Oh God, not again !! Why this restlessness, anxiety with a motley of evasion, unwanted tension whenever an eunuch comes across- this time in a local train in Mumbai.
Flashback- During every journey to Udaipur in train across Gujarat have I encountered an eunuch coming up asking for money. They are boisterous, loud, dressed in bright gaudy sarees animatedly clapping as though in a clamour procession. They come, make sure that no stone is left unturned to embarrass you- they'd pull your cheeks ,whistle, stroke your hair and make sure you give some breathing space to your pocket else the ignominy could get worse.
But I wonder why do we tend to get helpless when it comes to dealing with them? One shoos away beggars as though they don't exist, one feels compassion towards kids who beg, one feels sorry for the incapacitated who're forced to resort to ask for money to make both ends meet. But why does a eunuch not evoke any such feeling? Why are disgust, grimace, embarrassment, flummox the adjectives which come to my mind on any encounter with them? Am I being too cynical ? One may say so but every experience just reiterates this feeling.
Flipping pages of our history, its clearly elucidated that eunuchs were very important for the kings. They were given the responsibility of the security of the queen and her female friends. On our visit to Golconda fort, I remember the guide clearly telling that men were castrated to make them suitable for this job so that any kind of sexual advances towards the female presence in the palace can be put out of contention. So be it castrated men or transgenders, eunuchs had a lot to offer to the society. But why did it change with time? Their importance was no longer felt and they had to resort to begging, prostitution or dancing. The 21st century eunuch is hardly seen as an active member of the society. They are treated no better than beggars and somehow they haven't tried too hard to shed this image either. They crash on weddings, child births and other auspicious family occasions and demand for money. It is a highly held belief that they've occult powers and their blessings and curse both have tremendous power. So you may call it people succumbing to these beliefs or simply trying to evade the scene that they tend to create, they offer money and bid them good riddance.
Now a eunuch can either be a transgender or a castrated man. This avenue of quick money has made many men perfectly normal but short of money to dress like a eunuch and charge. They beg on traffic signals, trains or gate crash functions to earn this money. Its not the prerogative of eunuchs to beg but somehow the entry of normal men into this business has exacerbated the scenario. In a country where the voting rights to eunuchs was bestowed as late as 1994 and which claims to be the only country where the term still holds pertinence( rest all have switched over to LGBT or castrated men), we ought to do better to provide them an alternative.Its not asking for too much, is it?
Shabnam Mausi led the bandwagon when she became the first eunuch to be elected into a public office. She became an MLA in one of the constituencies in Madhya Pradesh. She tried to work on a lot of grounds; right from the emancipation of women to creating awareness about transgenders and HIV. But even she couldn't mobilize the issue of bringing human right laws for eunuchs in our country. They are still looked down upon as the third gender- "cursed for their sins of the past life" in the words of our antediluvian proponents of the society. They are living a deteriorated life both socially and economically and have to create a parallel world of their own. Maybe this is the reason why they behave the way they do. Maybe this is the reason why they choose to stick to begging and create ignominious situation for people as that may pacify the schadenfreude in them who wants to take the vengeance for this sorry life. One million is a huge number and can be a useful resource if proper programs are implemented. Why can't they have normal day jobs, normal work schedules, normal shopping experiences, normal outings without prying eyes??
SRK once said in an interview his dream role would be to play a eunuch on celluloid. Shabnam Mausi(movie) and Welcome to Sajjanpur did try to talk about transgender rights. Late Nirmal Pandey one an award for the best actress( Yes !!! actress) for his performance in Daayra. Yet cinema, considered a powerful medium, has shied away often to come out in open to support this cause. I've seen no govt. coming out with an agenda on this issue and I've slim hopes in the future as well. But its high time they stand on their feet as well without being myopic just because of the quick buck.
They can no more be reactive and expect things to change, they've to be proactive and earn their respect. I may have just touched the tip of the iceberg, but they have to make sure that they no more remain murky waters.
14 comments:
A fabulous post on an issue which has been neglected for a long time by a country which prides in the fact of equality!!
Just the one thing to add...there is no attention whatsoever paid to the emotional issues of being a eunuchs..
For a change a post on which i agree with you completely :)
कही ताकत के पंजे में कलाई बदनसीबो की,
कही दौलत की बाहों में बहु-बेटियाँ गरीबो की।
कोई ज़ालिम है कोई बेसहारा देखते जाओ,
kk साहब इस ही को कहते है India देखते जाओ।
I think that covers all I wanted to say. It was great to see a post on an issue as serious as that. To be honest, even I try to run away from them whenever they approach. I feel the government will come in action only when they see eunuchs as potential voters. It's we who need to think towards the solution of this problem; and this post is the first step. Good job boss! :)
Agree with both Karan and Sameer,
It was really good to read a post on this topic..
