Identities are not mere markers we are known by; they define as well as limit us. They can both confine or release a consciousness. I Am Vidya is the story of one such journey?that of a declaration, of the claiming of an identity. It is an assertion of a consciousness that has suffered the agony of being trapped in a mould it does not belong to, a body it does not identify with. Vidya has lived through all the indignities forced upon a tirunangai, a transgender, by a society which divides and defines itself as men and women in terms of biology alone?from being spurned by her family, to begging on the streets as a social outcast; from donning a woman?s clothes, to undergoing excruciating surgery to lose her ?manhood?; from suffering emotional and physical harassment, to arriving at her true identity. A compelling narrative about a woman trapped within a man?s body, this is a story of extraordinary courage and perseverance.