Vijaya Vasave hails from a family of farmers in the village of Dahel in Nandurbar’s Akkalkuwa taluka.Life has been anything but easy for Vijaya Vasave. From multiple suicide attempts to questioning her own existence, Vasave, the first transwoman from the hilly and tribal district of Nandurbar in Maharashtra – has seen it all. Her transition now complete, Vasave has begun a new life and now provides succour to many others like her.
Hailing from a family of farmers in the small village of Dahel in Nandurbar’s Akkalkuwa taluka, Vijaya was born as Vijay. Since childhood, Vasave always felt like a woman trapped in a male body, but struggled to understand why. After her primary education at the Zilla Parishad school, she was admitted to a residential school for tribal students. However, things took a turn for the worse, as there she became the subject of incessant bullying and violence from schoolmates. “I was never comfortable with boys and thus, in order to escape the stares, I used to have my bath late at night when everyone was fast asleep. In the mornings, I used to get ready for school before anyone woke up,” she says.
The acute feeling of isolation only grew as she had no one to confide in, making school life sheer torture. Taunts and physical harassment ranged from being pushed around to male classmates taking turns to rain blows and kicks on the young Vasave with the lights turned off. “It was their idea of fun. No one came to my help. The teachers were not sympathetic and instead asked me not to behave like a girl,” she recalls.
It did not take long for her to slip into depression and attempt to die by suicide. “I often slept with a bottle of Dettol to consume at night,” she remembers. Her trials continued when Vasave shifted to Nashik to complete graduation.
A workshop that changed her life
In 2019, Vijaya’s college held a workshop addressed by LGBTQIA activist Bindumadhav Khire and a psychiatrist from Pune. “That was a turning point in my life. Earlier, I had no idea that being a transgender person is as natural as being male or female. Till then, I was under the impression that I was not normal. But that workshop helped me realise that it was not the case,” she says. After years of abuse and trauma, it was the workshop and subsequent access to medical procedures that helped her realise her true self.
Post her graduation, Vasave enrolled for MSW at Karve Institute and earlier this year she finished her sex reassignment surgery (SRS). “I am the first transwoman from the Satpura region. I was also the first person to be issued a transgender identity card in Nandurbar. Post my transition, I can say I am at peace with myself.” Satpura, the hilly region between Gujarat and Maharashtra, is home to many tribes who live in remote hamlets.
Vasave says her family was supportive of her change, so were her villagers. “For others, this was something they had not heard or seen before,” she adds.
At present, her main concern is to ensure that she lands a well-paying government job. Her master’s degree has not helped her to get a permanent job and Vasave currently works as a volunteer with the National Aids Research Institute (NARI) project. “Whenever I go to Nandurbar, many people reach out to me, including those who want to transition or other LGBTQIA individuals. I try to help them as much as I can,” she says.