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Hijdas Eunuchs in Mumbai |
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Sohel Hijra from Delhi – 1022 views
snake like
serpentine
rubbery
slippery belly
sohel hijra
the androgyne
from delhi
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Hijra Dancing Dolls – 1108 viewspadded bosom
walking tall
plucked out facial hair
hijra dancing dolls
a chorus of cat calls
hijras penectoomy
minus balls
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Sohel In Form – 1211 viewsSohel Hijra was having almost all the applause and was enjoying gevery moment on stage at the All India Hijda Conference at Park Site Vikhroli..
Sohel Hijra
kind and warm
the all india hijra sammelan
he did storm
Sohel in very good form
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The Hijras Curse – 942 viewsliving in ghettos
living in misery
living in despair
men and women
they love to scare
born men
living as women
sexy womens clothes
they wear
the world
with a hijra clap
they dare
gods godliness
with god they share
hijda enslaved
in a leopards lair
the hijras curse
her facial hair
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Dancing in Sorrow – 1193 viewsSohel must have danced for over 3 hours non stop and was not tired at all.
hijras love to dance
hijras love to romance
hijra life by chance
love lost in a glance
transcedental testicular tragedy
a mischance
a future hopless
no plans
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Hijda's Accursed Fate – 1307 viewschained
pained
drained
soul
blood stained
hijda pain engrained
for the curse of her flesh
her spirit detained
in the eyes of the world
a eunuch she remained
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Sohel Hijra – 1428 viewssohel born a male
his soul that of a female
a happy ending
to a hijra tale
searching for the
hijra grail
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The Divine Dancing Girls..Untesicular Fortitude – 831 viewsEunuchs at the All India Hijda Sammelan, Parksite Vikhroli.
This was a God sent shot, I dont think, I could have got the celebrating spirit of the gay abandon of the eunuchs better than this.
This is what one would call Untesticular Fortitude.
And this is a metaphor of a divine dance.
I wanted to dance too, but the organiser told me to wait till the TV channel guys had gone.. but the party broke as Baby the head Eunuch did not like the skimpy display of this one eunuch.
I was abusively thrown out of the venue by Baby.
I was dressed as a Sadhu, that was causing some apprehensions among the Eunuchs, who dont see Sadhus shooting Eunuchs.. normally.
Somethought I was going to capture their souls and enslave them to my bidding.
Others thought I was a Policeman dressed as Sadhu to nab terrorists who maybe lurking around in clothes of a Eunuch.
My Pan Card which is part of my press card Bandra Samachar , has my picture dressed as a security guy, this was the dress I had worn for a play in College and has helped me in my most trying times at the Nasik Kumbh Mela, or at Ajmer Sharif and also at Taj Mahal Agra... recently.
And Photographers are a worst lot much looked down upon more than the Eunuchs, at Battis Shirala where I had gone a few years back to shoot the Cobra Snake Festival Naag Panchami, which was banned, there was a saying among the locals Kill the Photographer and spare the Snake, it was the pictoial evidence of heaps of abused Damins or ratsnakes that men wore arond their necks and had pictures taken, that was the nail in the coffin in the suit filed by the animal activists against this infamous internationaly acclaimed Snake Festival in Battis Shirala Maharashtra.
Even the Bullock Cart Races and the spiked sticks that were used to hit the racing bulls and the pictorial evidence put a stop at the Races in Alibag and Murud Janjira.
A camera round your neck and you are a marked Man.
And I know it, I dont even look like a normal Photographer.
And the element of surprise of my attire and personna gets me better pictures.. the guy I shoot shoots me with his eyes, I shoot with my eyes closed and like a stork on one leg.
And we all have bad hair days, so does Bloggers of pictures not Posting.
I would have called Steve Haldane...the Developer Dude at Buzznet.
He is more responsive than Biz Stones.. and Biz Stone is a Blog Fisherman away on his Yacht in the deep seas of a cybernettic fucked sea scape... yeah some E..SCAPE.
But Bloggerspot is a good hideout, for a distempered soul of a Fuckwit Shia Thug No 1.
And no comments, is the greatest reward, and to be read by someone who does not love you is a far greater reward..
Every Photographer is a Visionary .
