The Hijra Menace on the Indian Trains

The Hijra Menace on the Indian Trains, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

My wife is a very simple woman,she keeps to herself, but she is sensitive too,She has never been critical or insulting towards my photography of the hijras,She has actually been a good host along with my daughter Samiya when Laxmi Narayan Tripathi the quintessential hijra icon of India came over to our place with her chelas,

My wife went out of her way to extend the hospitality that we as Indians are famous for.
Actually Laxmi was worried about Samiyas views and inquired if she had upset my family with her sudden and unexpected presence,this was in a phone call to me , but Samiya spoke to her and told her , that the visit was an eye opener and hijras are after all human too.

On many a trips to Lucknow my wife has shot me with the hijras and my wife in her own right is a good photographer too.

She has seen a lot of personal pain, the pain of the '93 riots at Khar Dhanda where we lived and the apathy of the cops those days,to a situation that was very new to Mumbai.Specially in our case as we have lived amicably with our neighbors and it did not matter if someone was a Hindu a Christian or a Parsi.



But she forgives and moves ahead ,however this return trip from Lucknow, her parents live there, has put her off hijras completely , at Lucknow Char Bagh Station as Pushpak was leaving for Mumbai a group of hijras created havoc with the young kids going to Mumbai for work, they forcibly ill treated them ganged up,some threatening to bare their private parts all in a second class reservation bogey , the rest of the passengers kept mum, my wife was seething inside seeing this horrendous display of goondaism and hooliganism, and it is in collusion with the Railway cops as they are never around and who some allege are party to the profits of this extortion.

The kids were shaken up, their misery did not end even after each person had paid a sum of Rs 10,at Igatpuri another drunken group of hijras pounced on them and created havoc ,, but the Indian mindset is such that the passengers around the compartment are like eunuchs too not wanting to get into trouble,I think it is time the erstwhile dynamic Minister of the Railways Ms Mamta Bannerji took up cudgels for the travelers who pay for their tickets and are literally taken for a ride,this savagery should stop..its an insult and humiliation of a traveler , an Indian, going out in search of work.

All previous ministers have done nothing to eradicate this problem, this is a terror outfit that has made a persons journey hell.

I have nothing against hijras or hijras begging but forcefully demanding money is a crime and the railway cops turning a blind eye is a far greater crime.

Rehabilitating the hijra is thus important , bringing them into the mainstream so they can stand up on their own, and take up careers in self employment without the two options they normally have begging and prostitution, I speak of the poor grass root level hijra and not the affluent hijras who are million miles away from this depravity and degradation.