Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Life wasn’t a bed of roses

PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAO

Breaking barriers Rose

When Rose approached television channels for a chance to anchor a talk show, she was often shown the door. For most programme executives, the idea of Rose as show host was unacceptable. The humiliation did not deter her. She was used to feeling humil iated while living as Ramesh Venkatesan.

Ramesh’s ordeal began at an early age. He felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body. Ramesh tried hard to be the boy everyone thought he was, but his real nature could not be hidden. Markedly feminine, his mannerisms drew sniggers from his classmates. “There was an identity struggle within me. I felt like a girl, but was not sure if that is what I had to be.”

Ramesh did well in his studies. He was the school topper in the tenth board exams. “Neither my family nor my relatives could boast of many high achievers in education. So, my performance at school and college was something to be celebrated. My family was so happy with my excellent academic record that they failed to notice anything different in my mannerisms.”

For his higher secondary, Ramesh moved to an all-boys school. In the midst of these adolescents, Ramesh faced peculiar problems. Pornographic magazines were one. “While the boys drooled over the women in the pictures, I pretended to be interested in them (the women). I would pass bawdy comments about the women to show I was man enough. In reality, only the men in those pictures interested me.”

Still in the closet, Ramesh completed a degree in mechanical engineering at a college in suburban Chennai. For his Masters, he went to Louisiana Tech University. Wherever he went, Ramesh encountered people who, egged on by his mannerisms, taunted him, but “ I slowly learnt how to be me.” During a vacation in Chennai, he met a group of people that was in the process of changing its gender. “That is when I decided I was going to be a woman.”

Ramesh bloomed into Rose, but did not want the world to know. “People outside the U.S. think the country fosters an open culture. But, you would be surprised at the level of homophobia prevalent there. I did not want to invite trouble. Studies were my sole focus.”

After she finished her course successfully, Rose landed herself in a spot of trouble.

“I was attracted to a guy who was my roommate. When I approached him, he threatened me with a knife and told all the Indian students about me.” Following an abortive suicide attempt, she returned to India without collecting the MS degree certificate, which the University subsequently couriered.

Back home, trouble was brewing. Her family was engaged in a hunt for a bride — for Rose! That is when Rose broke the news; the family was shattered. “It is the biggest tragedy that can happen to any family,” says Rose.

But, Rose no longer saw any meaning in pretending to be what she could never be. She wanted to live as a transgender and still be part of the mainstream. A fan of Oprah Winfrey, she had for long dreamt of hosting a talk show. After Rose faced many rejections, Star Vijay TV took her up on her proposal.

“Ippadiku Rose” made Rose an instant celebrity — and why not. She was the first transgender to host a television show in India. The talk show came to an end, but by then it had opened many doors for Rose.

She is now busy with a film project as assistant director to Vetrimaran (the man behind Dhanush-starrer “Pollathavan”). Equally keen on making television programmes, Rose completed a diploma programme in television direction at RACE Loyola, run by Loyola College.

At present, she is in talks with another local television channel to host and create content for a show. Her ambition is bigger than that — “Ultimately, I want to be a name to reckon with in the international media.”

Rose writes about rights of sexual minorities and is associated with NGOs (such as Thai, Swam, Sagotharan and CHESS) that campaign for them.

Rose says that Tamil Nadu is way ahead of the other States when it comes to welfare measures for transgenders.

“In Tamil Nadu, transgenders are accepted as the third gender. There is a special welfare board for them. Thanks to the accommodative attitude, transgenders fleeing persecution in other States choose to live here.”

Rose wants to talk about issues bothering transgenders, but says that it is not her main agenda.

“I am not God. Through my life, I just want to show that transgenders are like anybody else. They are talented and ambitious and can live with their head held high.”

To know more about Rose and her plans for the future, visit close2rose.com

PRINCE FREDERICK

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail