Thursday, November 11, 2010

Please help your neighbours
“We have emotions like you”
                                                 
                               You will find us in busy market, railway station or celebrating somebody else happiness. People call us by different names some call us hijra, transgender while other call us third gender of India. No one give us true respect in the society and we can’t do anything about it even god has failed to give us justice than whom to look for respect. When we talk about our “identity” people laughed on us they say “look who is talking about identity whom even destiny failed to write about their future.
                             The Hijras of India are a religious community of ascribed intersexual who worship Bahuchara Mata, the Mother Goddess, and share the experienced gender identity of women. Culturally defined as neither men nor women, the role of the hijras is based on sexual impotence and functions as a third gender. Although marginalized, the hijras have found a positive alternative within the Hindu belief system that sanctions their impotence and associates it with the powers of the religious ascetic. “In Indian reality, the impotent man is seen as ‘useless, an empty vessel, and fit for nothing’ because he is unable to procreate.
                            It is the responsibility of ideal government to look out for the things that are going to benefit the citizen of the country. India run their government with emotions and culture as there two fundamentals and it give respect to every citizen of the country. So the great government has also come to help the transgender community to find out their identity in our own country. The Election Commission was the first to do it , and the Unique Identification Authority of India [ UIDAI] has followed the example- the transgenders of India are finally being recognised by its government. Enrolment forms of the UIDAI will have a third column –“T” for Transgender-along with the ‘M’ and ‘F’ for Male and Female respectively.
                             Our  government is in right direction doing something for the welfare of community but the ground reality is much worst for the transgender’s. Poverty and unemployment has brought them on street for begging they are struggling for food to eat so most of theHijras" lives in most parts of India and are known to depend, at least partly, for their livelihood on working as male prostitutes. Most hijras are castrated males and dress as females. In addition to a large section of the hijra community, there are many full-time or part-time male prostitutes in India. Some of them live in red-light areas of metropolitan cities; many seek male clients by offering massage services in parks, beaches, hotels, and houses. The prevalence of HIV was higher among men having sex with Hijras (14%) or with all 3 genders (13%) than among men having sex with men and women (8%). Every year out 100 /20 hijras are dying due to sexually transmitted diseases. If they were not suffering from poverty they won’t involved in such sexual practices because poverty is one dangerous disease in which human mind can’t be controlled. Government should start focusing on creating employment opportunities by opening small scale factories, workshops to generate employment for them and also it is your turn to do something for your neighbours who is struggling for their survival.