The Hijra Research Blog

More on Santoshi Mata

2010-03-18T10:20:00.000-05:00

It has been a few years since I originally posted about Santoshi Mata, but comments always seem to come in. I, as usual, am a bit behind on approving comments. This one was waiting for me recently from Vistrit:
"it's unbelievable..but the Hindu pantheon of gods and goddesses actually does NOT have ANY goddess by the name of 'santoshi mata'!!!
her popularity is the result of a 1975 low budget hindi move called 'jai santoshi maa'. this movie ws a blockbuster and caught the fancy of innumerable indians...most of whom r crazy abt anything to do with god.
as bizarre as it may sound..this is the trust behind 'santoshi ma'. all the hype and hoopla resulting frm the movie's success ws encashed to come up with a whole believable myth arnd this character and give her the status of a 'goddess'!"

Why am I bumping this up from the comments? Simply because of misinformation. We are all subject too it. It has been almost 10 years since I did my original research on the Hijra community. In that time I never read anything about Santoshi Mata. I did read a lot about Bahuchara Mata and her status as the goddess of the Hijra community was never a question. The issue at hand is Santoshi Mata's status within the pantheon of gods and goddesses.
I do recall learning that the Hindu pantheon is not static. Goddesses, especially, are added in regions like the Catholic community does for Saints. In other words, a woman or man does something special in the community and they might be elevated to god or goddess status. It happens mostly with women from what I recall as goddess do not require male counterparts. This may be incorrect... it has been 10 years.
The issue then switches too: can a movie character be made into a proper goddess in the pantheon? I personally hope not, but then I know very little about modern Indian culture and how that plays into religion. Also, I am a product of the West. We don't make our movie characters into gods, but we do go a little nuts about them (Twilight is a great example). If American culture had a pantheon of gods and goddesses I suspect we would make a movie character into a god or goddess.
Is Santoshi Mata a proper goddess? Who am I to say? Does everyone always agree on religion? I think the answer is pretty clear. Clearly there are some who do believe Santoshi Mata is a proper Hindu goddess and there are others who disagree. How she became a goddess for the Hijra community is even more mystifying for me.

You can see the Wikipedia information about Jai Santoshi Maa (the movie origins of Santoshi Mata) and the Internet Movie Database webpage about the movie.
Personally, until she is mentioned in the scholarly communication, I remain a skeptic.

German Student Needs Some Help

2009-09-15T09:55:00.002-05:00

I got an email from a German student doing research on the Hijras. He could use some help from experts or Hijras themselves. The email had been edited as bit for length and spelling.

my Name is David, I'm a student of History of India in Berlin/Germany.
I'm close to finishing my studys with a final essay: Hijras- From the Mythologie till Today.

I'm trying an overview from the first stories about Hijras in Mythology, to the means of Islam, to the British and finally to modernity.

I would love to ask some Hijras, or people who stand close, a few questions.

One of my Thesis is, that most Hijras are homosexual or transgendered- which is nothing new, but that there are so many because the sexual education in India is no good and people who are homosexual and transgendered, just don't know about this things. They only know Hijras are the ones to live with if you don't desire woman and don't feel like becoming a father.
And the second Thesis is, that there will be less Hijras in future, because of the growing of sexual education and the following awareness of gender differences.

So, to put it straight:
-Would you agree that Hijras are going to vanish because of sexual education or do you think Hijra is a lifestyle more than only being homosexual or transgendered?
-Do you think heterosexual man also follow Bahuchara Mata, after dreaming of her and emasculate themself?
-Why do you think ist Bahuchara Mata the main goddess, I cant find the link between cutting of the penis and getting the power to curs or bless.
- What is the impact of islam on the hindu huijra cult? Is castration maybe a heritage from Islam?

Are you able to help David? If so, contact him directly at: captain-dave@web.de and make sure you mention that you saw his email on the blog.

Making some changes

2009-09-14T16:07:00.003-05:00

Clearly, I can't up with this blog as much as I would like. There has been tons of news coming out about the Hijra community, I just haven't been able to post it. I have a solution thanks to RSS feeds. I have set up 2 feeds for anyone to use.
1) Google News feed: This is what I have been using for years and getting the emails about news. This feed will post when a news article mentions Hijras. Keep in mind, it's not perfect, but it will get the news posted faster than me. These are typically free newspapers from around the world.

2) Academic Research feed: I pulled from an American research database, Academic Search Premier, to get articles from newspapers, magazines and journal articles ABOUT Hijras. This will post the most recent 5 articles.

