Bhumika Shrestha is a transgender activist working for Blue Diamond Society and general convention member at Nepali Congress party. In the CA election of 2013, she had even run as a proportional candidate for Constituency 9 in Kathmandu, which she also won by majority. Unfortunately, later she was brought down, citing ‘technical problem’ with her citizenship.
But undeterred, she continues to work for transgender rights, and is known for her high-spiritedness, and friendly and frank nature. Below are five things many might not know about her.
She is short–tempered
The shock of which falls upon her mother, friends, political leaders, police officers and pretty much everybody who pisses her off. “One time a traffic police stopped me to check my license. My license had the photo and identity of the boy version of me, but I was driving as a girl. While I understood the officer’s confusion, I was totally enraged when he so very insensitively asked, ‘What kind of a person are you?’ It certainly was none of his business to worry about what kind of a person I was. Even when I tried to explain, he interrogated me further in the middle of the road, which was really embarrassing. So I snatched my license from him and said, ‘Research on who transgenders are first and then we shall talk,’ and drove off.”
She is way too jolly to be taken seriously
Bhumika is one of those jovial persons, who walks with her head high, jokes a lot and even talks to strangers. But even the jolliest people feel blue at times. “Whenever I try to talk about serious issues with my friends, they think I’m fooling around. Later upon scolding them, they finally understand and say, ‘How are we supposed to know if you are actually serious or joking?'”
She never exercises
Hard to believe of someone who has little visible fat in her body, Bhumika confesses to being an absolute foodie who never works out. “I love eating. Especially those scrumptious fattening junks, but I never bother to exercise nor worry about an imminent paunch, unlike so many of my friends,” she says. While her friends consciously pick their food and talk about their exercise routine, she is hardly able to relate to it. “I guess I just won the genetic lottery! For some reason, I don’t gain weight so easily,” she adds. The only time she remembers exercising was when she went jogging with her diabetic mother for not being able to say no to her. “After two days, I got lazy.”
Her childhood ambition was to become a choreographer
She grew up dreaming of becoming a graceful dance director. However, life took its own course, and becoming a choreographer became a distant dream. But unhappy she is not. “Right now I don’t know what my aim in life is, but I’m definitely a much happier person. Growing up, I remember wondering if I’ll always live feeling trapped inside my own body, but today I don’t think there’s anyone as happy as I am.”
Assignments make her anxious
Even this go-getter gets butterflies in her stomach whenever she has assignments on hand and deadlines to meet. “Not being able to complete an assignment is my biggest fear. And no matter how hard I try, I never seem to be able to complete it on time,” she admits. Bhumika is often known for missing deadlines, but she successfully deals with the disgruntled party with her jolly nature. “I know this charm isn’t going to work forever, so I’m trying to mend my ways.”
