“My name is Abhinethri. Becoming who I am today took years of pain, self-discovery, and immense courage. School was difficult, I was bullied and singled out for being different, at an age when I didn’t even have words for what I felt. Everything shifted in the 8th standard, when a gender awareness session at school introduced me to LGBTQI+ identities for the first time, and suddenly my feelings had a name. But we came from a conservative background, one where such things were never discussed, so I carried that truth in silenc

Moving to Hyderabad for my B.Sc. gave me my first real taste of freedom. But freedom without guidance can be its own kind of danger, and desperation eventually led me into the Hijra community during my second year of college. For nearly a year I begged on the streets, asking myself again and again, “I’m educated, so why am I begging?” When my parents learned the truth, they disowned me, blocked my number, and severed every tie.

I chose to walk away from that life instead. An NGO called Sabrang gave me a foothold, I began Hormone Replacement Therapy, took up part-time work, and slowly saved enough for gender affirmation surgery in 2024. The road there nearly broke me. Financial strain and isolation pushed me to the edge more than once, and I’m only here today because a handful of close friends refused to let go of me.

A real turning point arrived when the Telangana government began recruiting trans individuals as Traffic Assistants. I cleared the physical tests and earned my place. Today I stand on duty in Banjara Hills, directing traffic through the city’s chaos. The work gives me dignity, though it isn’t easy, motorists grow hostile, some even file complaints against me for just doing my job, but I hold my ground.

I remain grateful to the Telangana government, this initiative opened a door that had stayed shut for years. I hope it’s the first of many such doors. A 2-3% horizontal reservation across government sectors, paired with permanent postings and medical benefits, would let people like us build real careers rather than temporary ones. So many of us are educated and still finding our footing, banks hesitate to lend, landlords hesitate to rent, yet we keep moving forward, one step at a time.

Every community carries both good people and bad, ours is no exception. Don’t let the actions of a few decide who we are. See us as human beings first, nothing less. I begged on the streets once. Today I stand in uniform, holding traffic steady on a Hyderabad road. That did not happen by luck, it happened because someone finally gave me a chance to prove myself. Give us that same chance, and watch what we build.”