Sharan's name as Sharankumar Limbale. In any case, Hanmanta needs to surrender his savagery thus Limbale said, \"I owe my dad's name to Bhosale, the head administrator\". Like Bhosale, Santamai too uncovered Limbale's personality. In order to break Limbale's companionship with Mang young men, she yelled, \"Would you say you are brought into the world from the seed of a Mang that you stay with their? You are the child of a town head. You should eat and play like a sovereign. You are child of a Patil… ' When the Village Chief wouldn't sign his free ship application structure, Limbale's mom excited in irate. She constrained Limbale to declare his character by reporting the Chief that \"She was the Patil's prostitute\". Limbale felt glad about his mom's declaration without knowing the importance of the word. In any case, when he was grown up, he felt hesitant to uncover such character and he needed to escape from the string of personality to which he was tied. So, he asserted, \"I feared my station since I was unable to guarantee my dad's cate or religion. As it were I was not a Mahar, in light of the fact that high-station blood ran in my body. Could I empty this blood from my body? My own blood sickened me\". Out of rage against his absence of personality, Limbale proposes, \"We were embarrassed about our past. We concealed ourselves as an outsider shrouds patches of rash on his skin.\" Limbale in The Outcaste depicted his experience of life as a man who can't be connected with anybody. He contrasted his life and a sparrow, and he depicts, \"I felt like the sparrow who endures in light of the fact that its home is annihilated. Who would it be a good idea for me to go to? Who might guarantee me when both my mom and father dismissed me?\". Despite the fact that he had no acquired character by any stretch of the imagination, he discovered comfort in his brain by guaranteeing, \"However I also was a person\" . By acquiring this genuine personality which likens oneself with the humanity nobody can deny of this from him. The Outcaste additionally illuminated the tortures a Dalit needed to go through in the general public. Limbale had painted the chronicles of embarrassments went through by a Dalit through his grandma Santamai. She guaranteed, \"Life isn't something similar. We endured more unfairness in our days\". Santamai's recitations of treacheries from history made Limbale to liken her with Jijabai, the grandma of Shivaji, the extraordinary hero. She likewise asserted, \"Treachery done to me was the present wonder as well as had a long history. The foundations of this shamefulness dove deep into history, for a long time\". Through her experience she shared her recollections of the sufferings went through by the Dalit ladies. She proposed how the ladies were limited from munching their dairy cattle and how they were seriously offended. She depicted the enduring of ladies as, \"Dalit ladies were severely offended. They were beaten as though they were slaves. A few ranchers even irritated them explicitly, maneuverer them into the yield, and assaulted them\". She additionally portrayed how her ancestors and their families were cheated by the Patil. She said: Our progenitors used to be safety officers at this present Patil's manor. At whatever point the Patil needed to disappear to town on true work my progenitors would ensure the manor. Our progenitors were credulous to such an extent that 201 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
they didn't consider even once, the chance of seeing the excellent essence of the Patil's resting spouse. On the opposite they forfeited their little girls, spouses, sisters and little girls in-law to dim evenings in the Patil's chateau. They were forfeited like creatures are at the hour of establishing the framework stone of a structure. Our progenitors were pleased to be benefited from the extra food given to them by the Patil. Limbale additionally depicted the possibility of unapproachability that won in the general public. He followed the justification distance and isolation as station and said, \"Our position had been pushed up on us even before we were conceived\". He introduced the outcomes they needed to confront on account of standing. They were given separate teacups in the shops. They needed to build houses in the spot were different residents utilized as lavatories and they needed to clear out to clear a path for the high station people. He even noticed the aluminium tumbler saved for them to savour water Shivram's shop. He even picturized how Dalits were denied of drinking water despite the fact that it was developed by them for Narayan Patil. Limbale while depicting his adolescence, recollected how the hair stylist wouldn't shave his head as his mom is a Mahar. So, he addressed himself, \"How should this hair stylist, who used to shave bison in the town, decline to shave my head\". Limbale additionally introduced his anguish of refusal of ladies for his marriage. The ladies were dismissed for him by asserting that he doesn't came from an unadulterated blood. So, he said, \" It was smarter to remain unmarried\". While introducing the shades of malice of the general public, he likewise