On Friday, Nidheesh MK reported for Livemint a story which shook many who were lauding the Kochi Metro’s initiative to employ 23 transgender persons as their ground staff.
Their ‘unsaid story’, Livemint pointed out, was not very different from the narratives of struggle and discrimination that have come to be associated with transgender lives. Nidheesh’s story highlighted how though the assured income from working at the metro was a relief, it wasn’t really enough for transgender employees.
One of the transgender persons quoted said that she continues to live in a ‘home’ which was no more than a makeshift tin-roofed accommodation atop a lodge, for which she paid about Rs 600 per day.
The story was picked up by other media publications thereafter, prompting the Kochi Metro Railway Ltd (KMRL) and Kerala Social Welfare Department to take action and secure lodging and transport for their transgender employees.
She added that they would have to pay a nominal rent of about Rs 700 per month. Reshmi also reveals that they knew about the poor living conditions of the transgender persons a little over two weeks ago when they began the training. She said:
Incidentally, Ramesh Babu's report in Hindustan Times revealed on Sunday that eight out of the 23 transgender persons hired by Kochi Metro have already quit, after they were unable to get good accommodation in the city. For Nidheesh, the reporter who broke the story, what he found has come as a reality check for him. Speaking to TNM, he said:
Nidheesh also talks about the fact that they all have hopes and dreams of their own – some of them want to be models, activists, artists – but they haven’t been able to do so because of the discrimination they face in these fields. He says:
(This piece originally appeared in The News Minute and has been re-published with permission.)
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