Not just Adam and Eve
Sohini Chakravorty
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/theatre/article2737702.ece'Being Eunuch' explored the harsh realities of life as a transgender.
The story of the Indian transgender can be traced way back in history. Apart from playing significant roles in Indian epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, they were patronised by the Indian royalty for their loyalty and to protect the royal harems. Somewhere between history and modernity, they were relegated to the fringes of the existing society leading a deprived life.
Ostracism from all sections, poverty, prostitution and the plight of an Indian eunuch is not unknown and their life has been portrayed through documentaries, plays and films. Being Eunuch, a play staged by the city-based theatre group Nishumbita as part of the Hyderabad Theatre and Rock Music Festival in association with Samahaara, explored that aspect of a transgender life about which very little is known. The internal politics, the power play and the feudal rules and dynamics of the guru-chela relationship that exist in the eunuch community was explored in detail through the play.
