Hijdas Eunuchs in Mumbai |
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A Eunuch Friend – 1055 viewsOur Viewpoint : A Eunuch Friend
Eunuchs in India have become something to be feared of, forget about being friends with them. Nobody wants to be approached by one of them, be nudged with their elbows, stroked on the cheek or being cursed. Especially women stay off from them. On the other hand they are the most vulnerable community to face prejudice often of brutal nature, violence, in public spaces, police stations and prisons and even in their homes. People are hesitant of employing them and the choice many are left with is prostitution or begging. They are disempowered even by the law as India doesn?t recognize the ?third sex?.
Eunuchs - castrated males - have been in existence since the 9th Century BC. The word is derived from the Greek "keeper of the bed". In the Bible in book of Esther 2: 3, we see kings appointing eunuchs to take care of all the beautiful young virgins and queens so that it would be impossible for them to have sexual relations with the women under their care. They were the ideal guards of harems.
India is the only country where the tradition of eunuchs is prevalent today. There are about 1 million of them, though their role in life has changed drastically from that of royal servants, confidantes and friends. In India they have become the face of fortune and are often seen gracing special occasion like new born or marriages with their trademark clapping and singing and dancing. They have their own ghettos in Mumbai and southern cities of the country. Most of them are engaged in prostitution today.
Being eunuchs: Natural eunuchs are a very rare occurrence (called atypical genitalia). Most of them are eunuchs either by castration or because of the sexual trauma they went through as a young boy or some are operated for medical reasons. Today many frustrated homosexuals, rejected by the society, have adopted the way of eunuch life style. In actual they do not fall under the category of eunuchs. Homosexuals are not eunuchs. Jesus did talk about eunuchs and gave them equal opportunity; however the Bible condemns the act of homosexuality.
In Mathew 19:11-12, Jesus says the command of not to divorce in marriage doesn?t apply to eunuchs because they were born that way, others were made that way by men, and other have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. This clearly says that Jesus does accept the state of eunuchs. Jesus places both naturally born eunuchs (who are born with deformity of genitals) and the ones who prefer not to marry so that they can serve the Lord, equally as eunuchs. Therefore, it is not a failure or a cause for despair that one remains a eunuch or in the celibate state. Those who remain unmarried for the Kingdom of God's sake do in order to place all the emphasis on Christ, and not on caring for a wife. It very well may be a special calling of God, or something that is for the best according to the will of God.
In the Bible (Act 8:26-40) we read about a non-Jewish Ethiopian eunuch, an important official. Philip a disciple of Jesus was directed by the Holy Spirit to explain the good news to him. As Philip preached him gospel he accepted Jesus as his personal savior and took the baptism. Contrary to standard Jewish teachings and practices, Jesus did not limit their inclusion in the kingdom.
The human rights movement in India has begun to take notice of the concerns of the community only recently. In recent years, events such as the hijra beauty contest have begun to receive a lot of public attention. Even the media has been covering such events positively. They are entering the arena of fashion and politics as well.
It is time that we reach out to Hijra community with the love of Jesus Christ. It is tough to crack the trend and image of stereotype eunuchs but before it is too late we must do our duty and give them opportunity to understand the love of Jesus Christ so that they can make a conscious decision to lead a meaningful life. According to the Bible, eunuchs have unique prospect of serving the Lord without having to worry about family responsibilities. God wants them to come to him. He wants them to turn from their sinful acts. He is asking us to obey the call just like Philip preached to the Ethiopian eunuch. Are we willing to accept a eunuch friend to worship the Lord Jesus along with us?
http://www.cbnindia.org/socialconcerns.php?id=221&tid=5
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A Frangible Dancing Moment – 1525 views
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A Man Between Two Lines – 1600 viewsThis is Pearls father Kennedy Demello caught between two worlds .. of Laxmi and the Hijda activist Salma.
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A Moment Frozen in Time – 894 viewsA state of mind called love.
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A moodiness of love – 3074 viewsAnd she too was having a ball I have neglected posting to this gallery, but I was caught up with Vasai , the rains, I got an e mail message from Sarah Marks who had done a thesis on Hijras will link her webpage to my parent site.
Thank you Sarah
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A smile in Sadness – 1125 viewsI told her that her lover boy would come back to her and fall at her feet beg forgiveness, as for the best friend she will get poxed, she smiled and I hit the trigger, thank you Cartier Bresson.
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A Visit to Laxmi Narayan Tripathi's House – 1019 viewsLife is always in transit, every stage of life a station, and here it comprises unthinking legs and shoes and the missing shoe shine man.
I leave the rest to you to interpret as a metaphorical menapausal moment in refection.
On Sunday I closed shop , came to Bandra Station to catch a train for Dadar , and from there the Central line that would take me to Thane to meet Laxmi Narayan Tripathi the larger than life transgender spokesman of her community who has just returned from Toronto after breaking many a heart at the Aids conference held there.
And Laxmi has been avoiding me, I wanted to meet her regarding my Eunuch gallery , and my recent recording of their lives pictorially that I had captured at the All India Hijda Sammelan Park Site Vikhroli, and at the Urus of Khwajah Garib Nawaz at Ajmer , Moti Katra to be specific.
We talked on phone , but Laxmi should be seen beyond disembodied telephony.. Laxmi is all hands , gesture and more.
