When Nakshatra came out to her parents as a trans person, she was greeted with stigma and rejection.
Unsure of what to do, Nakshatra started to live in a shell, trying to escape judgmental eyes.Being told to behave in a more 'acceptable way' made school an even bigger nightmare for Nakshatra. She recalls being bullied for her feminine mannerisms.
“It is only for a limited time that you can suppress your feelings; your true self will always try to come out, and that is what happened,” she says.
Unable to accept their daughter, Nakshatra's father sent her away to a boarding school, and she never saw him again.“By the time I finished school and decided to pursue higher education, I realised they wanted nothing to do with me,” she says.
With nowhere to go, Nakshatra lived on the streets for several months, taking on odd jobs, until she found an NGO that provided her with both employment and shelter.
Saving the money from her numerous odd jobs, she was able to collect enough to start her own shelter in a rented place.
“People have prejudices and taboos. They were hesitant to provide me with a place. After searching for many months, I finally found a location in the city,” she recalls.
Her shelter home, Nammane Summane, now operates as an all-inclusive shelter home that embraces everyone in need.
She lives with 150 individuals, including those with disabilities, homeless individuals, abandoned elderly people and orphans.