depicts the hints of youngster marriage through the marriage of his sisters Vani, Pami and Indira. His dissent against youngster marriage was additionally introduced in the life account, showed him as a refined, taught being. As the chain response of the social fiendishness and absence of personality, Dalits were exposed to confront the impacts of Poverty. Destitution was the finished absence of fundamental necessities of a person in a general public like food, garments and safe house. In The Outcaste, Limbale had outlined the difficulties suffered by the Dalits to extinguish their essential necessities throughout everyday life. Limbale had portrayed the existence of the Dalits as, \"We are the trash the town tosses out. The umbilical string between our region and the town had snapped, as though the town destroyed, had tossed us out of it. We had grown up like outsiders since our earliest stages. This feeling of estrangement expanded throughout the long term and right up 'til today my dreadful youth frequents me\". Through this introduction, Limbale had drawn the pitiable circumstance of his general public. In the start of his self-portrayal, Limbale had introduced how his companion Harya was denied of schooling in view of neediness in his family. He had to embrace crafted by nibbling the steers in Grimallya's homestead and hence he turned into \"a resource for the family\". Limbale had portrayed the torments of starvation as, \"Starvation was written in our parcel from the snapshot of our introduction to the world. More often than not, every one of my sisters rested without eating anything. I in any event ate something. Mother swallowed just water. Dada 202 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
fulfilled his craving by smoking bidies. At seeing my sisters who had rested hungry, I lost my craving and couldn't rest\". The Dalits were used to eat extras. Limbale was educated by his mom that, \"Extra food is nectar\". The Outcaste had recorded the response of the Dalit kids on getting the extra food from the high position as, \" We had never tasted food like that. We were all truly avaricious. Our stomach were just about as ravenous as a bum's sack\". Through this depiction, Limbale had reflected that solitary the destitute can gauge the genuine estimation of a thing. At right now he recollected his grandma eating Bhakaris arranged by the grains gathered from the excrement. Limbale was additionally exposed to craving and he characterized it as, \"Appetite is greater than man. Yearning is vaster than the seven circles of hellfire… . Craving is more remarkable than man. A solitary stomach resembles the entire earth\" . While portraying the agonizing condition of yearning, he likewise brought up result of appetite on man as: From that point forward man has been endeavoring to fulfil his stomach. Filling even one stomach demonstrated hard for him. He started to live with a half-filled one. He made do by gulping his own salivation. He went for quite a long time without eating anything. He began selling himself for his stomach. A lady turns into a wore and a man a hoodlum. The stomach makes you clean poo, it even causes you to eat poop. The Dalits to conciliate their stomach invigorated eating unhygienic food. Limbale delineated such episodes in his personal history, and he reflected it as, \" Sometimes there were dead cockroaches in the curry kept in earth pots. We discarded the cockroaches and ate the curry\". He had likewise noticed the occurrence at which himself and Mallya were constrained by eagerness to eat parasite ridden food. It had even made them to assemble extra food from the trash. Limbale had calculated his experience of social affair utilized tea powder from Ghenappa's tea-slow down. While depicting his starvation, Limbale likewise envisioned the starvation of the general public as, \"The Maharwada makes do on only a couple pieces of bhakari and a little water. That is their staple food\". Individuals were attracted to misbehaviours like taking to pacify their appetite. He addressed such odd practices as, \"Who takes without really thinking? The helpless take for hunger. On the off chance that they had enough to eat could they take?\". Limbale had imagined the episode of Vani being beaten by an organic product merchant for taking a banana. This scene moves the perusers to cry their tears by the depiction of Vani and Limbale eating the disposed of skin of banana to fulfil their stomach. Be that as it may, these embarrassments of destitution had truly formed him to ascend the higher up of the stepping stool of social request. He perceived the aid it brought to him as, \"The torment of neediness is profound to such an extent that it is boundless. It makes a man a man. Just if the umbilical rope that interfaces one with torment is epic does one become solid\". 203 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
