EUNUCH - STRUGGLE FOR RECOGNITION

Hello all,

Recently, I watched a TV drama on “ARY Digital” with the title “Khuda Mera Bhi hai,” meaning “God is mine too”. The subject was the acceptance of eunuchs as children and citizens. Most civilized countries have no issues in this regard; people of this gender are living a satisfied life there, but in Asia, this gender is not treated as they deserve. We have a discriminatory attitude towards them. There was an era when they had a respected status in the palaces of Mughal emperors.

In our society, a lot of people want to hear this sentence at the time of delivery: “Congratulations, it is a baby boy.” Few are satisfied with a baby girl, but the situation worsens when it is the third gender. Most parents refuse to accept such a child right after birth. They think that it is shameful to accept them and that society will make fun of this incident.  People assume such parents are unhealthy in a way that they are unable to give birth to a boy or a girl.

This is a tradition for centuries in South Asia; many illiterate people blame mothers for the birth of a girl or a eunuch. They also praise the mother for a baby boy. People have no concern with science and research; they have their sayings, stereotypes, and customs to follow. It is not only those who are living in remote areas, but many so-called civilized and highly educated minds do not want to accept this reality. These children are mostly given to a “Guru” (an older transgender person taking care of such gender). The problem starts from this stage; they are being spoiled and thrown away as a waste of their whole life.

Gurus have a tradition of training such children in dance and singing. This training has no concern with perfection; it is just for the sake of fun. When these children grow up, they dance and sing in the streets on several occasions. Once, it was a tradition to call them at weddings and birthdays. Many people think that their prayers and blessings are pure and will be accepted soon, so they called them at the time of the birth of a baby boy.  This tradition is rare these days, and eunuchs have mostly become beggars. You can observe many of them with makeup and with ladies’ outfits at almost every traffic signal. They have a different style of begging; normally they keep blessing you until you give them some money, but it should be a big amount; they are not content with coins. Many times, I witnessed them throwing the charity back if they are not happy with the amount. There are many who still dance and earn their living, but a lot of them are involved in crimes and unethical activities. It is obvious that such ignored and discarded people can easily be trapped and used by criminals. Hence, they are now involved in so many other illegal activities.

The problem is the recognition of such children in our society; parents who dare to accept such children are often humiliated by others. They would make fun of them for being supportive of the eunuchs. These children are being treated as aliens and humiliated in our society. No parents like them to play with their children or be their friends. Though there is an appropriate word to call them, i.e., “ Khwaja Sara,” which was basically a title for them back in the Mughal dynasty. But they are being called different abusive names like “Khusra”, “Na-Mard”, “Heejra”, “Chakka,” and many more. Their school and college fellows make fun of them without any reason, and they are not supposed to react against such behavior and are expected to bear the bullying silently.

Although we observe some change in our society, and people are educating their minds in this regard, there is a lot to do. It is such a pity that this gender was never considered officially until recently, when they were finally acknowledged as lawful citizens and can now apply for National Identity cards. Eunuchs are now aware of their rights and have protested several times for their demands.

The TV show that I mentioned above took a brave and bold step toward a selfless society and awareness. They motivated people to come forward and accept all the realities attached to this creation of God. They are not being thrown away from anywhere; they are as real as we are. Acceptance will make them beneficial for them and for society as well. They have minds and emotions like others; they can be creative, workers, sales reps, businessmen, teachers, researchers, even managers, and much more. All we need is a change in our perspectives. Once again, well done, team ARY Digital.

Best regards.