An Elderly Couple Adopted And Provided Shelter To Transgender Couple

Rudra Pratap Singh and Dhananjay Chauhan had given up faith of finding a safe shelter until they were rescued by a Chandigarh-based nonagenarian couple. The elderly couple, who lived in the city's Sector 30 community, won hearts for their charity and acceptance of the trans couple as they were facing problems for getting shelter.

Darbara Singh Chahal, an advocate, and his wife, Shamsher Kaur Chahal, adopted the two and provided them with a home free of prejudice and judgement. The parents agreed to take them in after their daughters suggested it.

With their presence, their house began to feel like a home. They are treated as children by the Chahals, who claim that there is never a "dull moment" in the house while they are present there.

Rudra, formerly Mitali, was born in Lucknow and was shunned by his family because to his transformation. According to Rudra, her family in Lucknow, particularly her brother, could not accept the fact that he was no longer Mitali, but Rudra. They struggled to accept him as a man, and they proceeded to address him with female pronouns, causing dysphoria, reported The Logical Indian.

Even it was also difficult for Dhananjay to accept her true identity, and it became a big source of discrimination for her family. Because of her, no one wanted to marry her brother's children. So, despite her family's silence, she left them to make their lives simpler.

She decided to return to Chandigarh in order to create awareness about LGBTQIA+ rights. She was a driving force behind the establishment of a transgender washroom at Punjab University, and she continued to advocate for the community.

Previously, the pair lived in Halomajra, a municipal slum. Despite the fact that they lived a life free of challenges, they still desired a family and hoped to care for them. There couple explained that there were so many elderly people whose children have moved away and are unable to care for them, and there are many transsexual individuals who are starving of love and would love to care for them.

Dhananjay resumed his Kathak studies at the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Academy during their stay in the city. When she revealed out as transgender, she had to withdraw it at first.

She did, however, meet a woman named Samira Kosar who urged her to resume dancing. She is the daughter of the elderly Chahals, whom she convinced to adopt the couple.

Dhananjay recalls that when Samira learned that she had gone to a 'badhai' which is an occasion where transgender individuals are called to bless a new couple or child and that she lived in a slum area, she told her parents about them and they chose to adopt them.