NAAZ JOSHI - A TALE OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Prejudice around the trans community isn’t new in the world, though we are in the 21st century.

Challenging and fighting to change this taboo might take more than a lifetime, while trans beauty queen Naaz Joshi has dedicated herself to the cause.

The name ‘Naaz’ itself means pride; the beauty queen fought a lot of prejudice while making her country proud. Winner of eight titles, one national and seven international, Naaz was born as a boy ‘Aziya’ in a middle-class family in Delhi.

Today the world takes pride in Naaz as a trans activist, Empress Earth, mental health activist, and a single mother but the struggle and trauma before all this is what we need to understand. Born as a boy, Naaz always loved to dress up as a girl wearing her mom’s makeup and playing with stuffed toys. Indian families are a reflection of our society, and eventually, it became emotionally exhausting for her to be someone she’s not.

At 11, Naaz was sent away to some relatives in Mumbai, where she worked at dhabas at night and went to school during the day. Naaz remembers her grandmother saying that education is the only ‘dhan’ that no one can take away from you. While staying with her relatives, one of her cousins raped her, leaving her emotionally and physically scarred for life.

By the time she was 18, Naaz had to work as a bar dancer before meeting her cousin Viveka Babajee who inspired her to be a fashion designer. The dream came true when she got into the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, in 2009 and worked for top designers like Ritu Kumar and Ritu Beri. But she struggled in making it as a designer as the karigaars were prejudiced against her and won't stitch her designs. Prejudice is so deeply rooted in our society that even Naaz’s boutique wasn’t able to sustain it.