India's first transgender college principal says her struggle to be recognised as a "third gender" was not easy in the largely conservative country and urged the government to provide jobs for sexual minorities who often face discrimination and abuse.
Manabi Bandyopadhyay, 50, hit the headlines last month when the professor of philosophy and Bengali was appointed principal at Krishnagar Women's College in the eastern state of West Bengal.
But Bandyopadhyay, who underwent a sex change operation in 2003 to become a woman, says her two-decade-long journey to the top of academia was fraught with jibes and harassment and called on authorities to do more to support transgenders.
"In schools, colleges, all my life I was ridiculed for my effeminate ways," said Bandyopadhyay, who was born under the male name of Somnath and brought up in a village.
Due to their lack of access to jobs and education, many of India's male-to-female transgenders - also known as "hijras" - are forced to work as sex workers or beg on the streets.
"Many of the transgenders are on the streets begging in the absence of a job," Bandyopadhyay said. "The Supreme Court of India has ruled in our favour and the government should think about their employment."