Not only mentally and economically, a lot of eunuchs fall prey to sexually transmitted diseases and because of the social apathy, not all of them can get access to ensuring that the disease is cured/prevented.
It is the old steeped ideas of our society that have brought about this state in our country.. do not know who is to blame.. but this is the truth. If a child comes across a eunuch before anyone telling him about who he/she is or before presenting a biased opinion, I do not think a child will find a eunuch repulsive..
It is the entire mindset that needs to be changed.. the perception- that at the end of the day they are humans with equally important joys,sorrows and life
:)
nice post ...
The etymology of the Eunuch comes from ancient Greece and the Roman Empires as the "bed keepers of the Harem" for their Majesty. They have led lives of servitude ever
since Power, Tyranny and Despotism were words of wisdom for Kings. Castrated for precluding any physical contact with the Kings in particular, Transgenders are a
stigma in a social caucus to this very day. It is beleaguring to come to terms with the fact that society has oppressed them in social, economic and liberal issues over hundreds of years leaving them sequestered from normal individuals.
Everyone venerates the Kama Sutra, in India and abroad, as the greatest tome of Sexual fantasy and yet they fail to underscore on the fact that the term "Eunuch" was a rendition of "third sex" or triteeyaprakriti, which was a rudimentary term from this very revered compilation! No politician, Dictator or Militant is in a position to stigmatise them by cynical doctrines and seclude their rights of leading
a phlegmatic life in society. As Oscar Wilde once said, "It is wrong to decide the right or wrong. This would be an act of airing one's prejudice."
Not only has the law advocating the rights for Transgenders been in the books, political manifestos or agendas of the next presidents vying for a 10 Downing Street
or the Alvorada Palace, but there has been a radical metamorphosis on the way they are treated in society and respected as who they really are, be it the EU, Brazil, Spain, Poland and, to some extent, Ireland. Unlike India, these countries help in allowing a
person who is born to be a Transgender to undergo an operation called the Sex
Reassignement Therapy at a very unsubstantial charge. After this, a whole new gate of goodies open up in the form of the ability to name change, healthcare, economic aid to the indigent and even the right to marriage. Albeit, many Transgenders (and Transvestites) are allured into prostitution and flesh-trade from a vey young age,
there have been measures like the gratis Sex Change programs under the leadership of Lula DeSilva, to scurge this predicament and also the increasing threat of STDs.
The 'T' in LGBT very easily coalesces a Transgender with the other 'Three' when it is
erroneous to actually do so. Our country is going ahead with Gay Rights and has de-
criminalized Homosexuality (mainly under our Law Minister Veerappa Moilly in June 2009). This
has reckoned a novel and vibrant gay night-life in metroes like Delhi, Mumbai and
Bengaluru. But the 'T' has been left out as pariahs. They still remain the people as
we demean and, as Krishnakant rightly says, associate ourselves after accosting with
them with demeanor of "restlessness, anxiety with a motley of evasion, and unwanted
tension". After a Google search on the appellation 'Famous Transgenders', I came
across more than 400 who were lionized (including Dramatists, Bards, Actors and Social
Activists), but none were from India. This simply corroborates the fact that our
government has turned a deaf ear to their rights. I can only sit back and write about
their injustice with indignation and only hope for a better future for them in our country which could for once, look into the ulterior to other nations and follow them in a good cause without prejudice.
It is indeed heartening to see that we've people around who are willing to share their rational opinion over this sensitive and highly neglected issue. The EQ of eunuchs is very difficult to gauge because of the shell they've created in their gaudy makeup for themselves.
What is really important is to realize the fact that there need to be more Shabnam Mausis, there have to be more "jeeti Jitayi party" and there has to be more mobility on the human rights front to make sure that they are no longer abused socially, economically, emotionally and sexually.
I'm really glad to see everyone voicing their opinion so strongly. A big thanx to all.
Really fabulous post..
People usually have charity for children , old people, but nothing i know about any organisation working for eunuch,for their rights and for their better lives!!
Why are we ashamed of talking about them? no reason..
Recently, i saw a Marathi movie 'Jogva' ,its based on this theme.
how the society drags a women or man, in this place.
In villages across India, these men/women , are made to marry god, and men are given sarees to wear for their whole lives, asked to perform in functions, go to each house collect money, and if they deny, they are killed !! for no mistake !! just in the name of God, this curse is with them for the whole life, with nothing they can do to oppose it..!!
But the movie, told about how one of them fights all odds n steps out of it!! the actor Upendra limaye was given National Award for this film !!
I think every one should give this a thought, there is very less we can do , atleast we can try!!
Really great blog sirji!!!