There may be some overlap, but better than slow poke Sara.

Request for Help

2008-12-01T19:02:00.002-05:00

I have received a request from Italian photographer, Chiara Goia.
Chiara is looking for organizations that work with the Hijra community in Calcutta.

Please email Chiara if you know of any organizations that can help

Articles

2008-02-25T16:50:00.001-05:00

Another article:
State to education eunuchs about AIDS, sexual health

Read these articles

2008-02-17T13:59:00.002-05:00

Here are some interesting articles to read from November 2007 - now:

Eunuchs may be licensed in Madhya Pradesh

2007-10-04T07:09:00.000-05:00

This article has been posted from a variety of sources this morning. It features a plan in Bhopal to create a license program for the hijra community living in the area. It is noted that 5,000 hijras live in Bhopal.
The city is claiming they want to do this to be able to know who is a real hijra and is not. The aim is to cut down on the fake hijas who harass people. I am all for protecting real hijras, but I am concerned that this is the first step on a path that could lead to segregation and government sanctioned harassment for the hijras. It's something to keep an eye on, especially for those who consider themselves activists on behalf of the hijra community.

Eunuchs Do Their Bit

2007-09-23T21:46:00.000-05:00

This article is from the Statesman an English language paper from India. It seems the Hijra community is working with the state to deal with the various issues of welfare in India. It's not much more than a blurb, but an interesting development for the community and a positive change.

News: Kidnappers seal deal on stamp paper

2007-09-11T07:33:00.000-05:00

Kidnapping stories are frequently heard in relation to the Hijra community. Here is another one. A young boy was kidnapped and found with a group of Hijras. The group reportedly made the father sign an agreement that he would not go to the police if the community was able to kidnap the boy again.
Here is what I am reading. Yes, a boy was kidnapped. It seems to happen frequently in the area and the cops seem useless. By useless, I mean uninterested. The article says the Hijras bought the boy from someone else. This simply insinuates the Hijras are buying kidnapped children, not kidnapping the boys themselves. While this is not a great association for the community, it clarifies these stories a bit. Also, I am not saying this activity is appropriate, but I have little room to judge. I am simply saying the constant charges of kidnapping are inaccurate and unfair in many circumstances.
Lastly, the article mentions nobody has been able to find this community of Hijras. Thus, the story is only from the father and is not confirmed by anyone else.

News: Memoirs of a Rebellious Volunteer

2007-09-11T07:13:00.000-05:00

First, let me address the source of this article- CounterPunch. This newsletter and website are known for muckrack journalism. It is not unbiased, but neither is it obviously conservative or liberal. The point is to be deeply investigative. Take this source as you will.

Our article today comes from Michael Dickinson. He shares a story of his time volunteering in Calcutta with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. He makes a brief reference to an encounter he had with the Hijra community.

This article may not provide much in the way of research on the Hijras, but it may give you an idea of the life of other religious orders in India.

A Flurry of Activity

2007-08-28T09:07:00.001-05:00

I got a Google Alert today with a ton of different articles.

1) Homosexuality and The Indian: This article deals with the paradox in the sexual culture of India. That is that many men engage in sex with other men, but do not identify themselves as homosexual. The Hijra community gets mentioned, in my interpretation, as a more acceptable way for men to exhibit more flagrant behavior. They justify their homosexuality with the idea that they are neither men nor women. It is an interesting article.

2) Varanasi Actor Living With Eunuchs for Real-Life Experience: This article is about an actor who is preparing for a movie role by living with the Hijra community.

3) We Have Come To Earn Salvation: This article deals with an effort to convert Hijras to Christianity during the Sitalsasti festival. There was no insinuation that they missionaries were trying to get the hijras to reconsider their life-style. It seems they just wanted to spread the word of Jesus.

4) Pakistan's Window of Opportunity to Prevent HIV: This article talks about the World Bank and Pakistan's chance to prevent the spread of HIV. It is well known that the Hijra community experiences high levels of HIV and AIDS due to unprotected sex. Pakistan currently has low numbers of people infected and the World Bank want to use this as the opportunity to educate and prevent.

5) Zombie Nation: This is a fun article about Bollywood horror movies. Zibahkhana or Hell's Ground is a horror movie in Pakistan that includes a bit of pop culture from rock music to the hijras. Sounds like a fun movie.

