Condition of Transgenders in India

As it is commonly said- Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus and.... No, there is no ‘and’. That is quite obvious. The subject of my today’s posts – The Transgenders – are from hell. That is why we scream with our fake American accent among our peers whenever we see one of them –“Where the hell did they come from?” or damn them by cursing “Go to Hell”. They are known by different names in different parts of India – Eunuchs, transgender, Hijra, Chakka, Khusra, kinnar and many more. Bible defines them as someone who is “Incapable of sexual intercourse through castration or birth defect” but they have one thing in common – Miseries in life. When we accept physical abnormalities of any form, why not this particular form? We even have reservation in different domains, but not for the third sex.

We are afraid of their presence in public, we do not profess acquaintance with them, we do not share club, society, tube wells, schools, and every other place dwelled by the two major genders- Males and Females. So what choice do we leave to them who fall under this minority? Family, relatives, society shun them and compel them to form their own society. A separate society is ok, but what means of occupation to choose? Naturally they are prey of the majority society. In my quest to write a blog on this particular topic, I socialised with few members of this community to assess the ground reality.

I was a little apprehensive due to social stigmas attached to socialise with the hijra community(as commonly called in West Bengal), but I overcame this fear within me soon. It was not that my intrusion was warmly welcomed, but as I explained the reason, the knots untangled. Making more apparent that the miseries we cannot see are immeasurable when unknotted. Trying to pen down the experiences here.

Shilpa(name changed) was born in a mediocre family (above poverty level) with two other brothers. She was shunned by her own parents and relatives. Same story of most of her sisters in hijra community – Hema, Siuli, Gudia, Priya etc. Banished from family due to social unacceptability. In this community everyone has an adopted mother and the leader of the pack is known as the ‘Guru’. Education, sports, family are abandoned dreams which those eyes do not afford to see. They are said to be empowered with supernatural capability to boon or curse. By this virtue, most of them are engaged in dancing in weddings and other auspicious occasions like child birth. But sustaining on alms is really an uphill task. This compels them to venture into prostitution, extortion, drug peddling and the last resort being begging.

On questioning their own history of existence, they started from mythological times of Rama the exiled prince of Ayodhya. When he was on his way to exile, his followers gathered to persuade him from banishment. He then ordered that all men and women should not worry and leave for home. On his return from exile he found a group of people who neither considered themselves men nor female were still waiting for his orders. Overjoyed with their devotedness, Rama blessed them with power to boon or curse.

Quite an interesting knowledge for me.

 Some of them put forward questions to me that if ‘Har-Parvati’ – a form of Shiva and Parvati in one form is accepted and worshipped then why not them? If some religions do not believe in gender or shape of the all mighty, why not them? I did not have any answers and simply looked on the floor.

The British tried to eradicate the particular cult by including them in ‘Criminal Tribes Act’ of 1871. This was ruled out in independent India in 1952. They got their right to vote only in 1994 yet till date we deny the fundamental rights granted in the constitution of India to every citizen. Why not let the third gender members enter in all professions considered to be respectable in the society? Provide them with Education, health care and all basic amenities and let us change our attitude so that this section comes up in social ladder. Remember, when they come in front of you and clap and abuse, they are clapping at our hapless insensibility towards them which have brought them to this circumstance in life.