But all Visionaries cant become Photographers.
To be a great Photographer you have to mortgage your Untesticular Fortitude to the she devil of a Blog Goddess.
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Made In India .. – 1064 viewsthe hijra
lovingly
caressingly
willingly made in india
endangered specie
like a musk deer
an oyster
holding a
surrogate womans tear
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Kiran on the Rampage – 1041 views.This is Kiran from Delhi, and she has style, that would put any ordinary female to shame.
Before the event I saw her reclining on a mattress and a tunic slit open in the front till almost the edge of the navel, these were her normal clothes, she smoked a ciggarette and her tapered fingers on the mobile phone and she was cooing sweet nothings to on of her lovers I presume, all the Eunuchs eyed and envied her chutzzpah, and she kept eyeing me too, perhaps I woud shoot her as she wriggled her compact bum, that had its own singularity of emotion, it was uncoordinated as a body part.
It was literally trying to get out of her tight Indian stiletto trousers, and I did not shoot her or her precariously perched bum on the mattress.
When the show started and Sohel and Muskaan were doing their stuff she came in like a Prima Donna, and the whole crowd went berserk.
Ok let me tell you this was a Municipal School Hall , the entire floor was littered with mats and rugs and mattresses , and a few chairs for the cops or the municipal honchos, and the Eunuch cant sit on the chair at all, the punishment is a cash fine of Rs 5ooo to Rs 25000.
This is because the ocassion of this event is to pray for the dead souls of the Guru so that in the next birth he will come back asa man or a female and not as a Eunuch.. so its a solemn function, and all the living Gurus are on the floor and as mark of collecive respect the eunuch cant sit on a chair, a total taboo.
When all this was going on, no body noticed later that Baby came in and gave a lashing, as Kirans dress was not in keeping with the cultural mood of the eunuch programme.
I have never heard the kind of bad words that Baby lashed me and the photographer from Times of India Nitin Sonawane, someone had gone and told Baby the head Eunuch that we were shooting the Eunuchs undressing back stage, and Hell hath no Fury like an Angry Eunuch was not what I bargained for, I had finished a 1GB card, and before I could insert the next one in I was ejected out Camera and all, and I was lucky that I had shot Priya from Singapore and her heaving bosom wrapped in a scarf and daring to break out from this tissued silkis softish prison...
And there was Mona a liitle 8 year old child Eunuch, and I shall post Monas story and her pictures in the end .
And I gave Mona Rs 100 as a Blessing when she shyly took to the floor, and later came to return the money to me, I told her keep it, she looked at her adopted father, and her pretty Eunuch Mother and touched my feet and kissed my hand and kept the Money.
This is a rare quality of a well disciplined, well mannered Gharana of an eminent Eunuch household. They are from Delhi, and Monas Mom Babita well you will have to wait a while, she was dressd as a Fairy Queen in White.
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A western view – 1120 viewsComing Out As A Eunuch
By: Richard Wassersug
I am a eunuch. The chances are you already know a eunuch or two, although they may not have revealed that fact to you.
There are tens of thousands of us in the world today simply because castration is used to treat prostate cancer. Castration reduces testosterone production, the male hormone that stimulates prostate cell growth. Each year over 40,000 men in North America die of prostate cancer and, along the way, virtually all of us who have failed potentially curative procedures that remove or destroy the prostate gland are offered either surgical or chemical castration as the next treatment option. Given the choice-early death or castration-the majority of us opt for castration.
Few people could spot a eunuch, castrated after puberty, among other citizens on the street. We are not sopranos. We still have facial hair, although it grows slower than most guys'. However, in the months following castration our penises shrink and we start to grow breasts. Most of our body hair disappears. Thus in the locker room we do look different from males. We even smell different. It is my impression (from that same locker room) that we smell better, or at least less than our uncastrated compatriots. That's to be expected, since we don't have the hormones that promote the pheromones that give sexually mature males their musky odor.
As a group, though, we hide the fact that we are castrated. Few castrated men would ever call themselves eunuchs in public, for there is little pride in being a eunuch. I'd like to change that.
