Being a transgender in India

We all know how this world is divided into positive and negative, everything which has a positive aspect also constitutes of a negative aspect. Even at the atomic level this rule gets followed, but do we really know the nature completely? Men and women are considered to be the opposite of each other, fire and water; two sides of the same coin. But for some people world is not that simple. As you may very well know that besides men and women, there is also a third gender popularly known among people as a ‘Transgender’ person. A transgender person inherits the quality of both, men as well as women. Now imagine this that one day you get ripped off from your true identity, you are neither completely men nor women, you are a perfect amalgamation of both, how would you feel at that point? That is exactly how every transgender in India feels and very few people out there give them respect as another fellow human being.

Social Identity of transgender people in India.

India is really a land of ironies, the country where the ‘Ardhnaarishwar’ form of lord Shiva gets prayed and respected by people, the transgender people, on the contrary gets all the hate from people and throughout their life they struggle to fit in to this bipolar society. Since the people fear them, hence the hatred is not ‘shown’ by the people, but giving them money as soon as they come close is a signal enough to show how weird people feel being around a group of transgender people. Most of the transgender people still strive for the respect and recognition as a respected human being in the Indian social system.

Why people find it hard to accept transgender people as part of society?

Well, in India, particularly, the transgender people exist as a sect where a group if transgender people wander door to door on special occasions, perform the singing and dancing in their own unique style and get the money in return. Hence people often feel a bit disconnected from them as their habits, behavior and lifestyle is totally different compared to other people. In addition to this, since the two genders, that is, men and women dominates the society, hence the transgender people find it hard to establish a normal relationship with other people. Men and women avoid them as their way of going through life is considered bizarre. But now with the dawn of advancement in society the transgender people are now moving forward to get educated and get the jobs like any other normal person. The taboo of being a transgender is now slowly fading away as many of the transgender people are now pursuing higher studies and move forward in life.

The dawn of change is on its way.

While there are issues of identity crisis for transgender people, most of them are now moving forward from being persons who dance and sing on special occasions to the person who can do regular jobs like men and women. Very recently Miss Manabi Banerjee a transgender professor has been appointed as the principle of a women’s college in west Bengal. This appointment is a very important step ahead for the transgender community of India; this is the symbol of the change India is experiencing in accepting the transgender people as an integral part of society.

Though India is still far away from accepting the transgender people as part of the society, but the thinking among youth is breaking several old superstitions and taboos now, let us hope that all the transgender people in India get the respect, education, and the happiness of living in a world where they are accepted as another human being and not as some unique person which has become a curse for them.