‘Sanitation’ seems to be the buzzword in the year 2016. But for this bunch of 12 students from Khalsa College the discussion has moved far beyond the mere construction of toilets; instead they chose to look at the issue of access. While much has been said about the accessibility of toilets for women, this group chose to talk about a community about whom not much is said about in any case.
Their topic materialized as the “Access to Public Toilets for Transgenders in Mumbai”. While this study gave them a chance to hear about they lives about a community that this far they had been disconnected from, their research findings were clear and defined. In general, the Kothi community felt that their self-identification as women should entitle them access to female toilets but the Hijra community put in their demand for a separate section all together. They shared that this will endorse their identity as a third gender as well as spare them from physical and mental harassment.
