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Showing posts from May, 2013

A Neutral View

I'm unable to recollect when/ where I saw a hijra (transgender) for the first time. But, I do remember one incident that left me terrified of them for a long time. Sometime in my late-teens.... I had almost reached IB's (Iyengar's Bakery) for a quick snack. A hijra was harassing the maama @ IB 's for money. Simultaneously, she was also chasing the customers away by making obscene gestures....... Another time, I was on a train journey. Somewhere near N.K'taka, a group of hijras had entered the compartment and had harassed the men - quite successfully. Looking back, where was our guard? In cahoots with the hijras ? Probably..... To date, these two incidents remain my only real-life experiences with the hijras. The sole local transgender keeps to himself - when he is in town, i.e ....   In our films, of course, they are always portrayed in a crass manner - even when they are supposed to be blessing people during auspicious occasions. I have often wond