Mortal to Divine and Back: India’s Transgender Goddesses

Interesting article from the New York Times of a Hindu festival were trans women are celebrated as incarnations of the goddess.

Ellen Barry writes:

Indians who decide to live as kothis — also known as hijras, kinnars or aravani, depending on the region — are born male and typically have male lovers.
Unlike transgender people in the West, they leave a conservative mainstream culture for an equally conservative subculture. Some live in communes with a strict network of rules under the authority of leaders they refer to as “mothers” and “grandmothers.”

For the 10 days of the celebration the the trans women are treated with reverence by the villagers, who flock to see them dance without any mention of their gender identity. Walking the town’s streets the kothis are invited into house after house to give blessings.

Photos by Candace Feit.

First Website for Transgender Rights in India?

sallymolay:

The website transgenderindia.com offers round the clock support to transgender people and provides a platform to them to share their experiences.
The website was launched by Neysara Rai, a 33-year-old transgender woman from Mangaluru, who runs her own business. She says transgender people in India live an obscure life.
“It is important to change the perception about them and bring positive role models of the community to the limelight,” Rai says.
Transgenderindia.com will publish real-life experiences of transgender people and their families. It has a discussion forum, ‘Transgender Talk’, which has live discussions and online support.
The site also provides legal, medical and social advice to the transgender community, as well as advice on how to come out to their friends and families.
Read more here!

http://transgenderindia.com/

See the 'quiet dignity' of India's third gender hijra community

In a portrait series, “Nirvan, the Third Gender of India,” photographer Jill Peters interviewed Indian hijras.

Peters noticed on a visit to India that hijras face constant discrimination and difficulty, even though they have been a visible part of India’s culture for centuries. Her project’s goal is to reverse the stigma.

Mashable has more. See also Jill Peter’s web site.

Moving Indian Short On Being Transgender

Here is a very short Indian movie made for the Transgender Day of Visibility by the Facebook group Mathai Talkies.

Srishti Dixit of BuzzFeed India calls it a powerful short film that “reveals the invisible struggles of being transgender in India”. But it is also a story about respect and acceptance.

Bus Stop. International Transgender Day of Visibility.
Production House - Mathai Talkies
Director - Manoj Mathew

India’s first trans band: ‘Don’t hide us away – don’t keep us in a cage’

The Guardian has the story about 6 Pack Band, an Indian transgender group.

Lead singer is Komal Jagtap:

“From the outside, I was male,” says Jagtap, remembering when she was Bhavesh, the son of traditional parents. “Inside, I felt like a girl. The way I talked and walked, everyone could see I was different. I used to feel this isn’t my family. I don’t belong here.”

Last spring Ashish Patil – the head of Y films, the youth arm of Bollywood production powerhouse Yash Raj Films hired a choreographer, an award-winning stylist and Bollywood singing star Sonu Nigam to launch a group with “hijras”, or male to female transgender members.

The Guardian reports:

Hijras find it impossible to get conventional jobs: begging and sex work are the two main ways to make money. When Jagtap told her friends about the auditions for 6 Pack Band, they were sceptical. “They said, ‘Nobody would make a band for hijras.’ Gradually, we realised Ashish just wanted to help us.”
It helped that official attitudes towards hijras were changing. In a landmark judgment in 2014, the Indian supreme court ruled that transgender people – “the third gender” – had equal rights under the law.

Their first song, Hum Hain Happy, a cover of the Pharrell Williams hit, was released in January. It has had nearly 1.8m views on YouTube.

Read the article here!

See also the Times of India.

YouTube has also their latest hit (with English subtitles): Sab Rab De Bande

sallymolay:

Manabi Bandhopadhyay, World’s First Transgender Principal
India Times writes:
Colleagues and students were excited. “Manabi Bandopadhyay is a strong individual. She has faced many upheavals. We are optimistic about the development of the college during her tenure. She is a celebrity and her sexual orientation isn’t an issue for us,” said Jayasree Mondal, assistant professor, geography.
Bengali assistant professor Prakash Mondal said: “She is free-spirited. She has a good command over her subject. This college has not had any principal for long. We are happy to have her as our principal.” […]
Welcoming the decision, Rattan Lal Hangloo, vice-chancellor of the Kalyani University to which Krishnagar Women’s College is affiliated, said, “Manabi is a fine human being, a good academician and an able administrator. We are hopeful her appointment will empower other members of the transgender community.” […]
The 101 India Transgender Project created by 101India.com powered by Indiatimes is an attempt to hammer in the idea of transgenders as ‘real people’, not objects of hostility. A project which for the first time gives an opportunity to the Transgender community to be photographed in roles and jobs that they’d like. Only if society let them.
Read the whole story!

sallymolay:

Indian Transgender Models Celebrate Their Unique Community
Transgender people in India regularly come up against intense prejudice, including both verbal and physical threats.
But in the face of that hostility, a group of trans models have come together in Delhi to create a new calendar celebrating their unique community. […]
Rudrani Chettri, 28, who organised the calendar shoot, said: “Transgenders are treated very unfairly in this country. There is very little available for us.
“So a couple of years back, we decided to form a group where we could encourage and support each other.”
Huffpost Lifestyle has the whole story.

Meera Darji seeks crowdfunding for her new movie about the hijras –an MTF transgender community – in Ahmedabad, India.

She writes:

What do they do for a living? When did they become ostracised? Why are they no longer accepted in society?

My documentary aims to capture the true life of Hijras, finding the answers to these questions. Capturing their stories, their journeys, but most importantly, their happiness and togetherness.

The film aims to optimistically capture their daily lives, an exploration of their culture and beliefs. Openly sharing their story of childhood struggles through to the process of becoming a Hijra. I want this film to be seen from my eyes, but most importantly, a discovery through their eyes, bringing equality to the table.

More about the movie and how you can support it here!

India's First Openly Transgender Mayor Elected

sallymolay:

Madhu Bai Kinnar was elected mayor of Raigarh, in the state of Chhattisgarh, and beat her opponent from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) […]. She is a member of the Dalit caste, previously known as the “untouchables,” and previously earned her living singing and dancing on trains, Reuters reports.
“People have shown faith in me. I consider this win as love and blessings of people for me. I’ll put in my best efforts to accomplish their dreams,” Kinnar said in local news reports.
Time has more.

sallymolay:

The Brave And Difficult Lives Of Indian Transgender Women
[T]ransgender women [called Hijras] still face discrimination as it has been traditionally rejected in India’s typically conservative culture — more than 90 percent leave their biological families and most move to big cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune.
“They are well accustomed to being judged and labelled as freaks, the diseased and the troubled ones by society. As a result, their only chances for them to get by and make a living is through prostitution and begging,” says photographer Fadaian. […]
“They all work as a team to organize the community. Anyone who wants to join the Hijra community must be accepted and sponsored by the Guru or godmother of the house who is the teacher and mother of all. […] It is a woman’s world involving a combination of Hindu and Muslim cultures”
See more photos and read the whole stroy.
See all Fadaian’s photos of Hijras.