A Navi Mumbai cafe offers people from the transgender community a platform to train, get employment, and be integrated into society.

A cafe in Navi Mumbai is setting an example for the entire country by employing transgenders. The Third Eye Cafe is located in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, and employs them to serve guests.

Image Source: Navi Mumbai

While speaking to the First Post, Nimesh Shetty, one of the founders of Third Eye Cafe, said,

"This is one platform where transgender people can come, get trained, work, and progress in life."

People from the transgender community often face a lot of discrimination, and often do not get job opportunities. With this initiative, Third Eye Cafe wants to the change the overall perspective of people in the society. The cafe believes that the transgender community is not looking for any sympathy or empathy, but is looking for what is rightfully theirs, like job opportunities.

Sana Khanna, one of the employees who serves tables at the Third Eye Cafe, was rejected from several jobs because she is a transgender. She would go to different functions and bless hosts- a custom that is considered to bring luck- until she was employed at the cafe. While speaking about the discrimination she had faced, she told the Hindustan Times,

"Although we say Indian society is changing, that’s not really the case. We are still looked at differently by people."

Presently, the cafe has six employees from the transgender community- four work as table attendants, one in the kitchen, and one is employed as a manager. The Third Eye Cafe employees around 20 people, and is looking to hire more from the transgender community in future.

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