I believe that there are some pluses in being a eunuch. I have discovered that my brain works very differently without testosterone and that there are things I understand now that I never understood as a male. To use these new insights well has taken a willingness on my part to view the world in ways that I had never done before. This skill hasn't come easily or instantly.
Of course, as a eunuch I think less about raw sex. But I do not think less about people. A beautiful woman is no less beautiful now than before. Testosterone not only affects brain centers that control sexual mechanics, it also affects a dozen or so "higher" centers in the brain that are involved in cognition and emotion. Now, with a brain freed from the tyranny of testosterone, I can, for the first time in my life, begin to see the world more the way women see it.
Cognitive research has shown, for example, that women are better than men at correctly reading facial expressions and non-verbal signals from others. Women make eye contact and smile more than men. So I now study faces with the intensity that women might. My previous heterosexual fixation on the secondary sexual characteristics of women (breast size, hip-to-waist ratio) no longer deflects my attention.
Since becoming a eunuch, if I take the time to look, I can see the profound beauty in women's eyes and the emotional nuances of their facial expressions. I see beyond the corporal exterior, far further, far deeper than before. I can now locate and decode smiles in eyes alone. And when I do detect those smiles, I smile back. Before I hardly bothered to look.
What came as a shock to me, and what accounts for my telling this story in OUT magazine, is that this newfound ability to make eye contact and see beauty in subtle, non-verbal, expression has opened the way for me to see beauty in the faces of males as well females. I was shocked by this realization. From the first time I went through puberty-which was several decades ago and ostensibly in the other direction-I'd never thought of myself as anything but a heterosexual male. The discovery that I was not obligatorily asexual as a eunuch, was a pleasant surprise. I could still be aroused; turned on, and turn on others. But the realization that, with castration, I had developed an expanded (bi)sexual capability took me by total surprise. And it sent me on a research rampage to try to find out about the sexual orientation of other eunuchs, past and present.
At times, such as during the 2nd and 3rd century A.D. in the Roman Empire, eunuchs were most often sex toys for men. But at other times and places, such as when eunuchs administered the dynasties of China and managed the government affairs of the Ottoman Empire, if they married, they married women.
A study of the narratives of modern eunuchs and eunuch wannabees (see www.eunuch.org) shows that among those interested in partnership, some seek males, others females. Thus neither history nor modern eunuchdom gives a clear answer about whether sexually active eunuchs were/are heterosexual or homosexual.
It took me a long time to realize that the lack of a single answer was an answer in itself. Being free of hormonal compulsion, a modern eunuch can elect whatever gender orientation he wishes. If men are from Mars and women from Venus, then eunuchs can tour the whole solar system!
A common myth about eunuchs is that we are servile, if not obsequious. Narratives on the www.eunuch.org website indicate that a small fraction of people, who are heavily into domination and submission, nurture the idea that castration converts males into the "ultimate" bottoms: meek, malleable, and inexorably submissive individuals. This hardly fits with history. Eunuchs in monarchical societies, where they were often the glue that held governments together, were trusted as political aides. Because they could not generate heirs, they had little motivation to overthrow the sovereign. However they had full access to the seat of power and became generals, treasurers, chamberlains, and diplomats. Many proved so trustworthy and wise that they rose to prominence within the imperial court and acquired great wealth, property, and their own slaves. The eunuchs mentioned in the Bible affirm their competency, for example, when Joseph went down to Egypt, the chief chamberlain to the Pharaoh was a eunuch.
Endocrinology gives a clear and simple answer to how docile or submissive eunuchs might be. My testosterone levels differ little from that of women. Thus one should not expect me to be any more (or less) subservient than, say, our average lesbian sisters.
As I have come to accept my altered gender status, I have tried to find a place for myself in the GLBT world. The fit is not obvious. One can add as many Ts and Qs to that string of letters as they like, but it is clear that the letter "e" is still not in there. I suppose I belong somewhere near the BT end of the spectrum. I am transgendered out of traditional manhood, but I am hardly a transsexual for I still have a full beard and on the street I still present as a male.
I have also found that the string of letters GLBT is misleading in that it implies equal representation for all letters. If the abbreviations were reflective of membership size in this queer conglomerate, it would look more like GLBt. A second problem with GLBT is that it is unpronounceable. It needs a vowel. I propose to solve that problem by squeezing myself into the middle of the pack, yielding the word GLeBt! I use this as a passive verb: "I used to be a male, but I've been glebt by my doctors out of manhood into no-man's land."
