171,903 items / 1,340,254 views
an enticing bosom
who cares if it is fake
a hijra is a hijra
for humanity's sake
a thirst of man
she was born
to slake
for the sins of her
forefathers burnt
at the stake
androgynous
emasculated
half asleep
half awake
a new heart break
neither man
nor woman
a fish
in and out
of a lake
dichotomous
androgyne
free spirited
a two headed
snake engendered
transgendered
an ancestral ache
transparent
opaque
give and take
from the soul of
a woman
her sexuality
she partakes
Friday, February 25, 2011
What God Could Not Make The Hijra Makes
HIJRAS ARE BORN IN A CAGE
171,723 items / 1,338,770 views
hijras are born in a cage
their world a revolving stage
dressed in brown and beige
badhai their weekly wage
god save you from their wrath
when they go on a rampage
hijras being hijras hijras never age
as old as man wandering through
a mindless maze always
evolving the soul of man
into the soul of a woman
never pays a pain that lingers
on the soul of humanity stays
hijras too have dreams
dreams that they chase
searching for a virile
Adonis making love
in the hay no hijras
are more human
more sensitive
unlike the pompous
pedantic pernicious gay
the hijras cruise but
dont stray hijras are
idols of love made
through molten clay
games more seductive
like a woman in heat they play
androgynous ethereal
they say blessing mans child
to fucked society their dues they pay
dancing with dainty trinkets
on their feet your languishing
libido they raise at the holy shines
of sufi saints they offer prayers
their chaddar expensive
golden embroidered floral display
the hijras i shoot showcase
man can do without woman
but from the soul of man
the hijra essence serenity
serendipity you cant replace
my hijra poetry a toast
to their dignity and grace
it all depends on your
inner breeding and taste
cut copy dont paste
what is wisdom
a bit of intellect some
body waste
a poet in flight
in oxymoron haste
nebulously neurotic
erotic hypnotic but chaste
Praying To Be a Good Human Being Before Corruption Seeps into The Soul
Praying To Be a Good Human Being Before Corruption Seeps into The Soul, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
171,699 items / 1,338,655 views
Coalition government greatest curse on the soul of humanity..
creates monsters makes a mockery of a nations integrity
metamorphosing leaders into eunuchs changing our destiny
truth wisdom that bleeds from the soul of my poetry
The Ladyboys and Crossdressers of India
171,688 items / 1,338,621 views
I am a photoblogger who documents pain , the only human emotion that touches each one of us from birth to death and irrespective of our caste color or community.
Pain is colorless and anomalous, tangible transient and permanent too depending from person to person and soul to soul.
Shooting the pain and struggle of a misplaced gender is tough issue at stake, I am not a psychiatrist nor a gay activist I am nothing shooting the nothingness of mind and soul as it assaults the human body.
What I shoot is a poem of life I shoot these youngsters who come here to Haji Malang to bond , to do penance and partake in Sufi spirituality, they are boys who are like young girls they are called Crossdressers and internationally known as ladyboys or katoeys.
Katoeys as per Wikipedia
Kathoey or katoey (Thai: กะเทย; RTGS: Kathoei;[kaʔtʰɤːj]) is a male-to-female transgender person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand. Related phrases include sao (or phuying) praphet song (Thai: สาวประเภทสอง,"a second kind of woman"), or phet thi sam (Thai: เพศที่สาม, "third gender"). The word kathoey is thought to be of Khmer origin[1] (the equivalent Khmer word is "kteuy").[2] It is most often rendered as ladyboy in English conversation with Thais and this latter expression has become popular across South East Asia except in the Philippines where the term bakla[3] is often used.
The term "kathoey" is not an exact equivalent of the modern Western trans woman, in that "kathoey" suggests that the person self-identifies as a type of male, unlike the term sao praphet song, which (like "trans woman") suggests a female gender identity, or phet thi sam, which suggests a third gender. The term phu-ying praphet thi sorng, which can be translated as "woman of the second kind", is also used to refer to kathoey.[4] Australian scholar of sexual politics in Thailand Peter Jackson claims that the term "kathoey" was used in premodern times to refer to intersexuals, and that the usage changed in the middle of the twentieth century to cover cross-dressing males.[5] The term can refer to males who exhibit varying degrees of femininity – many kathoeys dress as women and undergo feminising medical procedures such as hormone replacement therapy, breast implants, buttock augmentation, genital reassignment surgery, or Adam's apple reductions. Others may wear makeup and use feminine pronouns, but dress as men, and are closer to the western category of effeminate gay man than transgender.