Santoshi Mata

2007-02-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

About a month ago I posted an entry of someone looking for more information on a goddess mentioned in HBO documentry (see the entry bellow this one). It took a while, but someone responded to the call for more information with this in the comments:
"Coming to this post the name of the godess is Santoshi Mata (not Santo Shimanta) Pronounced as follows :- 'San' to rhyme with the english word 'run', 'to' as the 'tho' in 'litho.. 'Shi' as 'she' and Mata you would perhaps recall from your visit to india. The Godess is worshipped by wives, and is supposed to protectthem and their husbands from evil/ misfortune."

I went to wikipedia (I know, this is not authoritative in any way) and found the entry for her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santoshi

It seems as if she is not a Hijra specific goddess, but almost a marriage goddess. If someone has a more specific connection to her and the Hijra community, please share. Also, thank you very much to the anonymous poster who shared this information.

HBO Documentry: Middle Sexes and a call for more information

2007-01-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

I got an email this afternoon from Wade who had seen this documentary. I admit that I have been pretty lax with blog updates of late, but other things call my attention (knitting, academia, etc.). This email caught my attention for two reasons. One was that HBO had done this documentry about transexuals and transgendered people. They included some information about the hijra community. If anyone out there saw the documentary and would like to share some comments, please do so in the comments of this post.
The other reason this email caught my attention is that Wade is interested in something mentioned by one of the hijras interviewed. Here's a quote from the email:
"So, I [was] wondering if, in your studies, you have ever heard a Goddess connected to the cult whose name sounds like (it may not have the "N" in the final syllable of the second half of Her name): Santo Shimanta? ... after their sexual reassignment surgery, during their Ritual Initiation one Neophyte was lead to the [shrine] of this Goddess whom, the special noted, required the sacrifice of the former genitalia."

I did a quick and dirty search and came up with nothing. I am hoping my readers (if there are some) may have better luck or knowledge. So, please comment on that as well.

Bullied by Eunuchs

2006-07-07T18:29:00.000-05:00

This is the second article from an American paper. The previously mentioned article come from a small NYC paper and this one is from the LA Times. Chu, during his move to India, had an encounter with two hijras and he share's his experience combined with some research he did. He comes off as someone who had this experience and then ran to the internet to find out what had just happened. He does a pretty good job of remaining somewhat objective, but his disdain for the community comes through.
This article did include mention of the book "City of Djinns" by William Dalrymple. I have not heard of this book before, but its probably because it's not about the hijras, but rather is about Dalrymple's experiences in India including an experience with the hijra community.

Chu did not seem to have too much of an appreciation for the complexity of the history and lifestyles of hijras, but getting american attention for them is still a pretty big deal in my opinion.

Tejal Shah's “What Are You?” video

2006-07-07T18:14:00.000-05:00

This 11 minute video seems to have been the talk of NYC for LGBT month. I did a little more research, found the gallery webpage complete with a bio for Shah and a press release about the exhibit. Shah had to spend a large amount of time with the hijras in the video and I would love to see her write a book on her experiences researching, filming and creating the exhibit.

Are there any New Yorkers out there who got to see this video last month for LGBT month? I wish I had the chance to see it, but I live 5 hours away. I wish I had read this article before the end of the month because I have a friend who would have loved it. If you got to see if, please let me know what it was like.

Murder in the Hijra Community

2006-03-04T09:32:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I have seen an article about the Hijra community, but this one makes me sad. After so much good news about the community gaining acceptance in India and be able to teach people more about themselves, it seems they are now feeling the backlash of their work.
This article is about a murder that happened to a Hijra by "armed criminals". According to the article this was a shock to the other Hijras in this community because criminals usually leave them alone. This would make sense with their position on the fringe of society. From the other things I have been reading about India, this sad event makes some sense as an eventuality. If there is a positive coming from this, it seems to be pushing the hijra community to stay together and demand the goverenment provide them with the things they deserve. In this case they are demanding police protection.

Eunuchs Throw Bengal Poll Panel in Tizzy

2006-01-15T18:52:00.000-05:00

This article shows that limiting sex definitions to just male and female can cause problems when there is an acknowledged but undefined third sex. Voter registration forms seem to be the current problem as Hijras are refusing to check if they are male or female. It seems like, especially in India, it would be easy to edit forms to include hijras, officially recognize them and then get an idea of how many there are in the country. It seems logical, but think of all the work it would take to do that we know it won't happen. Until then, enjoy the stories of people who refuse to be defined as either male or female.

This is just another example of how language can expand our world, but can limit it as well.

