[esteem_lover]

I heard that these characters are rampant in calcutta. They watch out for houses where baby clothes are hung out to dry & demand obscene amounts.

@shatrughna ... You pay the cops only if he has caught you on the wrong foot, right ?

[jassi]

when i was born in 1980 in bombay - they came into our house and asked for 5k or something which was too much at that time I think mom and grandma (under superstition) managed to give them some money (not 5K) and got rid of them. But I can imagine the amount of harassment, people would be going through for every important occasion in life - weddings, new borns, new house, and of course traffic signals

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by shatrughna

What a topic to discuss. Hey it pinches almost all of us here in Mumbai for sure though no such problem in Dubai...
.

Maybe not in Dubai, but had seen a couple of them on the subway at Sharjah (near Jumbo showroom near the Al Khan bridge starting). But they were just minding their own business!

Originally Posted by shatrughna

...I play the music loud enough and keep praying that the signal turns green asap...

What I used to do on a day when I feel not so open-hearted is to part with enough space between myself and the vehicle in front. once these guys (beggers and like) come and stand besides the vehicle, i slowly roll off. they usually move the vehicle behind me.

Originally Posted by shatrughna

...They are not worse than many traffic cops afterall.

[DKG]

Originally Posted by nitrous

Would you wipe off saliva from your windshield and window panel when they spit on it if you don't pay?
Can you stomach the sight of their "public parts"(now that they are not private)?
Worst case, they hold and feel your testicles.(This has happened to me,years back)
Can you handle that?

Originally Posted by Spitfire

LOL, we were travelling in the Karnataka Express to Delhi to play a Ranji trophy match. I was fast asleep and was rudely awakened by a Hijra shaking my ***** vigourously. All the other members in the team had a good laugh. Damn "it" scared the wits out of me.

Gentlemen, I'm really sorry but I almost had tears streaming down my face laughing trying to imagine these situations. I know being there would be a horrifying thing and you guys are brave to survive such situations with dignity. But honestly this is a serious problem

I once was quite horrified to see a documentary on the seedier side of this whole eunuch business where I believe they abduct young boys and castrate them to further their breed

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by DKG

..where I believe they abduct young boys and castrate them to further their breed

Thats an eyeopener. But what is more common is cross-dressing: transsexuals. Males dressing themselves up to look like eunuchs - these can easily be spotted by their behavioral differences over the, um, real ones.

[kb100]

Hate the lot. I have never paid.

Trains in south used to be free of hteir kind some four years back but the last time I travelled to Blr and to Cochin did find the same gang operating in the Salem-Cbe / Cbe -Cok sectors!

I was all set - if they had so much as thought about flashing --- .... well I would have not been typing this from home!

[satish_appasani]

Once a large group of them (may be 20) came to uncle's house warming ceremony and were demanding money. This practice is rare in Hyderabad and that is the only 1 instance i came across. They were not happy with couple of thousands and tried to enter in to house. 50 of us attacked them and chased till the end of the street.

[Nitin]

Originally Posted by kb100

Trains in south used to be free of hteir kind some four years back but the last time I travelled to Blr and to Cochin did find the same gang operating in the Salem-Cbe / Cbe -Cok sectors!

Holy molly!! I think I'll stick to driving down to Kochi,everytime I get to India!

The only time I've come across these people was when I visited Mumbai in 2001. This is my take- These 'beings' aren't he or she. I choose to call them 'it'.
Two of these 'its' got on the train,and kept going around asking for money. I was in crappy mood,for what ever reasons,and I wasn't going to pay them anything. One of them tried to touch my hand,and I snapped back so hard,they took off in a jiffy. Everyone around started laughing,and in the end,I had a grin on my face too. Simple theory- don't give me crap,because I'll give it back 10 fold!

I thought the whole thing wouldn't come up again. Wrong! Took an auto from Sion to Andheri,and at the lights,again an 'it' pops up asking me for money. All I could do was hold my head,as if I had a bad headache,and that made the 'it' walk away after a few seconds.
Worked for me!

[V-16]

Those of you who are typing this from the comfort of their air conditioned lounge chairs and are giving sermons on how to not encourage their breed and employ them usefully, first try it yourselves!! It may be possible that you have never been harassed by them or even encountered them. Its very easy to give lectures but the truth is that they have been exiled from society and have to make a living. I am not for them but do try to look at life from their angle. Shunned and scolded they have to reek down to begging.
A lot of them are good and would leave you if you pay and then there are others who will harass you till you pay. I believe begging is an easy way out so they bend in that direction. Dont so many other perfectly normal people? I have heard of stories where they lean towards abduction and it may be true but then there are always two sides to a coin.
They thrive on the concept that one should not earn their wrath as it is said that whatever they say comes true. That is all humbug but then they thrive on it. I know that when they visit your house, they will leave a mark which will keep others of their tribe away. They will come on a good occasion and ask for money in return for their blessings. A small price to pay i think but not at the price of being held ransom. I remember when parked one day, a Eunuch came and demanded money from me. I told him/her politely that I didnt have any money to give her, sorry. he/she just flared up and told me that I should not call on the wrath of a Hijra and that i could meet with an accident ahead. I was so cheesed off that I said if i did meet with an accident I would pay Rs.10,000/-. In not so polite words I asked him/her to push off before I got down and thrashed the daylights out of him/her. That was enough and the Eunuch departed. But when they come in numbers, you'd do better with rolled up windows. They wont even bother you.
Next time you see a Eunuch, try to think of them as the less fortunate.
By the way, how many beggars have you sermon givers employed in your lifetime??!!