The term "kathoey" may be considered pejorative, especially in the form "kathoey-saloey". It has a meaning similar to the English language "fairy" or "queen".[6]
Kathoey work in predominately female occupations, such as in shops, restaurants and beauty salons, but also in factories (a reflection of Thailand's high proportion of female industrial workers).[7] Kathoey also work in entertainment and tourist centers, in cabaret – Alcazar and Tiffanys in Pattaya are among the best known – and as sex workers.
Kathoeys are more visible and more accepted in Thai culture than transgender or transsexual people are in Western countries or the Indian subcontinent. Several popular Thai models, singers and movie stars are kathoeys, and Thai newspapers often print photos of the winners of female and kathoey beauty contests side by side. The phenomenon is not restricted to urban areas; there are kathoeys in most villages, and kathoey beauty contests are commonly held as part of local fairs.
Some believe[who?] that this higher acceptance is due to the nature of the surrounding Buddhist culture, which places a high value on tolerance.[clarification needed] Using the notion of Karma, some Thai believe that being a kathoey is the result of transgressions in past lives, concluding that kathoey deserve pity rather than blame.[8]
A common stereotype is that older well-off kathoey provide financial support to young men with whom they are in a personal relationship.[9]
Kathoey women currently face many social and legal impediments. Families (and especially fathers) are typically disappointed if a son becomes a kathoey, and kathoey women often have to face the prospect of coming out. However, kathoey generally have greater acceptance in Thailand than most other Asian countries.[10] Legal recognition of kathoeys is non-existent in Thailand: even after genital reassignment surgery, they are not allowed to change their legal sex. Discrimination in employment remains rampant.[11] Issues can also arise in regards to access to amenities and gender allocation; for example, a kathoey who had undergone sexual reassignment surgery would still have to stay in an all-male prison.
[edit] Recent developments
n 1993 Thailand's teacher training colleges had implemented a semi-formal ban on allowing homosexual (which included kathoey) students enrolling in courses leading to qualification for positions in kindergartens and primary schools. In January 1997 the Rajabhat Institutes (the governing body of the colleges) announced it would formalize the ban, which would extend to all campuses at the start of the 1997 academic year. The ban was quietly rescinded later in the year following the replacement of the Minister of Education.[12]
In 1996, a volleyball team composed mostly of gays and kathoeys, known as The Iron Ladies (Thai: สตรีเหล็ก, satree lek), later portrayed in two Thai movies, won the Thai national championship. The Thai government, concerned with the country's image, barred two of the kathoey from joining the national team and competing internationally.
Among the most famous kathoeys in Thailand is Nong Tum, a former champion Thai boxer who emerged into the public eye in 1998. She was already cross-dressing and taking hormones while still a popular boxer; she would enter the ring with long hair and makeup, occasionally kissing a defeated opponent. She announced her retirement from professional boxing in 1999 – undergoing genital reassignment surgery, while continuing to work as a coach, and taking up acting and modeling. She returned to boxing in 2006.
In 2004, the Chiang Mai Technology School allocated a separate restroom for kathoeys, with an intertwined male and female symbol on the door. The 15 kathoey students are required to wear male clothing at school but are allowed to sport feminine hairdos. The restroom features four stalls, but no urinals.[13]
Also on 2004, Nong Poy won Miss Tiffany's 2004 and Miss International Queen 2004 and since then she has become and icon of transgendered beauty for both women and men in Thailand.
Following the Military Coup in Thailand in 2006 kathoeys are hoping for a new third sex to be added to passports and other official documents in a proposed new constitution.[14] In 2007, legislative efforts have begun to allow kathoeys to change their legal sex if they have undergone genital reassignment surgery; this latter restriction was controversially discussed in the community.[11]
Following a similar group in South Korea, the first all kathoey music group in Thailand was formed in 2006. It is named Venus Flytrap and was selected and promoted by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.[15]
The Lady Boys of Bangkok is a kathoey revue that has been performed in the UK since 1998 touring the country in both theatres and the famous "Sabai Pavillion" for 9 months each year.
