Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The ladyboys have come to extort money

I'm not sure how I could've missed this as an entire post. I think I alluded to it a while back in my description of the Delhi portion of the big India trip. HOWEVER, this morning on the train I was essentially melting and as the train is pulling away I hear, jingle jingle jingle jingle, and then hop, there's a woman in front of me on the train. Oh wait, that's a man, wait, no, that USED TO BE A MAN, now (s)he is a ladyboy. I haven't seen very many ladyboys in Chennai. I wonder why that is. But nonetheless this ladyboy walked up and down the train clapping his/her (pardon my ignorance, but I really don't know the proper gender pronoun for ladyboys) hands and touching most of the gentlemen on the shoulders or patting their heads. (S)he somehow, missed me. That was a first. I've never been the only OVERLOOKED person on the train. Perhaps it was that I was standing at the door and close to a foot taller then (s)he.

I'm always taken slightly aback when encountering the ladyboys. One never really knows how to deal with them. India has a few funny regulations that make dealing with ladyboys tricky:
1) Women cannot be arrested by male police officers
2) Arrested women must be accompanied by a man
3) Ladyboys are not considered men or women
4) Ladyboys are not considered citizens

How do you piece that together? I'm just not sure. It basically adds up to add the notion that ladyboys can get away with a lot. Of course, it also means that they have to put up with lot. I just really don't get it at all. But what I do know is that when it comes to begging, ladyboys can just really ask for whatever they like and harass you until they get it (unless of course you're a tall imposing foreigner).

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