The Third Sex of India -The Hijdas
Originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1
The Angst and the Anxiety of the Hijda
I have a peripheral knowledge of Hijdas, I have never till date ever asked any Hijda
how he became a Hijda?
I have never had a journalistic approach to my relationship or acquaintanceship with Hijdas I met on the crossroads of Life .But as I shoot pain, stalk pain feel pain I became wary and aware of the Hijdas quintessential adrogynous pain..
I talk of the grass root hijda the lowest in the Hijda hierarchy.
Poor neglected hated and severly condemned by the mainstream society.
I met Hijd prostitutes at Hijda Gully No1 at Kamatipura , talked to Zeenath the Head Guru, but it was to the point without embarassing the basic nature of their survival , a new Hijda was being initiated I shot the pictures with my eyes, the new Hijda donning the red bridal saree , auspiciously being blessed by the Hijda diety Bhauchara Mata..these were important pictures to shoot , but it was a private moment and I respected their privacy.That is why barring a few stray incidents I have had a good human rapport with the Indian transgenders or Hijdas.
And I know a few who love me immensely for what I am, and this is written in singular humility , without any prosaic conceit or poetic pride ..
The Eunuch poetry too just took form, effortlessly , fluidly , words became emotions , emotions flights of fancy..as though a divine force was making me privy to their inner privations and their depressed lives...caught in a vice of depravity.
Last week while at Bhendi Bazar I saw two Hijdas I tried to catch their eyes but they moved away I had my camera too, I could have pursued them talked them in taking their pictures but I let the moment pass..
The Hijda in the picture is plain and begs at the Turner Road Traffic junction..
I shoot them and perhaps people think I am crazy but thats fine, creativty pre empts a hazardous form of intense craziness.
Today I gave one of the plainer Hijdas a trinket to wear round her neck and she lit up like a Xmas tree..I did not shoot her picture , it would have spolit the moment and made it transactional..
I bought a domain name last year from my friend Anil Shejale - Hijda-Eunuch .com
but have not found a web home for it.. and I have already paid a heavy sum to my eldest son for my poetry site ..he wanted me to have it as a gift but Marziya Shakir was the best gift he gave both his father and his mother.
www.firozeshakir.com