And I wanted to see her as such.
She was trying to avoid the meeting at her house and wanted to push it for 8.30 pm at a birthday party of her neice Pearl Kennedy Demello at Kurla Kamani.. and I knew it was not feasible I was fasting and it was 21st Ramzan too, and wife wanted me to be back home soon.
I left for Thane at 2.30 pm and decided I would break my fast at Laxmis house and than accompany her to the family get together ..and Bandra was the starting point of my journey.. and I was barefeet and I wanted to go and sit in the vacant seat of the shoe shine guy , and ask someone to shoot my picture , but the F100 is a heavy camera and not much good for bystanders who shot me earlier easily as on the Nikon D70.
The Nikon D70 has been given to Subash Solanki to sell it off for me..
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All Alone ..Hijda Among Men – 898 views I forgot her name, as I normally do end up giving fictitious names to names that are actually fictitious after all, I never carry pen or paper , never, I cannot see without my glasses diabetes is not the best soul mate of a person tripping over his own creativity, prior to this I never wrote at all, all this scribbling started when I was seduced by the Photo Blog , the attraction for the Alaskan Fern my disastrous dementia to leave all for the Northern Lights , aurora borealis, a few hundred poems later I realised I was no more young, a married man , and diabetic dysfunctionality not the best arsenal for wooing a woman on the net, common sense seeped in the dry areas of my deplenished mental faculty, I extricated myself offline to a realistic outmoded unromantic marital bead spread, till I was crushed under the Wheels of a Chariot like Dumper resounding waves of a Radio Humper ..
And so intrigued by the Diva the Blog Goddess .. a few more hundred poems later , I am back ,stretched out outside a trembling door.. a silence that does not yield even a monosyllabic smile..dark grey clouds loom over the horizon.. my caravan trudges away from the celestial cybernettic world of Buzznet.. no friends, no favorites, I am only a profile page getting raped , sodomized , every clck they want to know the myth of a Tantric PhotographerNo1.
New Bloggerspot is a Unknown Zone , arches that extend ,from my asshole to my eternity one after the other , some in faded light , some in silhouette, the only sound of acknowledgement for my beaten soul...whywhynot ..
Word Verification that reminds me of my failure , of loving a diety made in America that too is moulded with feet of Dainty Clay.
My daughter Samiya keeps telling me Dad why dont you write about Film Stars ,Mullahs, Priests Politicians why why the Eunuchs.. my ungendered unvendored androgynous amorphous soul begins beating wildly.. I am lips stitched in Silence like my Muse..
Update
The way I write about the Hijdas one might thing I have tremendous access to them I dont...what I gathered was just the external manifestations of their life, I have never spent time with them , just the time during ramzan,that I spent with Laxmi Narayan Tripathi when she took me from Thana to Kurla to her relative Rose Kennedys birthday party , it was here I met Salma the Hijda activist..
Even at BT s birthday party I met the Hijda performers and the Transgender Metrosexuals who are cross dressers . jewellery designers in real life...meeting them , having my camera on my person , made it easier to share those moments with all of you.
God gives me Hijda pictures ...because he knows my respect for Hijdas is human based, no ulterior motive no ass fucking..it does not fit into my sexual orientation...
I want to my site to be a watering hole for any one who wants to go beyond the myth of the Hijda.No one funds me , I do it with a genuine love for photo blogging.. period.
I do not believe in frivolous commenting, I am happy that nobody comments on my pictures or what I write , the silence from your end is the finest comment to my efforts to bring you a unique world untarnished by any bias or adverse opinion.
Photo blogging is for people who are perceptive ,pre intutive formidably emotional and knowledgeable...you can bull shit a few posts but not 7064 posts...
I have gone slow , my Delhi Chehlum pictures are on hold, Lucknow Ashura unposted, Alibagh bullock cart race unworked un posted...the Sufi finale I left it half way at my homesite..
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ALL MY LATEST HIJRA PICTURES ARE AT FLICKR AND WORDPRESS – 2967 viewsI DONT POST MY LATEST STUFF HERE ALL MY HIJRA PICURES ARE AT FLICKR.COM
OR AT
http://hijdaeunuchblog.wordpress.com
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All that Glitters is Pure Gold – 2013 viewsThe Eunuchs the richer ones, love to flaunt their gold, their cute tom boys, and huge fancy bags , and the clap is what distinctly joins them to each other.And they are not easily scared, brave, and unrepentant of their ambiguous sex.
all that glitters on the hijdas
body is pure gold
a metallic presence
multifold
the hijda ambitious
endearing and bold
no more called chakkas
clapping their hands
reborn as
metrosexual hijras
I am told
through poetry and pictures
their lifes story unfold
a flame of
mutual coexistence
they hold
a man
created in a womans mold
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Am I a Hijda? – 1187 viewsI came as male child
in my mothers arms
borrowed conninving
masculinity
worse than eunuchs
hidden faces
suicide bombs
man killing mankind
in animal farms
you kill one of them
they mass produce a race of saddams
disillusioned demoralised
I have no qualms
from a man I became a Hijra
on the cross roads of life
dressed as a woman
begging for alms
peace hope and harmony
from eunuchdom
a genderless god
I send you salaams
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Amorphous Love – 1237 views
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