"I slept on the street and went without food for days, but couldn't find work as the social stigma against transgenders is deeply ingrained," she says. Mehek's luck turned when she found her way to Zeenat Club in Khajuri, northeast Delhi. An exclusive club for the hijra community and other transgenders, it works against transphobia and provides free grooming, legal aid and entertainment, as also employment. The club has a parlour, boutique and free counselling centre.
Like Mehek, who teaches embroidery at the club, hundreds of harassed transgenders have found refuge there. Prema is one of them. A beautician, she is always in demand. "We are like any other woman. We also need to go to a parlour regularly but hardly any allows us in." Prema gives free beauty treatment to all the hijras in the area. It's a hijra-exclusive parlour, so men and women aren't served.
Mallica, a counsellor at the club, visits her family in Ashok Vihar every alternate day. "We are disowned by our families, but here I have found home. My family took a lot of time to accept me," she said.
Like its transgender members, the club has had its share of travails. It took them a month to rent a place in Bhajanpura, in 2012. Last year, they shifted to Khajuri but ran into opposition from the other residents. "They said we would be a bad influence on children. They even threatened to install an iron gate at the entrance of the lane but we got an order from the corporation," said Anjan Joshi of the NGO, Society for Peoples' Awareness, Care & Empowerment (SPACE). The NGO has now got land from the government in the Kashmere Gate area to build a recreational centre for transgenders. "Kapil Sibal came for the inauguration on April 13," he claimed.
Last year, the NGO organized a fashion show. However, all the designers it approached refused to let transgender people model for them, fearing their image and business would get hurt. "Being gay is still fine, but the situation is bad for hijras," said Joshi. Welcoming the SC order, he said he hopes more Zeenat Clubs will be formed in the city. "Zeenat means beautiful, and all hijras are Zeenats in this club.
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