Kami Sid

When making this call to Karachi, we cannot help but recall that it's been exactly a year since the cold-blooded murder of 23-year-old Alisha, a transgender activist, who was shot seven times in northern Pakistan's Pakhtunkhwa province. Even as the brutal killing made headlines globally, the attacks on the transgender community continued. So, during the end of last year, when 26-year-old Kami Sid flooded social media timelines, posing nonchalantly in a heavily-embroidered sari - the world was forced to take notice. Not because Sid is strikingly gorgeous, but because in the tumultuous year for transgenders in Pakistan, one person had emerged as a baton of hope, becoming the first transgender model to have come out of the country.

Sid, who turns 27 today, hasn't forgotten what happened to Alisha, even though she didn't know her personally. If anything, she feels grateful to be alive. "It's not easy to survive here," says the model in a telephonic interview. "But, Karachi is my home, and there's no way I am leaving this city, darling," she explains in a husky drawl.