Off Topic....

2006-01-12T22:41:00.000-05:00

Just a quick apology to everyone who has emailed or left comments here about the blog. I do enjoy all feedback, but I have not been getting notifications about some of the comments and add that to a few other projects that have been demanding my attention.... Well, I promise to be better this year. I have changed the settings so I get notifications when comments are left and then can respond. I will also be working on the layout so that my email address is easy for you to find and send me emails. I do not block any email and do check my junk box just incase.
Please feel free to contact me any time though. I love to hear from people doing research on the hijra and to help if I can.

Confused About Sexuality, They Make A Choice

2006-01-12T22:34:00.000-05:00

This article, from a year and a half ago (I know....), paints a positive perspective of the community by focusing on teenagers who have made the choice to join the community after feeling confused about their sexuality. While I am glad to see an article about people who choose to join the community, I wish the commentary was about their gender identity rather than their sexuality. These new hijras make it clear that they were more confused about their gender identity than their sexuality. That's not to say that there was no confusion about their sexuality, but it doesn't seem to be limited to that nor is the hijra community merely about being homosexual men.

Eunuchs Not Always Born...

2006-01-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

While this article, from last year, points out some previously know facts regarding how many hijras are born eunuchs, there are some other interesting parts of it. For example, they cite that there are 30,000 hijras in Dehli alone. I know there are no exact numbers for the entire country, but I would interested in how this number was determined.

Hijra Beauty Pagent

2006-01-12T22:18:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone reading this. I have been sitting on some articles so I am going to try and post as many as I can tonight.

First, is about a plan for a Hijra beauty pagent.

I am not sure what I think of this, but at least someone is trying to bring more positive skills of individual hijra into the public view.

Hijra Matchmakers

2005-08-12T12:52:00.000-05:00

This very interesting article appeared in my in-box this morning. It is about Auntie Noorie, she is a hijra, the third reported case of AIDS in India (according to the article), and now a matchmaker for those who hare HIV positive. The entire article is lengthy and deals more with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India, but hijra community does get a mention. Its an interesting way of seeing how the disease has brought people together in different ways.

Hijra's used as outsources labor for transgendered clothing manufacturing

2005-06-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

Transgendered Voices, Inc has decided to outsource the manufacturing of transgender clothing to India. They want the hijra community to make the clothing.
This article raises conflicting feelings in me. On one hand I know am aware of how poor the hijra community and much on India is at the moment. To see a company reaching out to the hijras to do something for people in similar situation and allowing them to make more money makes me happy. At the same time Jeffords says: “Once they start working, they will earn the respect they deserve and merge into the social fold,”. This irritates me because it makes assumptions about Indian culture that I don't believe are true. Yes, in America, this is more than true. People who contribute to society are given respect. Indian society, and correct me if I am wrong, is still highly caste based (if not entirely) and while politically and legally this may not be the case, socially this is more true than not. No matter what they contribute to their society they will probably remain outcasts. It seems that their role has been placed on them because of their caste. I think the good to come out of all of this is that the quality of a hijras life may improve and this may help curb the prostitution that is helping cause the large number of AIDS victims within the community. Of course, all the money a chela makes could go to the guru who will reap the benefits of the income more than her chelas.
What is your reaction and opinion?

Hijra Guru to be central character in movie

2005-06-15T13:25:00.000-05:00

I just read an article about a Bollywood actor whose next role will be a Hijra Guru. He seems very excited about the role and mentioned that the character is a central character to the film plot. There is no current title for the film, but if you know anything about it, please share!

Photography Exhibit

2005-05-26T13:24:00.000-05:00

Of urbanising landscape and more
This article is multiple small entries about art going on in New Delhi. The last entry is about a photo exhibition by Man Mueller Bhavan about Hijras. Sadly, it appears to be done now, but I just got the article about it yesterday. There is a bit on the second link about it along with a few pictures. The exhibition was call “Kaaya - Beyond Gender”.

Movie Review from India

2005-05-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

I am bringing you an article that is really a movie review. Here is a quote from it:"Based on the true story of a eunuch's political rise in Madhya Pradesh, Yogesh Bharadwaj's Shabnam Mousi is a good attempt to deal with an offbeat subject."

If you know of a way to get a copy, please let me know!

