Transgender activist, surgeon in training and Instagram influencer: at just 24 She is widely known for discussing transgender rights, political issues, feminism and intersectionality on Instagram, where she has a large following. She was one of the first openly transgender Indian content creators in the Indian entertainment industry. She is also Karnataka's first openly transgender doctor. Her work often includes her experiences navigating through a conservative and largely transphobic society and profession. She rose to prominence over 2018 and 2019 as she started sharing her journey of medical, legal and social transition on Instagram and Youtube. Due to her gender identity and political views, she has often been the subject of trolling and abuse.

THEME

The transgendered hijra community has evolved to form a unique subculture within Indian society, existing alongside the ubiquitous (everywhere) heterosexual (sexually attracted to a person of the opposite sex) family.

Our aim was to portray a transgender character as a normal person, who has lived life with dignity, and is capable of having functional 

After two decades of feeling like she lived in the wrong body, Trinetra decided to turn her social, legal and biological identity to match what her mind was telling her. we feel that our society will soon stop judging people on their sexuality.

EXPLANATION DR. TRINETRA HALDAR GUMMARAJU JOURNEY

Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju who was born as Angad Gummaraju in Bengaluru underwent gender confirmation surgery later in life. Though her family celebrated the day she was born as the firstborn boy child, she never thought of herself as a boy. From the age of four, Trinetra Haldar Gummaraj was bullied and shamed every time she tried on her mother's sarees or high heels She loved putting on make-up and walked around the house or did anything deemed feminine. "I was always the woman I am," she said.

During her childhood, everyone found the act cute but when they saw that the “phase” continued for longer than usual they hid those items from her, telling her she was too old for them.

Trinetra had a baby brother when she was 5-years-old but she couldn’t process the thought of being called an elder brother and felt burdened with the conditioned upbringing. She grew up into an unresolved teenager and was scared to express herself. Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju tried out masculine activities such as sports for her dad, but hated it from her heart. Her school life didn’t make things any easier for her. She faced bullying and couldn’t digest the idea of being a gay person. It took a toll on her. At times when she felt vulnerable, she was taught to be tough and wasn’t allowed to cry.

When Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju realized she liked men, she understood she was a gay man. But she didn’t like the idea that she must be a man. These led to frustration, and she started self-harming and prayed to be like others, to be normal. It makes me feel so terrible to know how our society corners some people who don’t meet their expectations.

Making it Through the Struggles and Standing Up for Herself

While Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju was watching a show that had a gay protagonist, she blurted out that she was gay but her parents didn’t take it well and were in denial. And then one fine day she came out to the world, and that added fuel to the fire. Her teachers made her read aloud in class so that others could mock her voice. She realized she needs to stop all those things overpowering her and started channeling all her energy towards her studies. Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju found out that she wanted to be a doctor, as she wanted to use her knowledge and degree in the operating room.

She grew up hating her body and only felt comfortable when she wore crop tops and applied makeup. Despite wanting to look a particular way, she didn’t want to receive judgmental glances. Soon when she was 20, she told herself that she’s a woman and at that moment she felt free and relaxed. She said that she felt as free as a little kid who knew that she was a girl but was made to believe that she was a boy.

"My parents saw me as a deficient male," said Gummaraju, who is interning at KMC Manipal in Karnataka, one of India's top teaching hospitals.

Older boys molested her, schoolteachers humiliated her and a psychiatrist advised her family to expose her to "more masculine influences".

No one considered the possibility that she was transgender. Especially not Gummaraju.

"I didn't even let myself question my gender identity because transgender people have such a negative image in this country -- they are seen as scary, abusive, dangerous."

Despite the fact that the vast majority of Indians worship Hindu gods who routinely shape-shift from male to female, the transgender community is largely exiled to the margins of society, with many forced to take up begging or sex work.

Trinetra never identified as a boy. “When you don’t fit into the defined norms of gender and sexuality, people consider you a freak, and for me for the longest time that led to a lot of self-hatred,” she says. “It was when I discovered the internet and that there are people like me who are uncomfortable with the gender and identities they’re assigned that I realised that I might not actually be a boy and that it’s completely okay,” says Dr Gummaraju, who went through her gender affirmation surgery at 21.
A medical student, she documented the journey of the medical and legal

ensures they are LGBTQIA+ advocates. “I make sure that everything I endorse fits my messaging and moral values,” she says.

DR. TRINETRA’S  ONLINE JOURNEY

By the time Gummaraju was a teenager, her self-hatred -- reinforced by social mores -- had deepened to such a degree that she had begun to self-harm.

Hope arrived in the form of admission to medical school, an accomplishment that evoked a grudging respect even from those who had shunned her.

There, she found a more supportive community including a therapist who gently urged her to experiment with gender expression.

Then I started my journey in social media "an online space where I could be myself".

That is Instagram and YouTube, becoming the first Indian to do so. The activist and artist is also one of Karnataka’s first openly transgender doctor and one of the first openly transgender Indian content creators. Anchored at the crossroads of art and advocacy, Gummaraju’s Instagram account helps people understand the gravity of topics like gender, sexuality, queerphobia, bullying, mental health, and feminism. She has 226K followers on Instagram and 14K subscribers on her YouTube channel ‘The Trinetra Method’. Today, she has over 220,000 followers, but her early posts sparked a backlash from conservative professors and some fellow students.

She persisted, eventually coming out as transgender, first to her now-supportive family, and then on Facebook to hundreds of people.

 “Getting into content creation was never planned, I used the platform to process my emotions, and it was an escape from reality that turned into so much more than that,” she says.

Through her content, she guides trans people, shares insecurities, worries, and missteps, and also calls out trolls, “making people see that she is a three-dimensional human being behind our two-dimensional phone screens, and that makes her followers connect with her”, says Gazal Dhaliwal, screenwriter and LGBTQIA+( Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual people collectively. Lesbian: A woman who has a significant attraction, primarily to members of the same gender, or who identifies as a member of the lesbian community) activist. “She takes pride in who she is. In a world that shames you, abuses you, mocks you for being trans, standing up with your head held high takes rare strength. She owns her journey and shares it with generosity, courage and vulnerability. That combination makes her unique.”

Her content creation has brought brands to her doorstep, but Gummaraju

The transition began with a new name, Trinetra -- after a fierce Hindu goddess -- followed by hormone replacement therapy in 2018 and surgery in February 2019.

It was a euphoric time, she recalled, even as she was advised bed rest for a month to recover.

"To see your body change shape -- it's like a fog is being lifted", she said.

"I could recognise myself in the mirror."

Not to fear-mongering

Some of the side effects were unforeseen -- and troubling.

"It is so unfortunate that one of the things that made me realise I was now a woman... was catcalling and being groped", she said.

She also encountered rape threats when she posted glamorous selfies, something which cisgender women -- those whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth -- could relate to.

"I have experienced a lot of common ground with cisgender women," she said.

But the increasingly fractious debate over transgender rights threatens to make her community's existence even more precarious, she said, with some cisgender feminists in the West calling for women-only spaces to be restricted to those who are biologically female.

After hospital security forced her to exit a women's bathroom in 2017, Gummaraju developed a urinary tract infection because she abstained from drinking water for hours to avoid using a public toilet again.

"Some women don't seem to understand that we are not cisgender men. We are not the ones who are a threat to you," she said.

"The fear-mongering has to stop."

Despite the many challenges faced by the community, she hopes her rising profile will help younger transgender people realise that "life does get better".

"As doctors, we know human beings are resilient by default. Have faith in your ability to heal."

She faced her share of difficulties, judgments from society, but she made it to the top. And that’s the reason she’s an inspiration to us.