"It's been irking me ever since I read in the news about a youth being thrown out of the train by eunuchs, today!" I wrote, on May 27, 11, but couldn't go on, for some inexplicable reason/s!
The sight of a drunk 'eunuch' trying to cajole money off any and every guy that he passed by, by clinging to them, and even pecking some odd guy brought it all back!
A winter afternoon on board the A.P. Express, en route to Delhi. I bring out a couple of poories and some vegetable fry, of my meager meal, and before I can lay my hands on it, a eunuch has turned up, and taken a bite out of my plate! Not just this, he has the audacity to tell me that he had just had a bite, to taste it, asking me to have the rest of it! He didn't like my idea of taking it all since he'd already 'tasted' from it!
At least I got away just with eating two poories less! The men in the train have to bear with their flirting and stuff and part with some of their money, or handle abuses and curses hurled at them, in generous measures!
As kids we saw eunuchs come over (uninvited of course) to people's houses if they had a baby boy or married off a son. They'd sing and dance to the tunes of dholak and manjire and bollywood songs. They'd bless the baby/the newlywed and their family and then, demand exorbitant 'inaam' (presents) in cash or gold!! Refusing them entailed inciting their wrath, and bearing with their threats of unclothing themselves right there, in public, to humiliate the unrelenting 'host'! People ended up parting with quite some money, food grains, even a piece of jewelery at times, other than some hours' time, in the name of saving their integrity!
The nuisance has taken a much colossal and uglier shape by now, what with their presence spreading its wings to trains, and even traffic signals now! With them knowing no bounds, from embarrassing everyone around, to even harassing them and now, pushing them out of running trains, things have really gone out of hand!
Yea, and they go scot-free, of course, given our superstitious, eunuch-fearing society--police et al.!
The sight of a drunk 'eunuch' trying to cajole money off any and every guy that he passed by, by clinging to them, and even pecking some odd guy brought it all back!
A winter afternoon on board the A.P. Express, en route to Delhi. I bring out a couple of poories and some vegetable fry, of my meager meal, and before I can lay my hands on it, a eunuch has turned up, and taken a bite out of my plate! Not just this, he has the audacity to tell me that he had just had a bite, to taste it, asking me to have the rest of it! He didn't like my idea of taking it all since he'd already 'tasted' from it!
At least I got away just with eating two poories less! The men in the train have to bear with their flirting and stuff and part with some of their money, or handle abuses and curses hurled at them, in generous measures!
As kids we saw eunuchs come over (uninvited of course) to people's houses if they had a baby boy or married off a son. They'd sing and dance to the tunes of dholak and manjire and bollywood songs. They'd bless the baby/the newlywed and their family and then, demand exorbitant 'inaam' (presents) in cash or gold!! Refusing them entailed inciting their wrath, and bearing with their threats of unclothing themselves right there, in public, to humiliate the unrelenting 'host'! People ended up parting with quite some money, food grains, even a piece of jewelery at times, other than some hours' time, in the name of saving their integrity!
The nuisance has taken a much colossal and uglier shape by now, what with their presence spreading its wings to trains, and even traffic signals now! With them knowing no bounds, from embarrassing everyone around, to even harassing them and now, pushing them out of running trains, things have really gone out of hand!
Yea, and they go scot-free, of course, given our superstitious, eunuch-fearing society--police et al.!
