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I am Rashika and I’m from Kolkata. Right from when I was in high school, I was rather “effeminate”. It wasn’t just me; we were a group of 5-6 boys. I still hadn’t come out to my parents though, my father worked in a Hindu mission which meant that my family was very conservative. I finally mustered the courage to come out to my parents in 11th standard. They did not believe me- they thought that this was the influence of my friends from school. They took me to a psychiatrist who was rather understanding and gave me medicines. By then I had also started taking hormone supplements with the help of my friends; my phone came in quite handy.

Soon, I enrolled for B.A. Commerce and joined college. My long hair and my gait (which wasn’t the norm, but it was what felt right to me) made me the laughing stock of all the boys in college. Unable to handle the mental torture meted out by my fellow students, I quit after my first year of college. I then moved to Pune; a friend of mine who was a bar dancer there asked me to come over and start anew. I couldn’t live there for long and was forced to move away due to bad work conditions and occasional raids.

I moved to Mumbai and started s*x work. My mind, however, was set on somehow working towards a respectable job that I could be proud of and tell my parents about. A friend of mine called asking me to come back to Kolkata. They offered to support me financially until I could find a respectable job. This was a blessing and I grabbed it. I managed to receive beauty/make-up training and found employment as a beauty advisor. By now, though my family hadn’t accepted me completely, they had definitely become more comfortable than they were before. I brought up S*x Reassignment Surgery but my workplace would hear none of it, forcing me to quit.

Finally, I moved to Bengaluru in search of a job. This is where I was introduced to PeriFerry. Now, I am a part of Revive x Thoughtworks. I am quite confident that this training program will help me secure what I’ve always wanted; a respectable job. ?”



Photo: .in
Text edited for brevity.

Whether it's about conducting organization wide sensitization programs or pacing up inclusive hiring efforts, the ANZ Bank has always been one of our proud partners since the early days. And let's never forget last year's REVIVE with ANZ - the pioneering month long residential corporate training and employment program for the trans community which was a soaring success with 100% placement.

The ANZ team has always been one of those friends who support you when you're young and still stays with you when you grow up.

Yesterday's financial literacy workshop conducted by our friends Sujay, Hayathi, and Sahana from the ANZ Bank is another example of ANZ's commitment towards sustainable inclusion. 34 community members learned the need of budgeting, creating personal vision boards, setting smart goals, balancing wants and needs, maintaining emergency funds. The insights gained here will of great value in ensuring that our cohort of REVIVE with ThoughtWorks retain what they earn.

Photos: .in

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Photos: Sridhar Balasubramaniyam