Here is a personal account of the trauma and pain a boy went through as he fought for his identity as a woman. Today, “she” is working for the empowerment of transgenders and hijras
By Khalid Shah
Featured image: Javed Sultan
Rudrani was born male, but was never comfortable with the gender assigned to her. Her body had all the features of a boy, but as she grew up, she saw herself drifting to the feminine side. Her gender never stopped her from experimenting with her sexuality. As a young boy, she was expected to run, fight, play cricket and be loud just like her peers, but her heart was never in it.
While in school, she realized that wearing skirts was more beautiful than wearing knee-length shorts. Playing with dolls was more desirous than playing cricket and football. She clearly was not fitting into the gender that society and her family were trying to mould her into. She grew up defying the male identity, while being completely un-aware of transgender notions.
“In India, transgenders are identified with hijras. A hijra is someone who is born intersex,” Rudrani complains. But the term transgender actually means an umbrella of sexual orientations and gender identities.
Researchers have found out that gender identities go beyond simply “male” and “female” and even beyond “third sex”.
“In our country, people associate gender with what is between the legs and not what is between the ears, ie, the brain. Life was difficult for me; I was not born intersex and I didn’t have a feminine body. I was left to choose between already existing gender notions,” says Rudrani.
Today, she heads Mitr Trust, an organization working for the empowerment of transgenders and hijras. Along with two others, she co-founded a peer-based organization which takes the responsibility to protect themselves and their sexual partners from legal hassles, sexually transmitted infections and diseases.
Conchita Wurst, the bearded transgender winner of the Eurovision Song Contest before her concert at the European parliament on October 8, 2014
Kamala Kinnar, a eunuch, going to file her nomination from the parliamentary constituency of Varanasi in 2014
However, its main motive is to protect the rights and dignity of the transgender population; advocacy efforts for the constitutional recognition of transgenders as equal citizens with equal rights and awareness against discrimination, stigma and violence.
Housed in a multi-storey building in Uttam Nagar in Delhi, the office of the Mitr Trust is usually ringing with songs sung by transgenders. “Mitr is a friend of a minority of males, transgender women and hijras who can live with dignity and respect at least within the four walls of our office, if not in the outside world,” says Rudrani.
A landmark ruling by the Supreme Court last April recognized transgenders as the third gender
A landmark ruling on April 15, 2014, by the Supreme Court recognized transgenders as the third gender. It said: “It is the right of every human being to choose their gender.”
This recognition brought legal relief to the community of around two million transgenders who live on the fringes of society in abject poverty. A majority of them make their living singing and dancing during weddings and auspicious occasions and indulging in prostitution.
However, legal recognition isn’t enough to end the discrimination faced by people belonging to Rudrani’s community. Even though the law recognizes the third gender, she cannot have an open sexual life as the archaic Section 377 of the India Penal Code sees gay sex as an “unnatural offence” punishable by 10 years prison.
Rudrani believes a law alone cannot end discrimination. “The Supreme Court recognition ends only the legal hassle. But the greater hassle is posed by the society itself which needs to be sensitized about transgenders. Go out and see how they are whistled at, commented on and made objects of ridicule on the streets of Delhi,” she says.
Growing gender segregation is the main reason for sexual violence and discrimination. “Why do we have separate queues for males and females in Metro stations? Why do we want separate compartments for males and females? Why can’t all genders mix together with the security that nobody will be harmed,” she asks.
As for Rudrani’s parents, they have now given her the freedom to live her life as she wants to and with whomever she wants to. She lives with her boyfriend in the same building as them, and says laughingly: “My mother calls my boyfriend ‘jamai’. While they have given me freedom, their only condition is that I live with decency and respect.”
Traditionally, when a person joins a clan of hijras, it is mandatory for him to acquire a female name and female identity. So Rupesh became Rudrani. “My parents still call me Rupesh. For them, I will always be their son. But I am Rudrani. I am a woman who was born a man.”
It takes all kinds to make the world a colorful place.
You’ve come a long way, baby!
Isabella Santiago of Venezuela after she was crowned Miss International Queen 2014 in Pattaya on
November 7, 2014
1897: During the British Raj, authorities attempted to eradicate hijras by passing a law classing all eunuchs as criminals.
1998: Shobha Nehru, a transgender woman, was elected to the city council of Hissar.
2009: Election Commission denied the candidature of three hijras unless they identified themselves either as male or female.
2011: Census shows the official count of third gender in India as 4.9 lakhs.
2014: Justice KS Radhakrishnan (left) declares transgenders as the third gender, saying: “It is the right of every human being to choose their gender.”
August 2014: Padmini Prakash (above) becomes India’s first transgender to anchor daily TV news; Delhi University has application forms introducing a column for third gender.
January 2015: A transgender woman, Madhu Bai Kinnar, wins the municipal election in Raigarh.