“If you ask me what my profession is, I will proudly say that I am an auto rickshaw driver,” says Anna, the first trans woman auto driver in Kerala. Anna says that she became an auto driver because of her desire to work and live on her own means. She feels proud when she does a job that she likes and is good at.

“This is a small job that I know how to do. Not everyone in our community has worked under someone else and gone on to become successful. Taking up a job like this means going among the common people and being able to live a normal life. Auto rickshaw is the common man’s Benz. It is a vehicle used by the common people. There is joy in doing this job. If I open a parlour after undergoing a beautician course, only people who need the services of a beautician will come there. This is not the case with auto,” Anna says.

“Although I had a license, it referred to me as Male. I tried to get it changed by frequenting many offices but in vain. In the meantime, I asked the sub-judge Ranjith Krishna sir of the Legal Service Authority about this and with his intervention, the license was corrected within two days. I wished to own an auto of my own but that did not materialise as that required a guarantor and tax receipts. I shared this with a friend who helped me through everything including my surgery. He purchased the vehicle in his name and asked me to pay the CC. Now I am happily driving my friend’s vehicle as if it were my own. All thanks to the big heart of that friend,” she added.

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“Like most others, I realised the change in me when I was studying in 10th standard. But I did not have the necessary knowledge to understand it completely. Finally, after moving to Ernakulam to work as a driver, the desire to live as myself grew stronger. Initially, I didn’t say anything to my family. I was afraid of being kicked out. I was certain that my family would disown me. I began my hormone treatments and later, the desire to undergo gender reassignment surgery and live as a woman became stronger.

Some people wrongly assume us to be problematic and that we can only build a livelihood by standing on roads at night. Many people resort to doing such jobs because of their difficult situations. Everyone has a strong desire to work and live on their own means. We only make enough to survive. Thus, after my surgery, I had a strong desire to stand on my own feet. Those in the trans community also have skills. We want people to understand that we are just like them. Many go down the wrong paths because they have no one to support them. My Persian cat, puppies and chickens make up my world. I spend a good amount of time with them in the morning. 

My family disowned me when they found that I had become Anna. My elder sister started talking to me after a long time. The first thing she asked me was if anything was wrong with me. Many still don’t know about gender reassignment. They believe it to be an anomaly. That is because they do not know about trans people. In places like Ernakulam, the attitude of people is slowly changing due to exposure. But there are still many who refuse to change their perception.

Recently, I started visiting my sister’s house. Her daughter is in Ernakulam. She comes and meets me and even stays with me. My mother is still afraid of the locals. She is living in the fear of what people will say and think. I also say, let her come after her fear is gone.