With pain in her heart, and tears in her eyes, she recalls her journey from the streets to the self-reliant person that she is today. 37-year-old Tasneem was born in Tirupur. When the family found out that she was a transgender person, they disowned her. But, from a position of helplessness, she has now become independent and continues to lend a helping hand to those who need it the most.

She is also the founder of Chain Charitable Trust, and she runs a catering business called Halal Catering Services, out of the kitchen of her home in Coimbatore. She shares with us that she still has a long way to go in the odyssey called life.

For the rest of the world, Tasneem has come a long way since her days on the street, but the wounds are still raw in her heart. She fights back tears when she talks about the journey of her life. After the death of her mother, she knew that there was no place for her in her family. “My family felt ashamed that I was a transgender. I had no other option but to leave home. The streets became my home. I was just 16 years old then,” Tasneem says.

Like most of the transgenders, she took to begging on the streets. There were times when she did not get food for two to three days at a stretch. Tired of hunger and the ill treatment that was meted out to her, Tasneem boarded a train to Bengaluru, hoping to make the city her permanent home. To her disappointment, she found it difficult to cope with the life in the I.T capital of the country. In the year 2008, she came to Coimbatore. The city has been her home since then.

In the year 2011, Tasneem began self introspecting, trying to find the purpose of her life. That was when she met social activist Anjali Ajeeth, who helped Tasneem set up her catering business. “It was Anjali who gave me my first catering order. She is also instrumental in helping me with many more orders. Slowly, my business grew, and with the growing business, grew the level of my confidence too,” Tasneem says.

She says that the experiences of her life only made her stronger than before. In fact, it was all those bitter memories that prompted her to lend a helping hand to those who are struggling to make ends meet.

In 2014, Tasneem founded the Chain Charitable Trust. Through the trust, she has helped widows with funds and donations in kind. She also sponsors education for many children. Plus, she tells us that she also supports the economically backward families with monthly supplies of groceries.

When asked about the number of people she had helped, in a jiffy comes the answer, “I do not keep track of numbers. I help as and when I can. I have been through a lot of hardships in life. So, as far as possible, I try to help people who are facing difficult times in their life.”

Tasneem has become a regular speaker at colleges in and around Coimbatore. She visits colleges on invitations, and delivers her self-scripted talk on subjects like choosing the right career, taking care of parents, and accepting life as it comes. Her message to the world is, “Children are God’s gift. Parents must accept children just the way they are. Similarly, parents too are God’s gift. Children must take care of their parents until their end.”

With a catering order to deliver, and her mobile phone ringing, Tasneem excuses herself.