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by V-16

Its very easy to give lectures but the truth is that they have been exiled from society and have to make a living.

The path is of their own choosing. They could have kept their sexuality to themselves, the way most homo sexuals or lesbians do. But no, they go around flaunting their absent assets. Sorry, that is simply not acceptable in a civilised society.

By the way, how many beggars have you sermon givers employed in your lifetime??!!

BTW. do any beggars insist that you pay them four figure amounts? These things have the temerity to beg (begging by any other name is begging) for five figure amounts.

And using force to take money from you is not begging. It is called robbery. Robbery by any means does NOT become begging.

[phamilyman]

unless they're at your house, pull out a stethoscope and say, mere saamne jo kholta hai, mein use khol daalta hun

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

unless they're at your house, pull out a stethoscope and say, mere saamne jo kholta hai, mein use khol daalta hun

Ummm....boss I don't think that a Stethoscope would deter them for even a micro-second! Now if you were wielding a scalpel, that would be a different story altogether!!

[spadival]

Originally Posted by V-16

I told him/her politely that I didnt have any money to give her, sorry. he/she just flared up and told me that I should not call on the wrath of a Hijra and that i could meet with an accident ahead. I was so cheesed off that I said if i did meet with an accident I would pay Rs.10,000/-. In not so polite words I asked him/her to push off before I got down and thrashed the daylights out of him/her. That was enough and the Eunuch departed. But when they come in numbers, you'd do better with rolled up windows. They wont even bother you.
Next time you see a Eunuch, try to think of them as the less fortunate.
By the way, how many beggars have you sermon givers employed in your lifetime??!!

You want us to think of them as the less fortunate, while you can thrash the living daylights out of them..eh?

To be honest,now I am more confused by your sermons!!

[LLL]

Originally Posted by iraghava

Ummm....boss I don't think that a Stethoscope would deter them for even a micro-second! Now if you were wielding a scalpel, that would be a different story altogether!!

Think 100 times before you use any violence against them. They employ goondas and are not afraid of cops (my guess is cops get some share from them.)

A case happened in our society where they banged a flowerpot on someone's head as he refused to give them money. Police, as usual, did nothing.

[four_tire]

Its the same again Land of Minorities!! Obviously the whole system works for uplifting and also bears with the nonsense. Also at the end of the day, even the law enforcement dont want to take them in, they dont want trouble keeping them.

The hijra groups have support cells, Sangama-Bangalore, Sahoodaran-Chennai etc. They have dedicated lawyers who can easily get them out. The hijras earn a lot of money thru sex trade, begging, burglary and by conning people whereever they find.

In fact many organisation in India and Abroad work to uplift them and bring them to mainstream, but the Hijras are not willing because they are afraid of loosing the Minority status. the same with pseudo-ultra poor people living in slums in the heart of city where the land prices are 10000/sqft.

I got to know about a US based organisation whose founder (an American) wanted to help Indian Hijras. He started from Culcutta, then Bombay, Delhi, Chennai and bangalore and travelled to all Hamams(Hijra bath house/workplace/brothels) to understand their need. Even was able to bring in large funds to move his initiatives on training them with specialized skills from Tailoring, Computer training, etc. The whole activity went on for 2 yrs, at the end the American realized that the middlemen(few Hijras) had exhausted the funds by cheating him and nothing had happened. They later had a brawl with him, when he tried to convince them to takeup initatives, banged him. He returned back to his country dejected

there are also peaceful hijras too. Who love to get into mainstream and work and start a normal life. These people after undergoing the surgery and transformation, look for getting out of the flesh trade and other nonsense. They seek to marry a man and establish a family. But alas there is little room to find a Man like that in india. but there are many stories of successful marriage and families. Many guys (rich and poor) who get completely transformed silently try to get settled with their lover and these people dont even believe in hijras or want to do anything with them.

Its mainly how the mainstream set of people think about adopting them. Only gays lookup to hijras for relationship and this entire society remain an island for us.

So at the end of the story, everyone wants to be benefited, first peacefully if not forcefully.

Goons can be found in many disguises, On such disguise is a hijra outfit