Castration - forced or choice

2005-04-29T19:15:00.000-05:00

When I presented my thesis to the committee, the one thing all the men focused on was the issue of castration. Were hijras forced into the surgery or did they go willingly. I explained that it seemed to be a combination of both depending on the group each hijra was part of.
This article mentions a recent story about a man who claimed to have been forced into the surgery by the hijras, but the story itself defends the community with other hijras claiming that no guru would do that.

Hijra's, Pakistan, and HIV Awareness

2005-04-29T13:15:00.000-05:00

It seems clear that the Hijra's of India have a different role and lifestyle than those in Pakistan. Religion probably plays a huge role in those differences (between Muslim and Hinduism). The Hijra's in Pakistan, sadly, seem to be little more than prostitutes. As a result, HIV/AIDS awareness is a major issue.
One person seems to be trying to make the Pakistan Hijras aware of the issue though....

News Updates - Passport Application "Sex Options"

2005-04-28T22:12:00.000-05:00

This is just the first of a bunch of news updates I have from Google. I apologize for holding on to these for so long.

From Calcutta's The Telegraph, a opinion piece on some recent changes to the passport application form. They have added "E" to the M/F option on this form. The E stands for Eunuch and is on the web version of the passport application.
While this is labeled part of the "Opinion" section of this paper, there seems to be little of it. It does recap, briefly, the recent activities of the community in politics. It also does raise the question about members of the hijra community who are not eunuchs (a reference to those who have not yet gone through the surgery) and when these changes will make their way beyond passport applications.

I looked into this and there is an option for Eunuchs to signify this as their sex. If you look at the actual passport application, it only has the written option of Male or Female, but the instructions for the application signify that if you are a Eunuch you should write E in the space.

Holi - Festival of Colors

2005-04-28T12:51:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, the Festival of Colors, Holi, was celebrated in India. In Bhopal, the hijra community took part of the celebration. Like with almost every article about the community, the short bit of news is followed by a more lengthy (but still brief) description of the community. Still, there seemed to be a positive response from celebrants and this is the 5th year the community has participated.

More information on Holi, The Festival of Colors

Calcutta Library

2004-09-14T13:08:00.000-05:00

It seems that they have opened a library for sexual minorities in Calcutta.
Here is the article about it
While there is no specific mention of the hijra community or even eunuchs in general, this does seem to be an interesting piece as one could assume that a sex oriented library in India would eventually contain some information about the group.

Wikipedia

2004-09-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

I am very excited to learn about the existance of the Wikipedia and it's listing for the hijra community.
To answer some questions and make some comments about this resource:
What is the Wikipedia?
From my understanding, this is an open source encyclopedia that allows you to edit the entries for content, resources, external links, and engage in conversations about said entries. Some nice aspects include the links to related entried in the text of the entry as well as the ability to add and remove any links and resources that are found.
What about the scholarly nature of these entries? I would never use an encyclopedia for more than a jumping off point in my own research; a way to get a basic idea on what my research is about, if you will. The same should apply to this. The fact is that this is not scholarly and should not be used as a scholarly source.
What is the accuracy dispute? That's pretty self explanitory, someone is questioning the accuracy of the entry or parts of it. Specifically, someone is questioning the neutrality and accuracy of the content. If you look at the first post of the conversation you can get the idea of the dispute. From what I have read at the beginning the dispute revolves around the idea of a third sex not specifically the hijra community themselves.

Comments:
If you are going to contribute (which I hope to in the future), I encourage you to create a profile and really get involved. Use it to connect to other communities similar to the hijras for your research. Get involved in the conversation, but be intelligent and do not resort to the petty things that frequent the internet and annoy serious users. Above all, I suggest not taking things too seriously as this is the internet and not a scholarly situation. There is a chance that people there are looking to start a fight or to just simply get the conversation going with a debate.

I hope you all get to have fun with this new aspect of the web. I will keep an eye out for other interesting advances and research that comes out of this new resource.

A newly discovered webpage

2004-09-10T13:03:00.000-05:00

Information re the Hijra of India

Why have I not seen this page before? I could not say, but I am happy I finally did. This is a wonderful resource with a list of articles about the hijras (going much farther back than this blog). There are also some links to Yahoo groups that may be of interest to many. I must contact the webmaster and see if there are other things out there that I am missing.

BBC article - Health Insurance

2004-09-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

How often do we see a Hijra article from the BBC? I was pretty excited to see an article (from this weekend) on Fark, but disapointed in Google News for not sending it to my email address.
Regardless, this article deals with a protest against an insurance company who refused to issue a policy for a member of the community.

