Women face numerous challenges in their daily lives but for Anjali Lama, each day was indeed a challenge in her life.
Anjali Lama had an inspiring journey which may touch thousands of people to be themselves. She was born in a small village of Nepal as a boy namely Nabin Wahiba but she never felt like a boy. She wanted to behave and dress up the way girls did and often got confused when she did not feel like dressing up as a boy.
She only had female friends in her school so she was teased a lot by her brothers for having female friends and also owning a girly behaviour.
As time passed by, she moved to a city in Nepal for college and there she came to know about transgender community and so many others like her. With the help of Blue Diamond Society, Anjali Lama discovered her true identity, that of a transgender and that she claims was the happiest day of her life.
Her family was shocked when they learnt the truth and told her that she was dead to them. She threw away all her menswear and became who she really was.
Her career in the world of modelling started unexpectedly as Anjali has never thought of becoming a model, despite being told several times that she looked like a model with her perfect physique and height.
Her family was shocked when they learnt the truth and told her that she was dead to them. She threw away all her menswear and became who she really was
She had tried pursuing modelling in Nepal but opportunities were few and for transgender persons even fewer. She received countless rejections in Nepal despite having the quality and potential and the reason was her gender. After auditioning for three years in Nepal, Anjali decided to move to Mumbai.
She says that every landlord refused her as a tenant owing to her gender. She auditioned for Lakme Fashion Week, which is the biggest fashion event in India and got rejected. Anjali says rejections gave her the power and strength as she was rejected twice but finally she was selected for Lakme Fashion Week in 2017. Anjali became the first transgender model to walk at the prestigious fashion week.
She always wanted to be an inspiration for the transgender community and her mission was to convince transgenders to stop hiding their true identity form the world. She says that the world will accept you one day if only you accept the way you are. She says something really inspiring, “You can’t be afraid to be you. Those who don’t dare, don’t live. Initially, it will be very tough, but don’t let the problems scare you, because beyond hardships, you get happiness like you felt never before.”
Thus, Anjali became a true inspiration for her entire community.
The writer is a student and can be reached at [email protected]