There is a famous saying - “Gender Preference does not define you. Your spirit defines you.”
Today I will tell you a story of one such person who
defines these lines quite literally. Today’s story is about Dr. Manabi
Bandyopadhyay.
Manabi Bandyopadhyay was born and brought into a
middle-class Bengali family at Naihati (West Bengal, India). Born as a man in
1966, she was initially named Somnath Bandyopadhyay by her family. But while
she was growing up she felt outcasted in her society as she noticed there is
something not correct with her. She felt that her soul was kind of trapped in a
man’s body, and every part of her body wanted to become a woman. Manabi changed
her name from Somnath to Manabi (Meaning – Beautiful lady) in the year 1995. In
2003 Manabi finally underwent sex realignment surgeries to biologically become
a woman.
In a society where people still stigmatize transgenders, growing up for Manabi was pretty hard, as she had to face a lot of insults and personal attacks almost regularly. But all those negativities were not able to overwhelm Manabi. Being determined and self-motivated Manabi first completed her studies. Manabi made history when she completed her Ph.D. from the prestigious Jadavpur University (Kolkata, India) and became the first transgender to hold a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in India. Manabi completed her MPhil while she was an associate professor at Vivekananda Satobarshiki Mahavidyalaya. On 7th June 2015, Manabi made another History when she became the Principal of Krishnanagar Women’s college, the first transgender to take the mantle of a Principal in India (probably in the world also).
Besides being a principal, Manabi is quite a popular
author, she wrote many books on Bengali Literature, her annual Magazine “Abo-Manab”
which translates as Sub-Human, is the first Indian magazine which is dedicated
to the Transgender community. Being a famous LGBTQ rights activist, Manabi took
a crucial part in legalizing consensual sex for the LGBTQ community in Indian
in 2017.
Dr. Manabi Bondhopadhay is a great example of a role
model, not only for the Transgender community but for all of us who feel
demotivated and outcasted in society. As Manabi always says, and we should
always remember to –“be yourself, the world will adjust”.
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