Kajaria festival

2004-09-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

Dance, Music & Claps at Bhopal Love Parade

This is an interesting article about a festival I have actually not heard of in any research I did on the hijras. Apparently, and this is according to the article, it marks the climax of the monsoon. I can only assume that by that they mean the Monsoon season.

I have not had a chance to do any research on this festival, but if you have and want to share it please let me know. I am looking for bibliographical sources, keywords used, popular journals and anything else.

Another article

2004-07-23T12:58:00.000-05:00

First, I must apologize for the lack of updates. I have have a busy few months with family obligations, a crashed computer, and a new job. I do have a few articles sitting in my email in-box and I hope to get them read and posted soon. Here is the first, and most recent, of the articles I have for people to read.

This article is about the changes going on in India regarding Hijras. The word scheme is used in the article so keep in mind a possible bias if using this for research. It does mention the recognition of Hijras as a sexual minority in need of assistance and the planning pension they will be getting. The article also mentions prostiution, AIDS, mythology of the community, and some other interesting things.

My notes on "Myself Mona Ahmed"

2004-04-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

I recently read "Myself Mona Ahmed" and have made some notes on it (this is not a review, just some notes)
Read My notes

I suggest that researches read it.

More on Hijras as politicians

2004-04-16T12:50:00.000-05:00

Hyderabad Hijra's on Politics - "Eunuchs have no comments on polls"

This is a very interesting article because it shows a different perspective on the issue of the community members as politicians. It seems to me that many of reasons these hijras avoid politics are the same reason that others are trying to get into politics. I think it comes down to how each hijra (and each hijra community) sees their place in the world. This article talks about how they are here to make money. What others have commented is that they feel as if this life was not a choice, but rather who they are.

India General News article

2004-03-29T13:49:00.000-05:00

Now A "Hijra" To Give Poll Fight To Advani From Gandhinagar

This is an interesting article about another Hijra running for a political office in India and some of the issues they find important.

Sextelevision.net video

2004-03-08T13:48:00.000-05:00

Today, while making updates to the research guide, I discovered a wonderful video put together by the people at sextelevision.net.
You need to have RealOne Player on your computer to view it, but you can download the program for free. It's only 12 minutes long but it has some great interviews including Serena Nanda and members of the Hijra community.
The Hijras

Also, for those who are into RSS feeds and blogging, I have added a RSS feed for this blog. You can find a link in the Links section on the left.

Wed India 123 article

2004-03-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

Eunuchs Defy Norms to Walk the Ramp
This is a very short article but it talks about current events with the community. It also has some interesting facts about the community but provides no sources for the information it provides.

Email sent to me

2004-01-24T13:45:00.000-05:00

I got this in a email this morning. I thought it was something to share here with everyone who reads this. Feel free to respond if you have something to share with this group:

Hallo,
This is a team of self proclaimed Bodhis..working and studying for the hijra community, Eunoch community, who have not been in the mainstream socities. Myths of their presence from early humanhood, we have initiated plans to work for the development of our Eunoch community with providing mainstream and vocational education and trainings.
We have been apeAaling to organizations to support us with information, medical research and rehabilititation tips for us to blend them into local systems and also to participate in your human development program as co-ordinaters.

Presently we are located at:
THE BODHI
70/1, Bama Charan Roy Road
Behala, Kolkata- Pin code- 700 034.
West Bengal
India.
Phone: 033-34478908
e.mail: thebodhi@myway.com

we are adding up citywise franchisees of the same group of dedicated volunteers to support this community and prevent their abuse, and the trending move of the community into un-organized and organized crime with lack of education, and medical and social rehabilitation.
We expect your cooperation on providing us with an intellectual tie- up to do some service to a community who are mostly avoided and exploited as well.
Anticipating your response.

Thankfully,
With warm regards,
Koushik Chatterjee
(C.C.O)

Kerala News article

2003-12-09T13:44:00.000-05:00

Eunuchs demands minority status, reservations

This is actually an article from today. This is just another step in what I have seen in many articles, Hijras demanding equality in Indian society.

This article brings up another term that can be used in news searches for hijras: Gadipati. Gadipati is the former leader of the Gujarat hijra community. If using his name in news searches brings up articles, let me know.

Ref Works

2003-12-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

A nice research tool to use is called RefWorks. RefWorks will store your bibliography for you and allow you to put it in the citation format of your choice. It works directly with the databases so all you should need to do is import directly from the database you are using. Contact your local research library and see if you have access to it or ask them to consider getting access to it.