Neelam hopes that she will find a new job soon.

Reading books is one of her favorite past times.

Neelam Paudel, 21, from Morang, Nepal, is transgender.

Neelam loves to wear the dresses of a girl. She says she likes makeup kits.

Neelam, cleaning spinach, for her lunch on Sept 13, 2013. She loves cooking and likes Chinese food.

Neelam has been looking for a job in Kathmandu but has remained unsuccessful because most of the offices she approached rejected her because of her sexual orientation.

Neelam was studying in class 8 that she knew she was transgender. She was afraid at first to tell it to others. She used to live in loneliness and wasn’t comfortable with others then.

Neelam chats with her friends through a mobile device to update that she curled her hair.

It was during a radio interview that Neelam made it public that she is a transgender. Her parents who were listening to the radio program knew about it then. She now openly lives as a transgender.

But living as a transgender in a conservative Nepali society is not easy. She feels bad when people call her “hijada” but now she has learnt not to listen such words.

Neelam hopes that she will find a new job soon.

Transgenders at young age are vulnerable to rape and they don’t report such incident because they are afraid to come in public, Neelam shared.

Neelam says she is happy that she is a transgender. “I don’t feel bad about it,” she told.