I was asked at an interview if my breasts can produce milk, if I can conceive a child after sexual intercourse: Kolkata teacher who underwent sexual reconstruction surgery recalls horror at school interviews

I was born in May 1987 – I was male, my name was Hiranmoy Dey. But I was a girl trapped in a male body. My biological self was not in sync with my psychological self. I suffered from emotional identity crisis – a gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder. I ran from pillar to post in order to rectify this.

My father died at a young age and I started giving tuitions to children from very early in life to earn my livelihood. A lot of people gave me false hope and promised sex change operation, they lured me with money to sponsor my surgery but when I went to them trusting them thinking they were being kind to me, I was physically abused by them and even sodomised. I was despondent and went into deep depression at that time. Then I read an article about Dr Manabi Bandopadhyay and went to her to understand how to undergo the surgery. She guided me.

Then I responded to an advertisement in a newspaper offering a job in a school in Jhansi. The director of the school found my CV attractive and she called me for an interview. She didn’t call me back however. Later, she again contacted me through Truecaller, and then eventually when she heard about my plight, she told me that her brother-in-law was a renowned cosmetic surgeon in Delhi, and was an expert in sex change operations. She asked me how much I could pay. Could I pay Rs 80,000? I agreed because I was desperate to change my sex. It was my hard earned money which I took to Delhi for the operation.

Ten days after the surgery, I was back in Kolkata and was staying with a friend Piya Acharya. A medical emergency ensued as I started bleeding profusely. Piya signed a bond for me when she admitted me to hospital. If I am alive today, it is only due to her. Later, I came across Dr Manoj Khanna, who told me that the operation in Delhi had been done just to dupe me. I tried to contact the doctor there, but he refused to take calls and blocked me on WhatsApp.

I was shattered. I had lost my life’s entire savings on the operation. I hadn’t informed my family about it. Even my mother didn’t know anything about the operation. However, it is only my mother who understood my plight and stood by me. The others in my family snapped ties with me.

Dr Khanna and Dr Sashanka Chatterjee later did a reconstruction surgery in 2018. I became Suchitra Dey.

I have done double MA in English and Geography, apart from a B.Ed. I teach at a private school. My wish is always to upgrade myself. So I sent job applications to several schools. All these schools found my CV attractive and called me for interviews.

Recently, I went to several schools in Joka and Thakurpukur area – all of them affiliated to the ICSE board – for interviews. In each of these interviews, I faced humiliation of the worst kind. They asked me all sorts of irrelevant questions without asking me anything about teaching or my qualifications. They asked me to wear male outfits because all my mark sheets and certificates show me as male. But why should I change those? At that time I was male. That is a fact. I don’t want to deny my past because of who I am today.

The male principal of one of these schools asked me whether I can bear a child after sexual intercourse. He asked me if my breasts could produce milk. All this reflect the mindset of the people. If I can face such things – being a teacher and with such academic qualification – imagine the plight of those who haven’t got the opportunity to go to school, who have been shunned by their family, friends and society.

I have written to the West Bengal Human Rights Commission seeking justice. The chairman of the WBHRC assured me he will look into the matter with care.

Photographs: Courtesy Suchitra Dey.