GUEST LECTURE Dr. Kanchan Pawar, Mr. Rajesh More and Ms. Surekha Bhave

Dr. Kanchan Pawar, Mr. Rajesh More and Ms. Surekha Bhave

To raise awareness regarding one of the most neglected society of our nation a group of students (Saumya, Pooja, Jainy , Shashwat Sajal and Mahima )belonging to the TY batch put up a presentation on Transgender Awareness. The presentation included the showcasing of a few documentaries which gave an insight into the real world of the transgenders and eunuchs. The group members in order to prepare for the presentation also went to the areas in Laxmi Nagar where the transgender community lives in Pune. They had a talk with Dr. Kanchan Pawar who works alongside various organizations like Udaan who works for the development of transgenders. An opportunity to have one to one interaction with various transgender who poured out everything they had experienced till date from the society also happened. A majority of the issues were abandonment from friends and family, laid off from their work place and complete seclusion from society.

A few days later the group organized a talk for which an open invitation was sent to all the students, staff, and faculty of SSE so that all those who are interested can come and have an open discussion with Dr. Kanchan Pawar, Mr. Rajesh More, and Ms. Surekha Bhave. The talk was extremely insightful and made us realize that their position in the society is absolutely pathetic. They only thing they want is the social standing similar to any other citizen of this country. They want to be treated as equals and be given the same opportunities as anyone else whose identity is no longer a question mark in the eyes of the general public of India. A lot of terms which we hear every day were explained to us.

The students were extremely inquisitive which led us to have an extremely open Q&A round. All the questions were answered without any hesitation. At the end of this talk, the students felt educated enough about this issue and promised to help the members of the organization to come in handy whenever volunteer support will be required.