While portraying the disasters of appetite, the novel additionally focuses how the Dalits are denied of garments to cover their bodies. Limbale had imagined the torn, fixed dresses worn without help from anyone else and his relatives. Limbale had portrayed the Dalit's absence of sanctuary and other essential necessities. He had shown this by depicting transport remain as the spot f cover for himself, Santamai and Dada. He was once embarrassed about taking his companions to his town for a celebration and his failure to give them appropriate sanctuary. Limbale, through this work depicted the work attempted by the Dalits to run their vocation. He had introduced how they asked for charity in the business sectors and from privileged society. Limbale had introduced the positions embraced by his grandma Santamai and Dada for his government assistance and to defeat neediness. He introduced it as, \"Dada lit the streetlights, filled in as a watchman, appropriated papers, went to class conveying tiffin for the understudies\". Limbale additionally depicted his grandma as a sweeper and birthing specialist. He even portrayed the act of selling alcohol in Maharwada. By painting the woeful state of Suni who was harmed while gathering woods, Limbale had depicted the Dalits taken a chance with their life to acquire for their reality. The Outcaste featured the isolation suffered by the Dalits in the field of schooling. Limbale outlined his experience of discrete guest plan for Dalits and high-class understudies at a school. On seeing the fashionable understudies imparting their food to their instructors, Limbale emerged numerous inquiries and he recognized Dalits with elegant understudies as, \"Might I venture to offer my chutney-bhakari to my educator? Would he eat it? Bhakaris of the great station were obviously of a superior quality. Their moms had given them singed food, while we had simply bits of dry Bhakaris which were not really enough to fulfil the cavern of appetite\". He likewise noticed the distance the instructors kept with Dalit understudies and their closeness with elegant understudies. Limbale had shown the obligations appointed to the Dalits by the educators. They are provoked to cover the floor and dividers with cow compost glue and were made to leak the floor. Limbale had shared his unpleasant experience of being compelled to sit at the passageway of the Marwari's house, while the high position individuals are permitted to sit at the stage. While depicting the isolations that Dalits needed to suffer in the general public, the creator likewise cantered around the limitations they needed to look in religion. The unlawful limitations proposed by the alleged elegant individuals made a shocking impact in the personalities of the Dalits even in their early stages. So Limbale depicted the idiom that \"Kid are the blossoms of God's home, yet not us. We are the trash the town tosses out\". The Outcaste likewise introduced the enduring that Parshya and the creator needed to experience for prostrating straightforwardly before the God. So Limbale showed, \"We should say our supplications from the means outside. Our entering a sanctuary will make God polluted. The untouchables should not enter a sanctuary\". This brief him to scrutinize God's mentality. He asks, \"What sort of god is this that makes people disdain one another? We should be the offspring of god, why are we viewed as unapproachable?\" 204 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Other than depicting the social disasters looked by the Dalits, Limbale had concentrated to paint the aches of the ladies of his local area. At one spot higher class individuals kept up separation from the untouchables to keep them from getting tainted by contact and yet they consider Dalit ladies as objects to satisfy their desire. Privileged men explicitly misused Dalit ladies and are constrained to satisfy them for the sake of noble cause. Limbale in portrayal of his collection of memoirs had depicted the circumstance of Mahar ladies as: The Patil in each town have made prostitutes of the spouses of the Dalit ranch workers. A poor Dalit young lady on achieving pubescence has constantly been a survivor of their desire. There is an entire variety brought into the world to double-crossing Patil. There are Dalit families that get by satisfying the Patil explicitly. The entire town thinks about such a house as the place of the Patil's prostitute. Indeed, even the kids brought into the world to her from her significant other are viewed as the offspring of a Patil. Other than endurance on the foundation of a Patil what else can such a family anticipate. He had believed the existence of his mom as , \"What kind of everyday routine had she been experiencing, selling herself to one proprietor after another and being utilized as a product? Her life has been only the oppression of sex\". On noticing the opposite side of the coin, the licentious look towards upper station ladies by a discouraged is considered as a wrongdoing. 