Life on the Fringes

ExpressIndia.com – Premankur Biswas

Solidarity bound them together, Reema, Kajol, Pritambar, Suman and hundreds of other “sisters”, who thronged the south Kolkata park last week to participate in a candlelight vigil. The cause was pertinent and the feelings potent. After all, the city’s transgender community had gathered to condemn the incident of March 9, in which three members of the transgender community of the city were beaten up by locals of the Rabindra Sarobar area. Yet, was it a whiff of reconciliation that one detected in the air? “We will voice our problems and the media will dedicate a few pages to us and try and sensationalise the issue. Eventually, everything will return to status quo. Goondas and police will continue harassing us and people will continue harbouring ill feelings towards us,” rues Kajol, a 21-year-old transsexual who works for a NGO in the city.