[edit] Films
Ladyboys is a 1992 documentary film made for Channel 4 TV and directed by Jeremy Marre. It relates the story of two teenage kathoey who prepare for and enter a rural beauty contest and then leave for Pattaya to find work in a cabaret revue.
The story of the 1996 Iron Ladies volleyball team underlies the humorous and successful 2000 movie The Iron Ladies and the 2003 sequel The Iron Ladies 2.
The 2002 Thai film Saving Private Tootsie tells the story of a group of gays and kathoey who need to be rescued after a plane crash in rebel-held jungle territory. The film explores anti-gay attitudes in various ways. It is loosely based on an incident in December 1998 when a group including a popular singer and his kathoey makeup artist survived a plane crash.
The life of the kathoey kick boxer Nong Tum is related in the 2003 movie Beautiful Boxer. Unlike The Iron Ladies 1 & 2, Beautiful Boxer used a serious tone.
In the 2005 Thai martial arts film The Warrior King or Tom yum goong, the main villain, Madame Rose, is a kathoey, and there are two references to this in the film (for the US release these were edited out). She is played by Jin Xing who is herself transgendered.
The extreme traveller show Madventures had a section on ladyboys on the third season.
[edit] Books
The book Ladyboys: The Secret World of Thailand's Third Gender gives an intimate portrait of Thailand's kathoey. It is a collection of authentic stories about journeys of self-discovery by those who have struggled with gender identity while trying to maintain normal lives and careers. The book features some of Thailand's celebrity ladyboys such as Boxer Nong Tum as well as the life of others such as a magazine columnist, a cabaret performer and a prostitute. The book was written by Susan Aldous and Pornchai Sereemongkonpol and published in May 2008 by Maverick House Publishers. Another book about university-aged kathoey (published in 2007) is "Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand's Transgendered Youth," by LeeRay Costa and Andrew Matzner.
[edit] Culture
The Hijra Sandal For The Holy Saint of Haji Malang
The Hijra Sandal For The Holy Saint of Haji Malang, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
171,637 items / 1,337,674 views
The hijras are unique blend of Indian ethos culrure and religiosity.
Their prosperity, their health wealth safety depends on the blessings and protection of the Holy Saints both of Ajmer Sharif and Haji Malang Holy Shrines.
Because they have been treated as outcasts by mainstream society and religion, because of their status as untouchables the hijras had no option but to find solace in Sufi Shrines that firmly uphold the values of humanity.
And this is the core of this photo blog and hijra documentary, I have no other agenda but to show you the beauty purity and undiluted faith of the hijras towards divinity...
God is not a racist but those who stand like his guards are racists, most of them are only interested in the loot they get and their personal glory and ego.
All this shocks me Haji Malang is not part of my religiosity or my beliefs but does it matter I show you truth as it exits there might be ugliness around among his followers but that does not concern me, its the nobility of their spiritual intentions that matters.. even a drunk or a prostitute or a homosexual has a right to worship as much as you and me.
You cannot take away that right by your narrow mindedness , your bigotry and your bias towards peoples profession or personal flaws.
So I came here year after year shot the Hijra sandal, at the same time I shot the common man his faith, the rafaees the malangs , the beggars and the shop keepers vendors all depending on each other for survival.
And I know that one day Haji Malang will be the greatest center of pilgrimage for its universality and for its path of peace humanity and a lesson in national integration once the government gets rid of the lacuna of scams and corruption and upgrades the status of Haji Malang which too is a disputed site.
Haji Malang has a potential of becoming the next Koovagam and on par with other religious sites like Tirupathi and Vaishnodevi, but it lacks infrastructure , no drinking water save from wells, no ladies toilet no public bath..no proper roads, no hospital .. and I can go on..
But without sarcasm it is heavy weight ministers that promote other town ships should wake up to the needs of peoples spirituality whether you call this place Haji Malang or Shree Malang what have you really done for the people .. nothing just saffron banners and posters of politicians that makes me puke.
This is Truth that the Haji Malang Trust does not want the people to know that I showcase without animosity, without hate I dont need a house or a shop at Haji Malang...I want the pilgrims to be able to bond with the Malang Baba.. and allow millions of other people to come be healed through his blessings.
Through the humility of my blogs my poems to the Holy Saint I want to internationalize the cause of a neglected Holy Saint the greatest Saint of Maharashtra.
Jai Hind Jai Maharashtra.
Jai Malang Baba
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