8.5 CHARACTER ANALYSIS The issues identified with Dalit ladies have barely been treated up appropriately either by political pioneers or by researchers until as of late. Dalit ladies were avoided with regards to the social change measures and remained untouchables among untouchables. The beginning of globalization in India empowered Dalits to raise the issue of separation dependent on standing in the worldwide discussions. Dalit activists and learned people presented a case for acknowledgment of standing based separation in India as being like racial segregation in the West, in the World Conference against Racism on 31st August to seventh September 2001 at Durban, South Africa. The discussions on rank and Dalit rights at the worldwide level gave another measurement to the battle against the standing framework, with the rise of non- legislative associations and Dalit associations as delegates of Dalits in India. These discussions on station in the worldwide field made another interest in Dalits and their writing. Patil (Chief) of a village Bas1egaon, Hanmantha Limbale who had a place with the high caste Maratha community. The birth itself ended up being a shame. That is the reason he says, \"my first breath more likely than not debilitated the profound quality of the world\" (36). Since his father was not a Mahar by standing, Mahar individuals considered him to be a fraud, half- station (akkarmashi) and as his mother had a spot with Mahar people group, he was a distant for the town people. Likewise, he had the chance to be inadmissible, pariah to all. The so-called character of Patil represents the dominance of upper class of the contemporary society who was financially stable with a lot of wealth, acres of land and other resources. They used to enjoy 205 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
the luxurious life most of the time. They were known for the exploitation of labour and backward classes through different mechanisms. In addition, there were few staunch supporters who used to provide support to the malpractices in the society. Masamai had refused the offer of becoming a singer in a troop and was determined to live on her own but the man who had spoiled her family life allured her. She was given a rented house at Akkalakot and she took as a kind of revenge to live openly with the same man who had exiled her from her family. Her happiness was disturbed by her pregnancy and the birth of a boy. The Patil’s family was intense. Sharan thinks “My first breath must have threatened the morality of the world. With my first cry at birth, milk must be splashed from the breasts of every Kunti”. The Female Castaway It is noteworthy that The Dalit movement considered women of even the highest caste as Dalits, because of their oppression. Dalit autobiographies are sketches of reality and life oriented. They all mirror the inhuman practices of caste system, but Sharan Kumar Limbale’s The Outcaste adds something more to that, it is a Bible on Dalit feminist discourse. It exhibits Sharan’s long struggle of existence with his broken image to lead a respectful life and how he flourishes. The Dalit women are marginalized and are doomed to vices like rape, sexual exploitation, child marriage, illiteracy, divorce, forced prostitution in the name of religious practices like Devadasis and Jogins. Masami is a victim of sexual violence. Limbale depicts the unfortunate and hopeless existence of a poor and persecuted local area in the possession of a careless favoured class in a basic yet contacting and extraordinary style. Santhosh Bhoomkar has done a decent help by deciphering this work from the Mahar lingo to English. Through his personal work, Limbale uncovered a universe of neediness and separation in which the Dalits had lived for millennia . He brings up some legitimate issues to be replied by individuals who see themselves as socialized and current 'How is an individual brought into the world with his rank? How can he turn into a distant when he is conceived? How might he be a crook?' and so on Limbale's collection of memoirs is a decent speedy perused that would intrigue any understudy taking a seminar on current India. The writer incorporates an astounding presentation that depicts the position framework toward the Western peruser. Personal history and verse works are sufficiently found in Dalit writing. These works affected the general public as they portrayed direct encounters. Dalit writing isn't just writing. It is related with a development to achieve change. Dalits are masses, abused and mistreated financially, socially, socially, for the sake of religion and different elements. Dalit authors like Limbale trust that this abused gathering of individuals will achieve a socio-social unrest in India. 206 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Customs and Superstitions Most of the characters and contemporary society were also subjected to the shackles of superstitious customs. Devadasi system was the most important among them. Here a girl dedicated to God, is never allowed to marry but was exploited in various ways. Thus \"a religious colour was given to the ritual prostitution\" (Murahari, 305). If they married, children born to them were considered outcaste. Child marriage added fuel to the fire, leaving behind a large number of child widows and discarded young wives which gradually led to their exploitation. In their struggle for survival, they could not even dream of education and its prospects and this ignorance aggravated the level of exploitation and superstitions that encircled them. They had a rare predicament to rise above the gendered roles of a submissive and male dependent entity