To add to my previous annotation, I, today, came across a very interesting article to muse upon in the Times of India which delineated: "India's first transgender TV host now a woman". For those who have missed out on the story, which seems, at first, vehemently elated, here is the actual decoded version:
Rose Venkatesan "feels like a butterfly". She has successfully undergone a Sex Reassignement Surgery which has transformed her into a female. Her posterity is from Chennai which makes it even more melancholic due to the fact that it is the third most educated state in our country. The article evokes her aversion towards her own parents because of the fact that they forced her out of her own home after they "disapproved of her cross-dressing and other girlie ways". Her operation was performed in Thailand when it should have been performed in India. She even audaciously goes on to say, "Thailand is the best place to get the sex change done. They do such a perfect job". During her visit to Thailand for her operation, she wasn't spared from the riling of the custom officers at the airport. She was denigrated because of her gender (being Male on her Passport and otherwise in her raiment). It was only on a condition that she was let to go freely - that she would change her gender status on her passport ASAP. On this she said, "It was most humiliating. I protested."
To my smattering of the above scenario, it becomes difficult to understand the mirky ratiocination of our politicians. Chennai having a high education ratio has parents who abandon their progeny for their ill dress-sense! Custom officials have the temerity to abase a person because of their sexual predilection. The confidence of an operation which should have pointed towards an Indian surgeon has been guzzled away by a Thai conterpart. What this portrays is the sheer defection and social drudgery caused by the law towards a special cabal of people who are equally potent and have the potential to bring out their acumen like any other man or woman at any pertinent task. This is precisely what Rose has done. Earlier, only a host on a talk show on Vijay TV, Rose has a not-so-bleak but rather enriched vista of the future. She is working on a script for a movie which she plans to direct and make in English and Tamil. Albeit a transgender's tale about her odyssey to womanhood, the movie will actually bring out the atrocity of political cynics and the diligence of an Indian citizen to thwart them with success. Three Cheers for Rose Venkatesan!
A wonderful post and a very important discussion initiated..
The moment we read things like "There are X number of men and Y number of women in the room...", our mind somewhere starts believing that there are only two kinds of human. And, our school textbooks are full of things like this. No story in school textbooks even mentions about LGBTs. As if they are the people who should not be considered good enough to be introduced formally in a society. How do you expect the educated lot to be sensitive and aware about them??
Every time I fill any form, I am asked my sex. Alas, there are only two options. This is our failure as a society.
I think these people are better human beings than us because, no matter how much we hurt them and of what we deprive them, they smile back to us whenever we smile to them. They keep on forgiving us and we keep on forgetting them.
A question repeatedly asked by Mr. P.Sainath, "Who are the Nero here? Who is partying because someone is suffering?" I hope we all are not Nero.
I will start with a congratulation.
Congratulations for picking up this subject and presenting it with the dignity it deserves. I just wish we showed the same compassion to the aforesaid people. Leave alone compassion, as you rightly noted, they are not even treated as living, breathing, feeling beings.
Being a girl, i have most of the times not been asked for money from them as they mostly go to the men!!(?) But i still remember once, on a train journey in Gujarat, my Dad asked them to bless me and told me that it is their blessings which always come true.
Another instance i remember happened when my cousin was a baby and she didnt like meeting new people. But when eunuchs came to bless her, surprisingly she didn't want to come back to my Nani's lap.
I believe in karma and i don't know why but i believe that maybe the people living here may not respect them or give them their due...but they are appreciated by a higher power.
Wot a bold approach towards such a controversial topic...
bn sum tym since hav bn readn yur blog but it amazes me s to hw every new writeup f yurs leaves me dumbstruck at da end!!!
'm still in a dilemma s to why ppl think f eunuchs wrongly.Its sumthin like dey pay for no mistake f theirs.
Nwaz, wot is more imp is dat dis blog has made me feel a sudden tender pity for dem.
naice writeup.
PS:Da older blogs're gr8 too esp. "Lets Talk"
I have to agree with your opinions on Eunuchs . I have been a victim of their harassment on my train travels.
Recently Laxmi Narayan Tripathi , a Transgender was thrown out of the Mumbai Gymkhana Party for being a Transgender ..She has represented India in the United Nations . It is really sad to see such highly influential Transgenders not respected in our country. When such people are not respected , The average eunuch obviously gets much more disrespect which you have highlighted in your post
The ending of the post bought me back the memories of the movie Milk based on Legislator Harvey Milk . His contribution towards Gay Rights was wonderfully captured in the movie. Sean Penn did a perfect justice to the role. I believe there should be someone like Harvey Milk who can lead the bastion here in this god forsaken country
Keep Rocking :)
Indeed watevr u said is correct nd worth pondering upon. And i was thinking of all the "IF"s and "BUT"s but , as usual ur article is complete :)
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