Eunuch creating AIDS awareness within her community

New Delhi: According to the latest UN figures, nearly 2.5 million men and women in India are HIV+. But these figures have overlooked transgender people. "When I walk on the road, I don't want to be seen just as a eunuch. But I want an identity of my own," says Muskaan. A 24-year-old transgender and a graduate in Economics, Muskaan like many others of her samaj always leads a life in isolation. "We can't live everywhere because the society doesn't let us. What can we do? And we even if we are literate, we don’t get jobs," she says. But the last few months have been different. Muskaan has been roped in to work with Naaz foundation to create awareness about HIV and AIDS in her community. "In my community not everybody is aware. So through this project I am trying to spread awareness so that nobody gets affected," says she. Today, 2.5 million Indians are reported to be affected with HIV or AIDS, but experts feel that the numbers that go unreported are far more. "There is no count as such that so many number of transgender people are effected and so many from other communities but its prevalent everywhere so they are at risk,” says Project Manager, Naaz, Sumit Dutta. Muskaan is now training to make a film to promote the use of condoms. While the project is going to last another month or two, she hopes to achieve much more. "What I really want to do is try and bridge the gap. I'd ask people to talk to us frankly and we'll talk frankly too. We are not bad people. Please don't force us. We want to co exist in the society. So please help us," says Muskaan. With people like Muskaan coming forward to bridge the gap and create awareness, there's no reason why we shouldn't do the same. And if you find it difficult to fight the apprehensions, just ask yourself does the virus know how to differentiate when it strikes? The answer would be not really.