An inspiration for all, 27-Year-old Urooz Hussain is a transwomen from Bihar who has set up her own cafe in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida at Sector 119. Having faced harassment at the workplace, Urooz Hussain decided to turn entrepreneur to beat the system that discriminates against transpeople. The name of the cafe is 'Street Temptation’ and Hussain hopes to become financially independent through this.
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“I was subjected to harassment at my workplaces so I decided to start my own cafe that treats everyone equally.”, said Hussain to news agency ANI. Further, Hussain also said, “I hope this can inspire others from my community.”
Apart from being a restaurant owner, Hussain is also the co-founder of ‘I Love Noida’, which is the first selfie point in Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier during a video interview with The Quint, Hussain said people see her as a transgender first and then an entrepreneur. Opening up on her journey, Hussain said, “I was born as a ‘normal’ child, a boy. However, later I realized that even though I have a male body, my feelings were those of a girl." Hussain also said it was difficult with male relatives constantly bullying. "I started questioning my identity in my early teenage years. Also, my father is a strict man. He created some restrictions for me which expected me to behave within the boundaries ie as a boy. I was not okay with it. I spent my younger ages playing with dolls and I interacted more with girls than I did with boys.”
Adding further, Hussain said she left her home in 2013 and shifted to Delhi where she began her transition as a transwoman.
Sharing her experience of workplace harassment and feeling of humiliation, transwoman Urooz Hussain said, “People continually assume that all transgenders just beg, clap, and are sex workers. But this is far from the truth.” “When I was working as an intern, people used to tease me and bully me a lot. they passed bad comments which demoralized me. It troubled me beyond words. I experienced similar feelings of humiliation at different workplaces. I started isolating myself but later, I reached a point where I thought this is it. Soon later, I gathered myself together and started my own Restaurant.”
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Talking about the pandemic period, Hussain talked of facing financial difficulties. “At some point, I thought of selling my restaurant, but I had some savings which I had given to doctors for my surgery. I took that back and continued to run the restaurant,” she added.
Hussain wishes to inspire future generations and ensures job security to any transperson at her cafe. She said, “No transperson will face harassment here and can work freely and happily.”
The state of transgender people in India deserves far more headlines. It's also important for us to normalise the idea that transgender people are working, achieving and becoming role models. In an earlier interview with SheThePeople, transwoman Trinetra Haldar said, part of the problem why transpeople are not given enough platform is because our Bollywood films and popculture 'have reduced them to a joke.'
With stories such as Hussain's will trigger a change in our mindsets and celebrate those breaking barriers in the trans community.
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