JOIN USTransgender activist Akkai Padamshali was the first in the category of the third gender to get a passport.
Now, she has also become the first in her community and the first transgender in the country to get a driving licence. Akkai is content that her 15-year-old struggle has borne fruit. But her journey to get a licence was fraught with trouble both from the community and outside.
According to an unsaid rule within the hijra community, the members of the community are not supposed to drive or ride any vehicle. Akkai has always challenged these rules. She has also rebelled against the community’s rules that hijras must grow their hair and pierce their nose to look like a woman. “It’s my life and I decide how to live it. Nobody has a stake in it,” Akkai tells Metrolife.
It is also the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in April this year, which recognised transgenders as the third gender, that had given her the courage and confidence to apply for a licence. The order also states that identity documents, including birth certificate, passport and driving licence would recognise the third gender. “This judgement has instilled confidence in the people of my community and there are more than 50 transgenders who have now come forward to apply for a driving licence,” she adds.
Akkai confesses that she went to a driving school to learn how to ride a two-wheeler. “I was nervous in the beginning but the people at the driving school were patient enough to hear me out. While I am confident when I am riding, I get a little nervous when I see a big vehicle coming towards me,” she says.
Just like other Bangaloreans, Akkai too has nothing positive to say about the state of roads in the City. “I wonder how pregnant women travel on these uneven stretches. Riding on these roads not only gives me a backache but I am always at the risk of losing my balance when riding,” she concludes.