DNAIndia.com – Arun Ram
Chennai: Malaika wants to be a model and win the Miss India pageant. Rose is looking for her dream man to settle down with.
Nothing unusual about these wishes except that till recently, neither would have come true. Rose, 28, an engineering student, and Malaika, 29, a hotel management graduate, were both born men.
It’s only after a sex reassignment surgery (SRS) which gave them a ?proper vagina instead of the ugly bulge?, that they became among the first Indians to go public about their sex change.
Sex reassignment is still new in India, but activism and awareness have prompted more people to opt for it. Mumbai sexologist Prakash Kothari says he gets five to seven queries a month about SRS, and refers two for surgery every year. ?This is a large number compared to five years ago,? he adds.
?Internet-aided awareness is bringing transsexuals seeking SRS out in the open.? Sunil Keswani of Breach Candy and Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai, carries out at least two sex change procedures every year.