Noori Mohammad's battle began at home.“Home, which is supposed to be a safe space, turned out to be a nightmare due to my identity,” says Noori, a transgender woman who has survived more adversities than most can imagine.

Her childhood was scarred by loss - two siblings gone too soon, and a mother she lost at the age of four. Life under her stepmother offered no solace.“My stepmother made it miserable for me. She tortured me,” she recalls. Even the promise of education was withheld,“I was allowed to study for three years, from first to third standard, and then asked to discontinue.”

She remembers neighbours taunting her father.“Salim Bhai, your son is walking like a girl”, and the beatings that followed.“One day my father got furious and beat me. That day, I decided to run away from home.”

Her escape into the bustling streets of Mannadi brought freedom wrapped in danger. Harassment, exploitation and the constant fear of violence shadowed her daily life. But she soldiered on, working as a house help for survival.“I ran away because I was unable to handle the pressure and ill-treatment received from my family,” she recounts.

A brief return home in 1972, after her father's death, only pushed her further away when her stepmother arranged a marriage for her forcing Noori to flee again. This time, she boarded a train to Mumbai.

In Mumbai, fate nudged her into the Hijra community.“She had a cigar in her hand,” Noori says of Pattama, the woman who first helped her. The next seven years were spent hustling through odd jobs, including begging, all while nursing the dream of becoming a teacher.

Then love happened.

A gentle army man named Dutta became her anchor.“Slowly it turned into love,” she says, smiling at the memory. Noori underwent a painful traditional gender affirmation ritual performed by the community itself. They married in Borgaon.“I don't care if she is transgender. She is a woman to my heart, and that's all that matters,” Dutta had said.

Sixteen golden years followed until tragedy struck in 1985 when Dutta died in a jet crash. Her world collapsed. With no support, no acceptance, and no opportunities, she was pushed into sex work.“I was forced to become a commercial sex worker as nobody was ready to employ me,” she says.

'I'm Proof HIV Isn't a Death Sentence'

In 1987, she tested positive for HIV.“On July 22, 1987, I was the second person to be tested positive for HIV in India,” she says. Doctors gave her only a year or two to live. But a compassionate doctor, Usha Raghavan, stepped in, offering counselling, support, and the perspective Noori needed to fight back.

Noori channelled her struggles into activism. She worked in the STD department of Chennai's Government Hospital, assisted other sex workers, and became a powerful voice in HIV awareness efforts. But society remained cruel.“I was given pig's fodder to eat as lunch,” she recalls of an outreach meeting.

Her mission caught the eye of Dr Joseph Williams of VHS Hospital. Together, they established the South India Positive Network, with Noori rising to its presidency. She spearheaded projects, recruited staff, and built a movement of empowerment.

Her turning point came in 2003. The birth of the SIP Memorial Trust, named after her friends Selvi, Indira, and Pazhani, who succumbed to HIV. Initially an awareness outfit, the Trust soon became a sanctuary for abandoned HIV-positive children. Noori rescued infants left to die, raised them, educated them, and gave them a life society tried to deny.

“The first baby I rescued was a two-day-old female child... I decided to provide a good living for the child,” she says of her first rescue in 2006.

Today, over 400 children have found a home under her care - fed, educated, loved and shielded from the cruelty she once endured. She has invested Rs 3 crore to build a safe haven for them.“I haven't saved anything for myself. All I do right now is for them and their future,” she says with pride.

“Noori aaya has always prioritised education,” says Naga Thejas, one of her children, now pursuing a master's degree in social work.

Noori herself has broken barriers becoming the first transgender person in Tamil Nadu to hold a passport and ration card, and serving in over 22 leadership roles across South Asia's HIV activism landscape.

Her message,“People shouldn't fear HIV... I'm living proof that HIV isn't a death sentence. All you need is the right perspective.”

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