Rose was born the third 'son' among four children born to not-so-educated middle class parents in Chennai. Right from when she was five years old, Rose knew there was something wrong with her. She felt like a girl and liked to dress like one. She preferred wearing her younger sister's clothes all the time, and for that she was teased by all her relatives. When they commented, "You should have been born a girl but by some mistake, you were born a boy," Rose did not understand what exactly they meant. She only knew she was being natural.
The trouble started when the male hormones started kicking in and the male characteristics became dominant. So, in school, she was teased for her feminine behaviour, and she found it "terrible".
"I was born a boy, but deep inside I am a girl. When I think, I see only a woman inside me, and not a man. That is why I have these cross-gender feelings. You should also understand that a transgender person is not one born with genital defects. The body has a gender and the mind has another. When there is this mismatch between the two, the person becomes a transgender. Roughly about two per cent to five per cent of people have cross-gender feelings. Many people ask me, 'why do you people exaggerate feminine behaviour?' When it comes from a male body, you get the feeling that we overdo it. Actually we don't."
When young Rose realised that there was a mismatch between her mind and body, it was unbearable. "It was one of the most traumatic periods of my life. I was so depressed that I wanted to commit suicide. Why? For being natural! I was falling in love with guys because in my mind, I am a woman. But I was treated like a cheap joker by everyone."
In order to forget the pain and confusion, the teenager tried to immerse herself in studies. She topped her school in class 10 exams and finished among the top ten in class 12.
Without any difficulty, she got admission in a good engineering college in Chennai. She continued to do well in college too, but in college, what gave her pleasure was acting in plays "cross-dressing"as a girl. Though she pretended she didn't like to cross-dress, she "really enjoyed" it.
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