As with true trannies, I see myself as having experienced the world from more than one gendered perspective. Although I like my bi-genderism, acceptance of an "e" by the rest of GLBT may not be easy. A big problem is that the term "eunuch" in the modern world invariably connotes negative images of mutilation and humiliation. To most people eunuchs represent the worst brutality that one man can show another. And I have been told by not only straights, but lesbians and transexuals that I should stop using the term, since it is an insult.
The fact is that there have been very few periods in history when eunuchs have been openly recognized, least of all respected, in western culture. In the societies where the eunuchs were powerful and accomplished, they were recognized as a genuine third sex. And that recognition has never been afforded them in our European traditions.
Furthermore, as with women throughout most of history, eunuchs did not chronicle their own accomplishments or skills. But it is now obvious to me that they had far more talents and special aptitudes than most people supposed.
When I was still a male, I assumed that eunuchs got stuck with harem supervision simply because they were not going to cuckold the king. Now I see that that is a naïve and incomplete interpretation. Yes, eunuchs were not sexual competitors to potentates in a Darwinian sense. But it surely took more than being nonreproductive to maintain a harmonious harem. It took a deep understanding of what women wanted and needed.
Historically, eunuchs were very rarely caught in lethal conflict. Was that simply because they didn't have the balls to fight? Before I was a eunuch that is what I thought. But I can still be as pugnacious as I was as a male, so now I suspect that eunuchs back then earned these esteemed appointments because their enriched understanding of human feelings and foibles helped them resolve conflicts without physical battle. The simple fact is that the longest running, most stable, governments in history-from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires at one end of Asia to the Chinese Dynasties at the other-were all managed by eunuchs.
The only time when eunuchs were openly appreciated in western civilization was during 18th century Europe when, as castrati, they were beloved for their angelic voices. The castrati were sopranos because they were castrated before puberty. As a eunuch I now realize that their operatic excellence involved more than short thin vocal cords. It took discipline and artistry only possible with enormous passion.
Coincidentally, since becoming a eunuch, I was invited to join a choir. I had never sung publicly before, neither solo nor in a group, nor had any interest in choral singing. But I accepted the invitation and have come to love singing in a choir. This love requires a deep emotional commitment to the group over my individuality; a full body commitment to sharing harmony and passion with others.
Medical literature mentions heightened emotionality as an undesirable side effect of castration. In our modern society being emotional, particularly for men, is seen more often than not as a weakness. I'll admit that I am more emotional now than I ever was as a male. But is that my weakness or society's? In other societies and even at other times within our own society, being emotional was equated with being both sensitive and passionate in a positive way.
It is too late for me to be a castrato. [Besides, I sing bass.] But it is not too late for me to use my broadened worldview and newfound passion to help myself and serve others. Although I am not about to organize a "Eunuch Pride" parade, I do believe that I have been privileged to see the world so differently.
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Eunuch western point of view – 1103 viewsMy name is Talula and I am a Eunuch
"Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a fake messiah."
- Richard Bach, Illusions
My name is Talula and I'm co-archivist over at The Eunuch Archive. I'm also a Eunuch. Shannon has graciously asked me to begin writing this column which is something I am honored to do. I'll co ntinue this as long as I can find something entertaining and informative to write about. Over the course of the next few months I'd like to talk about what is a Eunuch and why some folks volunteer to become one. Plan on seeing some interviews from Eunuchs regarding their lives and why they chose castration as a lifestyle alternative. Also if anyone has questions they would like answered feel free to email me at eunuch@eunuch.org.
What is a Eunuch? The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term as:
1. A castrated man placed in charge of a harem or employed as a chamberlain in a palace
2. A man or boy deprived of the testes or external genitals
3. One that lacks virility or power <political Eunuchs>
The Greek origin of Eunuch is a combination of the words enue, "bed," and echein, "to have charge of" which would provide some validity to the first definition. However men have been castrated for a plethora of reasons throughout history, not just for work in the harem, so really the definition of a Eunuch is a castrated man or boy. Historically Eunuchs were produced as a punishment, to create a "superior" sort of slave, to enhance their singing voice, to allow them to ascend to high political offices without the fear that they would attempt to take total power, and for a whole slew of other things. It is even said that Roman Emperor Nero had a boy castrated then married him. In any case, the history of eunuchism is well established and there are little doubts that some Eunuchs were created voluntarily. There are also little doubts that most were not.