because of their partner's inability or irresponsibility, but still condemned for transgression. Thus, the customs, sought their existence, by making women obey, uphold and propagate their ways. Hunger for Better Life The leading characters were ruled by the hunger for a better life. And this quest gave them sheer perseverance and made them strong fighters. They had a desire for normal, happy life which led them to different paths for its fulfilment. Limbale states it clearly when he says \"they (Dalit women) sold themselves to be loved and cared for by someone, not to appease their lust\". This hunger for love can be seen from Santamai's grief at the death of her husband who discarded her, married another woman and threw her life to miseries and Masamai‟s devoted nursing of her sick husband who had left her accusing her as unfaithful and was responsible for her pitiable existence, when he returned after many years to atone his wrongs. They were ready to starve in order to feed the children and were ready to put themselves out to give education to the children. They dreamt of a bright future for the next generation and toiled all their lives for the purpose. The hope for a better life made them dynamic, gave them strength to carry on the struggle for survival single handedly. This refusal to surrender themselves to the degrading conditions, desire to live and move forward gives them a sense of tragic dignity, which is evident from Limbales depiction of the women characters, including his mother Masamai and grandmother Santamai. Limbale clearly depicts the women as being subjected to hunger all through their lives. This hunger is both external- inflicted on them from outside- as well as internal- that emerges from their own lives. Whatever be the source, their lives are always ruled by the multifaceted hunger, and they are destined to fell victims to the magical spell of this hunger. 207 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
8.6 MOTIFS The Social Identity Social identity deals with a question 'who are our own people?' The lives of India's lowest citizens are completely controlled by the society around them, and the caste acts as a powerful tool for social segregation and the station character is the event just for exploitation. As per Limbale, \"the rank of a Hindu Indian decides everything about his life-dress, marriage and even food\". (TADL, 28). The delineation contrived by Manu was adequately used by the upper station, for excluding Dalits into the standard of society. Conventional Indian culture didn't permit the low station individuals to understand their self as their self-character which was a danger to the smooth working of social, political and strict establishments. So, they created obstacles in the path of self thereby deviated them from positive growth. Swami Vivekananda therefore observes caste \"as a crystallized social institution, which fills the atmosphere of India with stink.” The Miserable Conditions of Dalits Limbale explains these points through his bitter experiences from childhood onwards. The Dalit children were kept away from the noble; even the games played were different. At school, they were forced to sit at the entrance, along with others' chappels. The leftover food by the high caste was like elixir for them. The high caste children often teased and threw stones at them. At first, Sharankumar could not accept the logic of humiliation and wondered what sin he had done for being exposed to such experiences. Even though they cleaned the entire village, they were considered polluted. So, they had to suffer the injuries and soars caused by the discriminations and atrocities perpetuated by caste Hindus, and the sub animal status imposed on them The Caste-Discrimination between Upper and Lower Social Classes The upper caste Patils exploited Dalits women as they wished. Dalits were renounced in the society, but their wives were accepted to appease sexually. The Patils in every village have made whores of the wives of Dalit farm labourers. A poor Dalit girl on attaining puberty has invariably been a victim of their lust. There were many Dalit families meant only for Patils sexual gratification Masami had ten children, two from her husband, one from Patil Nimbale and the rest by another Patil Yeshwantrao Sidramappa. Religious Identity Religious identity is of utmost importance. It was the religious sanction that strengthened the caste-based segregation and oppression. As indicated by K.M Panikkar, \"the Dalits were the submerged base of Hindu society, but the self-assertion of the upper caste and the spiritual aspect enabled them to preserve their autonomy over the Dalits\". The Dalits, aware of their 208 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
