Mausi

62 Year old Mausi (as most people call her) is a hijra who was born apparently a male, however sees her self as a female. She has been in Bhubaneswar since the past twenty years, and currently lives within the hijra community Bhubaneswar. She is vocal and outspoken about the discrimination that hijra's face when they go out to earn money by begging or through prostitution.

Now that she is old she has not been working and she does not have any earning. Her community members take care of her, and she does menial work around the place that she lives in. What touched me about her is the disadvantages that she has to face being a hijra first and with age not being on her side. What touches me about all the hijras that I meet during my course of work is the disadvantages that they feel that they have been born with and the discrimination that they face to live. I look around at the sea of faces of all the hijras that I am meeting trying to learn more about their lives and their living and trying to make sense of everything that they have been sharing with me; the things that they would love to possess and that we take for granted, not having a identity in a city like Bhubaneswar, not having a voters card, not having a bank account, not being able to access basic services in the hospital.

I am humbled by the fact that respect, rights and dignity are available to so few and so many are left out, I am one of the selected few who has never had to raise my voice to get these.

I do hope that when the next time we see a hijra begging or walking past us, we do not laugh or ridicule them, and respect the diversity of sexuality and sexual orientation.