Technically there are three different ways in which to create a Eunuch.
1. Remove the testicles.
2. Remove the testicles and scrotum.
3. Remove the testicles, scrotum, and penis.
Today men are castrated primarily for medical reasons such as injury or prostate cancer and gone are the days of involuntary castration, with one possible exception. There is a group of "MTF transsexuals" in Pakistan and India known as the Hijra who claim they do not support involuntary castration, but this article here and here suggest otherwise. I cannot confirm or deny these claims nor do I intend to. You be the judge. There is also a movement to provide chemical or surgical castration to sex offenders but that is beyond the scope of this column.
"Why would anyone want to voluntarily become a Eunuch?", asks the reader whose anus is now rapidly clenching while the legs cross and the hands reach down to protect the genitalia. I can tell you for me it was an overwhelming desire to have my testicles removed. Some would say it is a form of sexual dysphoria which sounds a little extreme, however an overwhelming desire is probably the one somewhat common reason I have heard from other Eunuchs trying to explain. This is known as the skoptic syndrome which is as good a term as any but is somewhat inaccurate in that the Russian Skoptics practiced castration and mutilation of the genitalia for religious reasons and have long ago died out (or are staying very, very quiet).
Other reasons folks desire castration are probably as numerous and varied as there are Eunuchs out there that underwent the procedure voluntarily which is why I intend to interview several different Eunuchs and let them describe their lives and history in their own words. But lets not kid ourselves, there are several pros and cons to becoming a Eunuch.
For me, the pros are that for the first time in my life I feel in control of my body and am very happy - and I no longer accidentally sit on my nuts. Sure I might enjoy some of the other reported benefits of castration such as a longer life and keeping a head of hair but I figure I'll die when time suits itself, and I have lots of hair up there as anyone who knows me can tell you. Becoming a Eunuch was a good thing for me and life is much better. Unfortunately this is not the same for all of the Eunuch community as there are a few who regret their decisions.
One of the physiological cons to castration up and beyond the actual procedure that the Eunuch must face is the real likely-hood of osteoporosis which is likely to develop without the conscious intake of calcium or a treatment known as Hormone Replacement Therapy. HRT provides an artificial replacement of testosterone lost by the removal of the testicles and can be administered via several different methods. This leads us to what is probably the biggest debates in the Eunuch community. There are three primary arguments:
• The first says that if "you are going to take HRT why on earth did you become a Eunuch in the first place?"
• The second feels that "HRT is ok for some but not for me. I need a state of low sexual desire".
• The third says "I am satisfied with the loss of the testicles but am unwilling to risk some of the potential negativity effects of castration. Give me HRT."
I subscribe to the third argument and get a shot of depo-testosterone once a month. It goes in the hip and is not an exact replacement for testosterone.
Who would want to undergo voluntary castration? Well, the Eunuch community is full of people whom you might never guess. There are farmers, photographers, restaurant owners, postal workers, computer programmers, and more. They come from all walks of life and the only way that you would know is if they told you or by fondling the pubes. Perhaps even a co-worker, friend, or acquaintance of yours might be a Eunuch.
This body modification is by it's very nature, not for everyone - then again there is no one body modification for everyone. Some are more popular than others, but none for everyone. It was the best one for me. There are some social stigmas attached but rarely do folks walk up and pants one another just to see if they have family jewels. My doctor chuckles. He says I'm easy to check for a hernia.
Until next time folks.
Talula
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Talula is, of course, a eunuch, and the co-archivist of the prime eunuch megasite Eunuch.org. You can read an interview with Talula that BME published back in 1998 by clicking here.
Copyright © 2003 BMEZINE.COM. Requests to republish must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published June 6, 2003 by BMEZINE.COM in Tweed, Ontario, Canada.
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