Transgenders from Malkangiri; one of the most undeveloped district in India.
Malkangiri is a town and municipality in Malkangiri, a district in the southern part of Odisha. One of the most undeveloped districts in the country, it shares borders with Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andra Pradesh. Malkangiri has been the new home of the East Bengali refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh), who were rehabilitated from 1965 under the Dandakaranya Project. A few Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were also rehabilitated in the town, following the armed struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the early 1990. Mist of these Tamil refugees have now either gone back or relocated to other parts of the country.
More than fifty transgenders from the rural parts of Malkangiri and nearby districts live in the town. Here are some of their profiles.
"When you imagine your future, do you see a family life?"
"Of course, I do. Like any other woman, I too dream of a family life with a suitable man. But for transgenders, the chances for an arranged marriage are slim. The chances of a man falling in love and accepting us as his partner are not great either. That is how it is even for transgenders who live in metro cities and towns. What can I hope for then, coming as I do from a village in one of India’s most undeveloped districts!"
This is an excerpt from a conversation with Durga in 2022. When I met her in July 2023, she was all set for gender reassignment surgery. And she was doing it without revealing it to anyone, including her family.
Durga, one of the first transgenders from Odisha's Malkangiri district to be employed in the government sector, was born in Korukonda, a village 20 kilometres away from the district headquarters. She is the first child of Tata Rao, a headload worker on construction sites, and Pratima Gacha, a housewife. She has two siblings—a sister and a brother.
"It was a very painful time for my family when my body first started changing. I was 10 years old at the time. But my family was always supportive. Nobody at home tried to dissuade me when I got attracted to women’s cosmetic items."
Though she had a supportive family by her side, she was not spared from the stigmatization society places on transgenders. There was some respite from the mocking and sneering once she started worshiping her deity, Goddess Durga, in the village temple. However, right from childhood, she knew that society would never wholeheartedly welcome her into its fold. She also knew that she had no choice but to accept her reality and get on with life.
Durga wore boys' clothes to school. The rest of the time, she dressed as a girl. She went to school until the eleventh standard. After leaving school, she tried to find a job. But nobody was willing to employ her. After a while, Durga and a few of her transgender friends from the district came to the conclusion that 'collecting money from the market and trains' was their only feasible source of income. After spending a few months in big cities like Bhubaneswar and Mumbai, Durga and her friends decided to return to their village. They were not comfortable with earning a living from market/train collection. "That was not a decent way," Durga says.
By that time, Durga had become a prominent figure in Malkangiri's transgender community, a voice that was heard. After returning home, Durga and her friends explored the possibilities of getting a government job. They approached several authorities and eventually met the District Collector. It took another two years for jobs to be assigned to them based on their educational qualifications.
"We pleaded for our jobs. It was only after we threatened the District Collector that we would engage in public prostitution that he immediately summoned the Superintendent of Police and provided us with special training for the security job."
Five people, including Durga, were appointed as security employees at Malkangiri District Hospital. Later, five more were appointed. Another five were appointed as water pump workers with the Water Authority.
"I am in touch with most of the transgenders in Malkangiri. I provide them with guidance about government procedures like linking Aadhar, obtaining a caste certificate, etc. People's attitudes improved when I became a working person, especially in the government sector. But we are still looked down upon by society. However, I now see it as their problem, not ours," Durga says.
Initially, she used to commute from her village to her workplace in Malkangiri every day. Later, she realized it wasn't a practical option and rented a one-bedroom house in the town. She did not face too many issues while searching for a house to rent. Other transgenders from Malkangiri prefer to stay at her place when they come to the town.
SONU
Sonu, whose earlier name was Kushal Patnaik, is from Boipariguda village in Koraput district. She stayed at home until her fifth standard. Later, her parents shifted her to her uncle's place in Malkangiri town when they came to know about her physical differences and character changes. Sonu completed her tenth standard and plus two by commuting to school from her uncle's house. By the time she secured admission for an IT course in a college in Malkangiri, her uncle asked her to leave his house. The course was finished as she had the option to stay at the hostel.
"Finding a job in Malkangiri is really hard, and we are all supposed to take up collection jobs or work in the red-street areas in Bhubaneswar. These are widespread stereotypes among people in general and in our community. So, everyone in our community might have gone through this phase in the early stages of their life. People like me, who don't find that workspace comfortable, move into something else, even though the money we make here is much less compared to those jobs," Sonu said.
She also went through enough social dramas as well as stigmas during her early twenties. By 2016, she had also come back to the town (Malkangiri) to team up with an organisation and demand a reputable job.
"Since all of us had studied here in the town, it was not that difficult to join back together," Sonu added.
KIRAN
"Finding a job in Malkangiri is really hard, and we are all supposed to take up collection jobs or work in the red-street areas in Bhubaneswar. These are widespread stereotypes among people in general and in our community. So, everyone in our community might have gone through this phase in the early stages of their life. People like me, who don't find that workspace comfortable, move into something else, even though the money we make here is much less compared to those jobs," Sonu said.
She also went through enough social dramas as well as stigmas during her early twenties. By 2016, she had also come back to the town (Malkangiri) to team up with an organisation and demand a reputable job.
"Since all of us had studied here in the town, it was not that difficult to join back together," Sonu added.
DIVYA JOSHI
Divya joined Malkangiri District Hospital as a security guard in 2022. She is a neighbour and childhood friend of Durga, thus she has been staying with her in the town since Durga rented a house in Malkangiri. Divya is one of the most educated people in their community, having completed her graduation from Balimela College.
There are twelve transgenders working as security guards in the district medical hospital. According to Durga, there are around 55 transgenders in Malkangiri District. Several of them are not comfortable with jobs other than collection, dancing at functions, and working in the red-street areas. On the other hand, they enjoy the freedom these jobs provide.
PAYAL KINAR
“My first hurtful memory is from when I was rejected by a girl who was a classmate in the fifth grade. I ended up becoming the girlfriend of a boy whom the girl who rejected me was in love with. And that was my first revenge”
Payal has five siblings. She moved to Chennai when she was 13 years old. Before leaving Malkangiri, she used to dress up in her elder sisters' sarees and try their cosmetics. While her mother and some family members were comfortable with this, a few of her siblings were not. Her brother used to beat her while she was staying in Chennai. One day, her brother had a narrow escape from an incident that could have been fatal. Since then, Payal realized that she is a transgender person with special blessings from God. After leaving Chennai, she started dancing at functions in Malkangiri town. She has traveled to several major cities in India over the last few years to attend functions and settled back in Malkangiri a few years ago.
A year ago, a boy offered her 200 rupees to record a video of her dancing and post it on his Instagram account. That video went viral, and several other people reached out to her, asking for more dancing videos.
BHUMI KOVASU
Bhumi is a transgender from Markapali village in Pandripani. She has an elder brother, an elder sister, and a younger brother. Bhumi left her job as a security guard at Malkangiri District Hospital because she was not comfortable with a job that necessitates discipline.