Transgender community opens 'Covai Trans Kitchen' in Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu has had a few firsts with regard to rehabilitating transgender community. From the first TV anchor to setting up a Tamil Nadu Aravanigal Welfare Board in 2008, there have been many notable developments.

With the coronavirus affecting this community like everyone else, a group consisting of ten transwomen started a 32-seater eatery called the 'Covai Trans Kitchen'. The restaurant specialises in dum biryani, along with other dishes and snacks.

This is the third outlet the transgender team is managing after the first two got closed down in Coimbatore. With a varied age group profile from 18-60 years, it is totally managed by them.

A local college's hotel management department gave a 50-member transgender group a three-week training in new recipes, apart from dum biryani which was their mainstay. The group got support from central government organization NABARD and a few non-profit organisations too.

The plan now is to run the new restaurant well and attain a profit margin of Rs 2000 per day, says Lakshmi, one of the team members. With new dishes and including of north Indian items, the group is confident that they would do well and also open a new branch soon in Coimbatore. This would be a major milestone for them to stop begging and be self-dependent.