OK, here's something a little odd about India. There is what they call "a third gender". These are the "hijras", almost always men who become , for all intents and purposes, women in Indian society. They either beg or take part in sex trade, or both. We first saw them when they came up to our window and begged. When the kids asked what they were, we had no idea. I have since done some research.
Earlier today we saw a bunch of them trying to crash a wedding. This is one of the things that they do - they crash weddings and tell foul jokes in the presence of the wedding guests until the patriarch gives them money to leave. It is a sign of his status how he can bribe them to go away. Their presence is seen as a sign of bad things to come. They stalk weddings to make money.
The guy today who was facing a crowd of them just looked angry.
They are also known as "eunuchs", although not many of them are actually castrated. These days more of them are becoming castrated because they hear stories of sex changes in Europe and the US, and castration is the Indian version.
The Hijra live in Hijra communities, or families, and they are kept apart from the rest of society in many ways. They have been cast out by their families. They cannot get jobs in the normal trades.
There is a great deal of superstition about them (as there is about everything here). Hijras are believed to be able to cast spells of either a good or a bad nature. They are powerful in the Indian cosmology of superstition. Their wishes are believed to effect the gender of babies. People are very wary, respectful, and filled with malice toward these hijras.
The existence of this group is the result of two very inter-related Indian impulses. Categorize and sacralize.
