I met this lovely young woman this morning standing outside the home where she was born 18 years ago. That home is a bamboo frame covered with plastic sheets with stones to stop them blowing away. It is just 1.5 metres from a main line railway track with 4 trains every hour.
We chatted for a while. She was softly spoken and spoke English with very little accent and no shortage of vocabulary. She was in year 12 of state school and hoping for college next school year. That will be free if she gets the grades or paid for if not.
She must have the most wonderful parents.
Her name was complicated and not one I’d heard before and I’ve forgotten it. I regret not writing down.
Just across the road from my hotel is a narrow street with one purpose, to feed office workers at lunchtime. From early morning it’s a hive of activity as hundreds of meals are prepared, mostly vegetarian. Then, from around noon, the place is packed and the air full of appetising aromas and the hum of conversation.
This is Gumgum of the Hijra community in Kolkata. He lives in a community of 150 made up of transgender and intersex people and men that adopt feminine gender roles. Historically they have existed for centuries but it was only in 2014 the High Court of India recognised them and created a “third gender”.
Visitors to india will have seen them at traffic lights approaching cars and begging for money. They also give blessings but I’ve yet to understand that.
We spent an hour together at the traffic lights of a busy junction.
