Gauri Sawant
Gauri Sawant alias The Trans Mommy has perfectly delineated that motherhood indeed has no gender. The love, affection and care she has for her daughter resonates with the kind of human she is i.e. extraordinarily daring and compassionate. Whilst her popularity soared with Vicks TV Commercial, her story began when she was a barely five years of age owing to her mother’s demise. The chaos she lived through since childhood of conflicting turmoil within and beyond her, finally paved way to her new life at 17, when with just Rs. 60 in her pocket, she arrived at City of Dreams, Mumbai.
She left behind her home, her city, her family but not her identity. Her talent of having exemplary communication skills landed her a job in Humsafar Trust wherein she used to motivate and advise people undergoing an identity crisis to embrace themselves and their true identities. One of her main tasks was to spread awareness about STDs and encourage sex workers to get tested where she met Gayatri, her informally adopted daughter’s biological mother – an HIV-positive sex worker. Her strong will to not let Gayatri go into sex work gave way to her becoming a doting mother. She has accomplished a lot being highly respected and extraordinary transgender social activist. She now runs an NGO – Sakhi Char Chowghi with a team of 150 workers with aim to promote safe sex and provide counselling to transgenders from the Mumbai suburbs. She was part of the crusade that made sure the third gender gets Aadhaar cards, as dictated by the NALSA bench.
But this isn’t all of her story. Join us at TEDxHyderabad event to know about her journey.
