Gaurav Arora to Gauri Arora: The transformation
A six feet tall, taut and tone bodied, when he appeared on the cover of India’s leading men’s fitness magazines in 2014, he had a 40–30- 36 physique, eight-pack abs and 16-inch biceps. At 24, this Mumbai-based model already had offers from Bigg Boss 10 and several agencies for shoots, but she had stars in her eyes about achieving a 32–24- 36 figure and making it to the cover of a fashion magazine in the near future.
Gaurav Arora was one of the most remembered contestants on MTV Splitsvilla. He was the first one on the show to openly talk about and acknowledge his bisexuality on national television. Since then, Gaurav had taken it a step further and decided to embrace a new life as Gauri Arora. Yes, he transformed himself and wanted to be treated like any other simple Indian girl. In conversation with Gauri, she said, “I used to always crave for women’s make-up, clothing, accessories etc. I even gave up my career because I was a hot guy who was the face of a leading magazine. I got a lot of offers from TV shows but I gave up because I always felt like I was trapped inside my own body. I used to think like a woman but I used to dress up like a man which made me feel bad and left me with no choices”.
Gaurav featured on the reality show last year. Recently, he had modified his body completely. With a figure that even ramp models would be jealous of, Gaurav currently wanted the world to call him and know him as Gauri. “Initially when I started no one supported me but in my case its little weird that when I was a gay with muscles and stuff people used to laugh at me but after “conditioning”, people gave me respect. No one actually ever supported me. Nobody could actually understand what I had to go through. Even a psychiatrist wouldn’t because at the end of the day when I went to bed I knew what I wanted and nobody other than I would understand that”, said Gauri.
He was Gaurav Arora sometime back. Now he is Gauri Arora. Name was not the only thing he had changed. He was also a woman now. She also said, “According to me, Feminity does not come with the heels you wear but it comes with your mind set and the way you approach any situation .There was a situation when I was called to audition as a gay and I went there wearing heels. So when the producer saw me he told me that I don’t look like a gay, I look like a girl. So that’s when I realized that I was stuck in between becoming a girl and a boy. I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to prove to the world. That’s when I decided I won’t take up any projects till I get done with my surgeries and till I become a good looking woman because I wanted people to call me ma’am and consider me like a woman”.
While everyone might be taken aback with his decision to declare to the world about his sexuality, not many would know his real struggle. “In all these years, I have tried so many times to be a girl. But because of constant pressure from my parents and society to look like a (straight) boy, I could never come out. I was never allowed to talk about how I felt inside. People used to laugh at me. I even tried to commit suicide,” shared Gauri.
Gauri had come out to be very bold to show any hatred to anybody who tried to criticize her. She said, “I never react back to them. In my 24 years of life, I have realized that people who are financially and emotionally secured will accept any kind of human being. It’s those who are insecure, unsuccessful and not educated that they try to criticize. They would never want to understand what you are going through and how you have reached a certain level in your life. They will always hate you no matter what”.
Not ashamed of living life on her terms, she said, “Yahi toh thi main (This is what I am and have always been). I gave birth to myself again. I went against society, friends, parents and everyone else.”
While many shy away due to societal pressures and stigma, Gauri came out of it, like a true winner.