outcast status and abuse for the sake of religion, called it as a horrendous beast and gave the amusing record of ceremonies and confidence. This made them mindful of the need to emerge from the shackles of the religion. The struggles between various religions stoked the fire. The acknowledgment that the religion destroys individuals and families, constrained them to split away from the conventional traditions. The notions, degeneration of man through strict practices, diverse God faction for Dalits, related with station cognizance, constrained the Dalits to split away from religion, and to guarantee an unrivalled character. That is why Limbale asks: \"If you cut out his religion, a man is still a man .... Why does religion hinder them? Why is man imprisoned by conventions?\" Hunger as Symbolism 'Hunger' as an image appears throughout the work. And this image goes far beyond a physical need and acquires a philosophical dimension. On viewing from a broader perspective, the life of Dalits can be identified as directed by hunger for identity- individual, familial, strict, financial, social, and political. What's more, their agonies and work can be seen as the aftereffect of the appetite of the great station local area which prompts misuse at all levels, with the exploitation of ladies - for the fulfilment of this yearning - being the most lamentable. Their longing for endurance and acknowledgment add to this. In this sense, the existence of Dalits rotates around the turn - hunger. 8.7 LITERARY ELEMENTS Some of the notable elements mentioned in the autobiography can be explained as below: Indian Setting Maharashtrian Background Criticism on Caste System Contemporary Society Social Flaws Realism Difference between 'Haves and Have Not' Figure 8.1: Literary Elements 209 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
8.8 CRITICAL REVIEWS Tromila Wheat rightly says “What is it like to grow up as an impoverished outcaste in modern India? Perhaps the best way to find out is through the words and emotions of those who have lived through the experience and who have the education and talent to write so expressively about it”. Sukhadev Thorat opines that “The Hindu social order, particularly its main pillars, viz., the caste system and untouchability, presents a unique case. As an arrangement of social, monetary and strict administration, it is established not on the rule of the freedom (opportunity), correspondence and brotherhood, the qualities which shaped the premise of all-inclusive common liberties, however on the standard of disparity in each circle of life\". With the emergence of Dalit movement Dalits revolted against their oppression and found a way of assertion through Dalit Literature. As Sharmila Rege examines “Strict controls were imposed on the high caste Hindu wives that controlled their labour and chastity sanctified by religious scripture. Thus, the controlled behaviour and body of high caste women attributed to legislation while the social and sexual labour of the lower caste women was made available to the land economy. Social behaviour and labour of poor women lets open access to the women of Dalits that causes sufferance and agony. The world full of wolves and As a system of social, economic vultures for the Dalit dove is inescapable.” While the commentator has not perused the Marathi unique, there is something in particular about the interpretation that, now and again, feels unnatural. The interpreter, Priya Adarkar, has tended to this issue in her starting note where she says: \"The degrees of Marathi utilized shift with the character who talks or describes. It is, obviously, not generally conceivable to pass on the impacts of vernacular in the first, when it moves to an alternate language. One simply needs to estimate it with straightforward, less refined words.\" In the event that there is analysis, it is that the story appears to have been dealt with straightforwardly now and again. Teltumbde communicates this when he says: \"Limbale's commitment with the Dalit universe shows up burrowed to the extent that he either doesn't defy the intricacy incited by entrepreneur improvement that has been occurring since the most recent century or notes it yet likes to drive past it on the biased standing street.\" Limbale is a delegate of the local area, and his accounts maintain this, however he needs to go the additional mile. Teltumbde summarizes it when he says: \"Insightful journalists like Limbale have a positive task to carry out. They are not expected to give answers; their job is to hold a mirror to society.” 210 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
8.9 SUMMARY • Sharankumar Limbale is among the most acclaimed journalists of contemporary Dalit writing in India. His most recent book, an assortment of 28 short stories named The Dalit Brahmin and Other Stories, further concretes his standing as the voice of Dalit writing. • The Outcaste is composed by Sharan Kumar Limbale, depicts the agony and crazy encounters of his life as a Dalit. • The Outcaste catches the effects of brutality and victimization Dalits. In this novel the creator is spooky by the emergency of character. • He utilizes the representation, phrases and symbolism to investigate his inward sadness and journey for personality. • Through Outcaste Limbale uncovers his inward contentions of being a Dalit. He is from a mistreated local area where he felt like secured like a fix of disease. He has carried on with the existence of a distant, as a half-station and the upper position individuals embarrassed him by considering him an Akkarmashi. • Akkarmashi and Towards an Esthetic of Dalit