Sitar music

Start: 00.01.00

People at beach

Clark:  Once upon a time, in India - or so the ancient Scriptures say - there was a handsome prince who fell in love, with a beautiful goddess. But fate held a cruel surprise. One day, after the prince had been swimming in the sea, the goddess caught him unaware, and unclothed. ‘Look at yourself' she said, ‘you are neither man nor woman. You are no use to me.' And the handsome prince was cast out from society.

00.06

Kids watch eunuchs dance

Music

00.35

Clark:  Many people claim to be descended from that prince - neither male nor female, they are the Hijras - the eunuchs of India.

00.47

Music/singing

01.02

Clark:  The world of eunuchs is by and large hidden and tragic.  There are an estimated 700,000 in Bombay alone, living in the shadows on the fringes of society.

01.07

Shabeena in car

Shabeena:  There are three ways of living, of earning in Bombay. That is begging, first thing is begging, second is prostitution, and the third one is going for dancing.

01.20

But most of the eunuchs are eager in earning a lot of money, so they go for begging or go for prostitution.

Clark:  Shabeena is 17 years old. She knew she was a Hijra from the age of seven.

Shabeena:  If he goes for begging, then there is more respect for him.

01.44

    01.48

The society members will tell that, oh poor fellow, goes for begging and earns for himself. But if he goes for prostitution, the opposite thing happens. There's no respect for him.

Street scene night

Music

Clark:  We're only talking a dollar a day here. Normal employment is out of the question. Within this shadow land there is a Hijra Mafia that controls prostitution, takes a cut of the eunuchs' meagre earnings.

02.13

Shabeena

Shabeena:  While working as a prostitute under a guru, one has to pay half of his income to his guru, every day.

02.29

Clark:  The so called gurus don't talk. Nor they let their eunuchs, especially to foreign journalists.

02.38

Hijra house

But one group has come out from the shadows.

02.47

There are ten Hijras living here in this one room.

02.53

Meena plays camp mum - it's her house. She does the cooking, looks after the books.

02.58

Meena:  I wanted these girls as my daughters so I created this household.

03.07

Clark:  The term eunuch is misleading. Few Hijras are actually castrated. Some are born with physically indeterminate sex, some are just boys who for whatever reason, want to be girls. But each of the Hijra has a tale to tell.

03.17

Radeka:  My parents felt awkward and humiliated.

03.33

Radeka

They started saying our position in society was compromised --  we could lose face.

Clark:  Having a Hijra child means that your other children will be less attractive as a marriage partner. Many Indian families figure it's just better to get rid of them. That's what happened to Radeka. She was thrown out of home as a child.

03.46

Radeka:  They said, just leave - go wherever you want.  When I left my family, I was devastated.

04.01

Music

Meena and girls walk down alley

Clark:  Meena and the girls head off for work.

04.01

Their work today is what they call begging. It's a cross between entertainment and extortion.

04.29

Pay up or they'll play up - threaten to lift their skirts, or even worse, sing some more.

The shopkeepers are used to it. Some pay willingly, others grudgingly.

04.46

Shopkeeper

Shopkeeper:  We give them money, they bless us and we feel happy.

04.55

Shopkeeper 2:  And if we don't, something bad might happen.

Clark:   But overall they're not approved of, especially by the law.

05.09

We're taken into custody for a short while, cavorting with eunuchs is not going to look good on my police record. But no one's done anything wrong. It's just part of the harassment that eunuchs experience daily.

Shabeena:  The cops, they give a lot of harassment

05.18

05.31

Shabeena

while anyone's going for begging. If he's going for begging or prostitution, they just snatch away the money. A lot of times the cops do certain types of things. And sexual harassment in the sense that street boys, in the night time, when a eunuch is travelling alone, they'll just catch him and like to have forceful sex with that eunuch. So sexual harassment are often being used upon you. That's from a very long time.

Birds

Clark:  Being at the bottom of the heap in India is perhaps one of the most difficult sentences life could pass. You learn to grab what you can, and for some an opportunity has appeared in an odd form.

06.10

Mr Sheti in car on phone

Mr Sheti:  I'm sending my eunuchs. Please hand the cheque to those people.

Clark:  Mr. Sheti is a Bombay businessman. He runs a thriving business when others don't. He's a debt collector.  He's worked a brand new way to repossess using the dispossessed.

06.23

06.30

Unique Recoveries

Unique Recoveries uses eunuchs to embarrass debtors into paying, perhaps exploitation, or perhaps not, depending upon your point of view.

06.48

It's ironic that these Hijras are gaining respectability by using the only asset they have, their lack of it. Mr. Sheti is undoubtedly in it for the money. But neither Meena, Radeka or Shabeena are complaining. For them to work in so called normal society is a step towards freedom.

07.01

Eunuchs in office

Shabeena:  After coming into eunuchs I was much depressed by the way of living. That means by begging. But somehow, by god's grace, today I am working from one year I am working. So I'm very much happy.

07.24

Clark:  Shabeena hopes that her next job will be as a social worker, helping others of her own kind.

07.43

Eunuchs dance at home

Music/clapping

07.51

Clark:  But even with the possibility of respectable paid work, none of these eunuchs want to give up their night job.

07.58

Music/singing/music

Clark:  These are girls who can't resist a chance to strut their stuff.

08.16

At some celebrations - weddings, or these one year old's birthday party - they're welcome.

08.23

Amazingly, they're thought to bring fertility and good luck.

08.33

In fact, some people believe they have magical powers. But the Hijra themselves know they're really not that different.

Shabeena:  All humans are made, eunuchs are also made by god.

08.42

    08.50

Shabeena

And they are very normal people. They are harmless.

Music

Clark:  Despite the tragedy of their alienation, at the end of the day, these are just girls who want to have fun.

09.07

Music

09.14

Credits

Reporter        ANDREW CLARK

Camera         RON EKKEL

Editor            STUART MILLER

Producer        ANDREW CLARK