Nepal's first transgender politician out to challenge roles (Feature)

By Pratibha Tuladhar Aug 11, 2010, 3:27 GMT

Kathmandu - 'A politician is not what I dreamt of becoming as a child,' says Bhumika, as she bats her eyelids coquettishly and smiles to reveal a perfect set of teeth.

Bhumika Shrestha, 23, became the first transgender person to be elected to the General Convention of the Nepali Congress Party, beating more than 50 other candidates, many of whom had been in politics much longer than she had.

She represents Kathmandu district in the convention, which will go on to elect the party's powerful central committee.

'I dreamed of becoming a dancer when I was little,' she says and props her face on her palms. Her nails are neatly painted in shimmering white.

Bhumika, as she is known nationwide from her activist days, was born as Kailash in a small town on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. Naikap town soon noticed that Kailash was an unusual boy.

He was naturally graceful. Emulating the song and dance sequences from Indian movies came to him easily. During school functions, the little boy always offered to dance as a girl and his teachers concluded it was his love for dance that made his movements feminine. However, they didn't have an explanation for his interest in borrowing his mother's clothes and cosmetics.

'I wanted to dress like a woman, but I couldn't. I always walked to school with the fear that people on the road would call me hijra, chakka, terms hurled at me as abuse,' she said.

Hirja and chakka, which may translate as 'eunuch' or 'hermaphrodite' are often used as derogatory terms in Nepal to refer to transgender people.

'I felt like a woman inside and in school I had to face punishment for who I was,' she continues, with tears in her eyes.

In high school, Kailash first heard about the Blue Diamond Society for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights.

When Kailash visited the society for the first time in 2003, he was encouraged to take a female name. Kailash decided to call himself Bhumika.

'Bhumika means role and life is 'a role' we play in different characters, fitting into different identities even as we have an identity of our own,' she says.

After joining the Blue Diamond Society, Bhumika decided to work as an activist to help people like herself who had suffered because of their identity crises.

'Childhood dreams change as you grow up. I couldn't have carried on as a dancer.'

In 2006, she was crowned Miss Pink in the beauty pageant for the third gender, kick-starting a new journey, taking on a wider role of representing her community, but also making fashion statements.

Since running for a berth in the Nepali Congress General Convention, Bhumika has abandoned her glamorous clothes for the traditional woman's attire in Nepal - the sari. It's an attempt at creating a serious public image, she says.

When Bhumika won the election, her closest competitors questioned the party members why they had voted for someone 'without a gender' instead of voting for a 'man.'

'But that doesn't discourage me,' she says.

Lawmaker and Nepali Congress youth leader Gagan Thapa believes that Bhumika has a future in politics.

'It's amazing how in the past few years Nepal has become more open to sexual minorities,' Thapa says.

Bhumika is also preparing to run television and radio shows on third gender issues. Her topmost priority is to enshrine the third gender's rights in Nepal's new constitution.

'Bhumika is in the right place if she wants to make a difference, because she will now have a say on issues, which will ultimately be reflected in the government's policies,' Thapa says.

'But she should not focus on transgender issues alone. As a politician she should take up other issues as well. That will be her biggest challenge.'

Bhumika says she will miss clubbing with friends, as she takes a step farther into a political life. But she is all set to take on her new role.

'I know that politics is a platform for change. That's why I'm here.'