the actual murders were unsolved. In the red-light district, on Falkland Road and Grant Road – and throughout the multitude of brothels in the many lanes of Kamathipura – the hardworking whores had expressed a
real
desire to kill Inspector Dhar.
The feeling for vengeance toward Dhar was especially strong among the eunuch-transvestite prostitutes. In the movie, a eunuch-transvestite prostitute turns out to be the serial cartoonist and killer. This was offensive to eunuch-transvestites, for by no means were all of them prostitutes – nor were they ever known to be serial killers. They are an accepted third gender in India; they are called ‘hijras’ – an Urdu word of masculine gender meaning ‘hermaphrodite.’ But hijras are not born hermaphrodites; they are emasculated – hence ‘eunuch’ is the truer word for them. They are also a cult; devotees of the Mother Goddess Bahuchara Mata, they achieve their powers – either to bless or to curse –by being neither male nor female. Traditionally, hijras earn their living by begging; they also perform songs and dances at weddings and festivals – most of all, they give their blessings at births (of male infants, especially). And hijras dress as women – hence the term ‘eunuch-transvestite’ comes closest to what they are.
The mannerisms of hijras are ultra-feminine but coarse; they flirt outrageously, and they display themselves with sexually overt gestures – inappropriate for women in India. Beyond their castration and their female dress, they do little to otherwise feminize themselves; most hijras eschew the use of estrogens, and some of them pluck their facial hair so indifferently, it’s not uncommon to see them with several days’ growth of beard. Should hijras find themselves abused or harassed, or should they encounter those Indians who’ve been seduced by Western values and who therefore don’t believe in the hijras’ ‘sacred’ powers to bless and curse, hijras will be so bold as to lift their dresses and rudely expose their mutilated genitals.
Dr Daruwalla, in creating his screenplay for
Inspector Dhar and the Cage-Girl Killer
, never intended to offend the hijras – there are more than 5,000 in Bombay alone. But, as a surgeon, Farrokh found their method of emasculation truly barbarous. Both castration and sex-change operations are illegal in India, but a hijra’s ‘operation’ – they use the English word –is performed by other hijras. The patient stares at a portrait of the Mother Goddess Bahuchara Mata; he is advised to bite his own hair, for there’s no anesthetic, although the patient is sedated with alcohol or opium. The surgeon (who is not a surgeon) ties a string around the penis and the testicles in order to get a clean cut –for it is with one cut that both the testicles and the penis are removed. The patient is allowed to bleed freely; it’s believed that maleness is a kind of poison, purged by bleeding. No stitches are made; the large, raw area is cauterized with hot oil. As the wound begins to heal, the urethra is kept open by repeated probing. The resultant puckered scar resembles a vagina.
Hijras are no mere cross-dressers; their contempt for simple transvestites (whose male parts are intact) is profound. These fake hijras are called ‘zenanas.’ Every world has its hierarchy. Within the prostitute community, hijras command a higher price than real women, but it was unclear to Dr Daruwalla why this was so. There was considerable debate as to whether hijra prostitutes were homosexuals, although it was certain that many of their male customers used them in that way; and among hijra teenagers, even before their emasculation, studies indicated frequent homosexual activity. But Farrokh suspected that many Indian men favored the hijra prostitutes because the hijras were more like women than women; they were certainly bolder than any Indian woman – and with their almost-a-vagina, who knew what they could imitate?
If
real
desire to kill Inspector Dhar.
The feeling for vengeance toward Dhar was especially strong among the eunuch-transvestite prostitutes. In the movie, a eunuch-transvestite prostitute turns out to be the serial cartoonist and killer. This was offensive to eunuch-transvestites, for by no means were all of them prostitutes – nor were they ever known to be serial killers. They are an accepted third gender in India; they are called ‘hijras’ – an Urdu word of masculine gender meaning ‘hermaphrodite.’ But hijras are not born hermaphrodites; they are emasculated – hence ‘eunuch’ is the truer word for them. They are also a cult; devotees of the Mother Goddess Bahuchara Mata, they achieve their powers – either to bless or to curse –by being neither male nor female. Traditionally, hijras earn their living by begging; they also perform songs and dances at weddings and festivals – most of all, they give their blessings at births (of male infants, especially). And hijras dress as women – hence the term ‘eunuch-transvestite’ comes closest to what they are.
The mannerisms of hijras are ultra-feminine but coarse; they flirt outrageously, and they display themselves with sexually overt gestures – inappropriate for women in India. Beyond their castration and their female dress, they do little to otherwise feminize themselves; most hijras eschew the use of estrogens, and some of them pluck their facial hair so indifferently, it’s not uncommon to see them with several days’ growth of beard. Should hijras find themselves abused or harassed, or should they encounter those Indians who’ve been seduced by Western values and who therefore don’t believe in the hijras’ ‘sacred’ powers to bless and curse, hijras will be so bold as to lift their dresses and rudely expose their mutilated genitals.
Dr Daruwalla, in creating his screenplay for
Inspector Dhar and the Cage-Girl Killer
, never intended to offend the hijras – there are more than 5,000 in Bombay alone. But, as a surgeon, Farrokh found their method of emasculation truly barbarous. Both castration and sex-change operations are illegal in India, but a hijra’s ‘operation’ – they use the English word –is performed by other hijras. The patient stares at a portrait of the Mother Goddess Bahuchara Mata; he is advised to bite his own hair, for there’s no anesthetic, although the patient is sedated with alcohol or opium. The surgeon (who is not a surgeon) ties a string around the penis and the testicles in order to get a clean cut –for it is with one cut that both the testicles and the penis are removed. The patient is allowed to bleed freely; it’s believed that maleness is a kind of poison, purged by bleeding. No stitches are made; the large, raw area is cauterized with hot oil. As the wound begins to heal, the urethra is kept open by repeated probing. The resultant puckered scar resembles a vagina.
Hijras are no mere cross-dressers; their contempt for simple transvestites (whose male parts are intact) is profound. These fake hijras are called ‘zenanas.’ Every world has its hierarchy. Within the prostitute community, hijras command a higher price than real women, but it was unclear to Dr Daruwalla why this was so. There was considerable debate as to whether hijra prostitutes were homosexuals, although it was certain that many of their male customers used them in that way; and among hijra teenagers, even before their emasculation, studies indicated frequent homosexual activity. But Farrokh suspected that many Indian men favored the hijra prostitutes because the hijras were more like women than women; they were certainly bolder than any Indian woman – and with their almost-a-vagina, who knew what they could imitate?
If
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