Taxi Dreams/Village Nightmare

You might remember Siva from one of the past entries titled "Taxi Dreams", which I've posted again under this blog entry.  

His wife's sister covered her body in kerosene and lit herself on fire only to die a few days later in the hospital, leaving 3 small children behind.  Siva informed me that she committed suicide because of her husband's drinking and abusive behavior. 

I was recently driving through the village with a friend when he stopped to speak with a shop-owner who mentioned some frustration he was having with a legal case involving a woman from the village who was burned.  As I listened, he explained that it would be almost impossible to prosecute her husband for the crime he had committed because of the inadequacies of the legal system here in India.  

I interrupted and asked if this was the same woman who had 3 small children, covered herself in kerosene, lit herself on fire, and died from the burn wounds.  He said yes, this is the same woman, but she did not burn herself- her husband burned her.

This is Siva.
He's a 28 year-old taxi driver in Auroville, India.

 He recently returned from a pilgrimage to a temple in the Indian state of Kerala, where he spent 2 weeks meditating and praying to one of his gods.
He makes gestures and says a prayer each time we pass a temple on the road. 

Siva has a wife.  They were recently married in an arrangement made between their families.  They have known each other virtually all their lives, as they come from the same village.  She is 23 years old and has an older sister.

The sister is married to a man who is an alcoholic.

2 weeks ago, after one of his drinking binges, she poured kerosene all over her body and lit herself on fire.

She was taken to the hospital in the city of Chennai.  She died 3 days later.

Siva said a diary found by her family revealed the pain she had been going through during her marriage.

 She is survived by 3 children.  The oldest is 10 years old.

Her husband has returned back to his native village, and Siva has vowed to help care for the children along with his mother and father-in law.

Siva has saved up enough money to buy his own taxi, and hopes one day to expand his business with a second vehicle.  He says he will hold off on having children with his wife because they already have 3 to care for.

Becoming Aravani

The transformation begins.

Saris are wrapped, makeup is applied, jewelry is put on, and wigs are donned. 

The train leaves in 2 hours from Pondicherry towards the village of Villupuram.  There awaits a new sister- a new hijra- India's third gender.

 

 

Hijras are also called aravanis in this region of India, for the epic Sanskrit tale of the Mahabharata, in which the character Aravan, sacrifices himself to stop a war. His last wish is to be married, and as no woman would willfully marry a man who is doomed to die, the god Krishna changes himself into a woman, granting Aravan's wish before his certain death. 

This newly transformed aravani has undergone surgery to change her sexual organs from male to female, and has waited and recovered indoors.  For forty days she has hidden and avoided being seen by any man, and tonight she will be born in a ceremony of song, dance, food, and drink. She will be seen as a sort of mystic, as many hijras are.  They largely remain, however, poor, outcast members of society.

This also serves as an important opportunity for these particular aravanis to increase awareness and visibility.  They are all members of a community organization called Sahodaran Society, a sexual health clinic and community center for the LGBT population of Pondicherry.  It is the only safe space and meeting place for this portion of the population in the area.

Tonight, in celebration of the birth of a new woman, strength and courage bind these individuals together towards the hope of a future of understanding, tolerance, and acceptance. 

Customer Service

 This is Mike.

 And this is Sam. 

You may have been on the phone with them at some point in time. 

These are the names they chose for their jobs as customer service agents for a large American telecommunications company, which has outsourced these jobs to India. 

They work in the city of Bangalore, and were on vacation in Pondicherry for a 3-day holiday.  They work Monday-Friday from 9:30pm to 5:30am (they were proud of the fact that they had a two-day weekend like other Americans, as many companies in India operate on Saturdays and only have Sundays off).  

Their real names are Pawar and Jagadish.  When I asked them how they chose their professional names, they told me that Mike reminded them of Michael Jackson, and that Sam sounded typically American.