Introduction
I guess these men were more my female comrades than mere friends; my ‘thozis’ in fact.
Doraisamy’s Early Life and Emotional Struggle
Doraisamy, before becoming Revathi, was a perplexed transgender person who was in search of company for himself. As a human being, she was suffering from loneliness as he didn’t receive any comfort neither from home nor from school. He could not communicate his true feelings, alterations in his emotions that were racing within him. Family is considered as a comfort space; it has been constructed in our mind that one can achieve relief in one’s home. But for Doraisamy, he was feeling uneasy and hesitant to at least utter about himself in front of his parents.
Discovery of Identity and Hijra Community
One day, Doraisamy discovered about the reality of the fort that used to loom over the town. He was unaware of the time and slowly the twilight started to give way to darkness. He saw four men attired in lungi climbing the fort. They were addressing each other in female way, Doraisamy for the first time felt that people like himself did exist who were ‘female inside and male outside’. He developed acquaintance with them.
Life with Thozis and Sense of Belonging
Also Doraisamy found out about people like them who used to wear saree and had undergone an operation. These people became his true companions where Doraisamy could truly be herself and dress as female. In the process, these transgender people became his thozis, the female comrade.
Gender Identity, Social Pressure and Exclusion
Doraisamy now could call the true female being inside herself on the hill of Namakkal. All the time she used to live in discomfort where she needed to live with an identity that was not hir. She was compelled to fit in the society by his family and the school children used to bully hir. The society didn’t create space for people like Doraisamy so they found a space for concealing from society’s sight in secret place.
Critical Issue: Violence and Legal Neglect
Transgenders are raped and this act of criminality is not recorded due to its absence in Indian Penal Code. Critically comment on the statement with reference to Revathi: A Hijra Life Story.
Rowdies were categorized as bad people who one day caught hold of one of Doraisamy’s thozis and performed ‘danda’ on hir. Doraisamy was ignorant of the concept of ‘danda’ and flabbergasted at the fatigued condition of her female comrade. The rowdies compelled her to have forced sex through her mouth and backside. It was a rape act. But, transgenders being violated bodily is overlooked in Indian criminal acts. Doraisamy was horrified and others replied that this is the way transgenders have sexual fulfillment. But Doraisamy’s opinion was way beyond her counterparts. She wanted to have sex but only after becoming a transsexual and within a marriage bond. Doraisamy’s views/opinions to conventional family and love that one gets within marriage.
Short Notes: Hijra Rituals and Practices [5/10]
Paampaduthi:-
Transgender people live in community and practice their culture developed by them. Paampaduthi is one of their customs where the transgenders needed to touch the feet of elder saree-clad women and say ‘paampaduthi amma’. The younger’s were blessed by the elders by ‘juyo, juyo’. Doraisamy learnt that this cultural ritual was very important. The younger ones needed to show respect to the saree-clad women in order to gain their goodwill. Doraisamy feels/seems to the readers that she feels more confident and comfortable among the likes of herself as she asserts “This is our tradition, I discovered.”
Nirvaanam:-
Nirvaanam was an operation where the transgender needed to submit to castration and turn into a full woman. Nirvaanam became a source of hope and happiness for Doraisamy. When Doraisamy was around fourteen or fifteen years he was tall, and slim and had no facial hair on his arms and legs. One member of their group remarked that if Doraisamy undergo nirvaanam then he could transform to a full woman. On the other hand Doraisamy did have the strong desire to transform himself biologically from transgender to transsexual. The chance of becoming a woman for Doraisamy was possible because of the favourable conditions like absence of hair on face and body parts that distinguish becomes features of distinction between men and women.
Chela:-
Chela is a concept prevalent in transgenders of Tamil Nadu as we see it is known from Revathi: A Truth About Me. Doraisamy desired strongly to become a woman, she wanted a biological transformation from transgender to transsexual status. For this she needed to go and stay with others, have his ears and nose pierced. He also needed to grow his hair and learn their ways. In other words, Doraisamy needed to live under the guidance of a guru and guru was responsible for training the chelas in their womanly ways.
Guru:-
The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life story provides the readers an insight of life about transgender lifestyle. A guru was a person who guided transgender in womanly attitudes, gestures, dances and way of life style. A guru hold the position of maternal status for the chelas. Chelas were transgenders people who accepted the woman who hold the important position of guru, Doraisamy requested the elder woman who was near her village, to accept her as chela. The guru accepted to make her chela in front of the Jamaat.
Jamaat:-
According to The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life story, a jamaat was a “meeting of saree-clad elders” whose main occupation was to discuss matters of importance. Doraisamy observes for the very first time all the traditions and customs of transgenders or ‘hijra’. On one such evening when the jamaat was held, the readers come to know about the ceremonial observance from the Doraisamy/seyes. Several saree-clad women arrived from towns like Erode and Madurai. Some of them like the narrator changed into sarees. A pot of rice was prepared for the group and members like the narrator were asked to serve the food.
Chores:-
Doraisamy or probably most unique name for Revathi lists all the works that form the main chores of a transgender. Through The Truth About Me, the readers ignorant of rites, rituals, transgender’s lifestyle are exposed to their customs, traditions, rites and rituals. Doraisamy after being accepted as a chela, started to go learn and grasp the crucial chores of their lives. The first important condition for them was to look like women and for this they dressed/attired themselves in women’ clothes and accessories. She went with others like young girl-boys clad in sarees to fetch water. They learnt to fetch water from the well but they used to carry this task much like a typical female of their village. They were also required to wash dress of their elders. Other things included customs related to religion. It was the custom for the ‘pottais’ or saree-clad women to gather at that time every year to sing and dance like the gummi.
Thandy:-
Thandu was the fee money given to jamaat by a guru in transgender community. Doraisamy offers the customs and traditions related to segregation of pupils or chelas under a guru. They were required to sit around a plate on which was spread a white cloth. Betel leaves and 1.25 rupees were placed on it. Doraisamy’s guru announced the name of hir as a chela and gave 5 rupees and 1.25 rupees to the jamaat. The 5 rupees note was noted in the name of Revathi for Doraisamy. A lot of appreciation and clapping flowed in the meeting and Doraisamy would address her as Amma.