Literature gives the setting of Dalit writing, taking reference from Black, Marxist and Russian writing and outlining the directions of encounters required with the end goal for something to be come to fruition as a piece of workmanship. • The Outcaste reflected Limbale's introduction to the world and life. In this manner the collection of memoirs of Limbale depicted the essayist's rootlessness, neediness, isolation in instructive framework and disparity in the general public. • The current collection of memoirs is a brief look into the existences of Dalits. The structure is the Ambedkarite development. The characters are Mahars who have changed over to Buddhism. They incorporate the youthful and the old, men, ladies, youngsters and youthful grown-ups with seething chemicals. • The focal subject of The Outcaste was the tricky creator's character. Limbale had depicted himself as a survivor of a harsh social framework which denied him of his character. As indicated by him, this rootlessness made him \"to live with the weight of inferiority”. In The Outcaste at a moment, Limbale himself marked the application structure rather than his parent's mark. • Limbale in The Outcaste depicted his experience of life as a man who can't be connected with anybody. He contrasted his life and a sparrow, and he depicts, \"I felt like the sparrow who endures in light of the fact that its home is annihilated. Who would it be advisable for me to go to? Who might guarantee me when both my mom and father dismissed me?\" • The Outcaste likewise illuminated the tortures a Dalit needed to go through in the general public. Limbale had painted the chronicles of embarrassments went through 211 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
by a Dalit through his grandma Santamai. She asserted, \"Life isn't something similar. We endured more foul play in our days\". • The Outcaste featured the isolation suffered by the Dalits in the field of instruction. Limbale represented his experience of isolated guest plan for Dalits and high-class understudies at a school. • It is imperative that The Dalit development considered ladies of even the most elevated position as Dalits, due to their persecution. Dalit life accounts are portrayals of the real world and life situated. • Limbale depicts the woeful and hopeless existence of a poor and mistreated local area in the possession of a careless favoured class in a straightforward yet contacting and special style. Santhosh Bhoomkar has done a decent help by interpreting this work from the Mahar vernacular to English. • The vast majority of the characters and contemporary society were likewise exposed to the shackles of offbeat traditions. Devadasi framework was the most significant among them. • The main characters were controlled by the want a superior life. What's more, this mission gave them sheer steadiness and made them solid warriors. They had a longing for ordinary, cheerful life which drove them to various ways for its satisfaction. • The acknowledgment that the religion destroys individuals and families, constrained them to split away from the conventional traditions. The notions, degeneration of man through strict practices, distinctive God faction for Dalits, related with standing cognizance, constrained the Dalits to split away from religion, and to guarantee a prevalent character. • Dalit Literature has large amounts of real portrayals of distance and neediness in an unrefined everyday communicated in language. The unrealistic test looked by Limbale and other Dalits as little youngsters is hunger. The author has harped on this fundamental need of man on and on all through the book. • The Caste Hindus in Indian culture used to abuse the Dalits by causing them to do the humblest positions the entire day only for a slice of bread. The content is packed with occurrences of yearning which is projected before a class of perusers who are wilfully ignorant of such inclinations. • The Dalits are dealt with more awful than creatures. Their essence is generally prohibited from privileged areas. They were made to drape pots from their necks to try not to dirty the roads by their drool and needed to convey brushes attached to themselves to wipe away their impressions from the \"upper standing\" roads. • Dalits are being misused truly, intellectually and socially in the standing ridden society. Despite the fact that India is politically free with her own Constitution announcing freedom, fairness and organization led by a Dalit himself, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. 212 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
• It is as yet hard for in reverse classes to lead their lives calmly. Dalit Intellectuals work their methods of opposition innovatively in Dalit writing, the most remarkable being Dalit life accounts. • Dalit Literature is a challenging undertaking from the standard to the negligible, from uber accounts to miniature stories, from the virtual to the genuine, and from self- copying to self-certification. 8.10 KEYWORDS • Akkarmashi: of impure blood. Here, a person’s whose birth was illegitimate. • Dalit: A community belonging to economically and social backward class. • Oppression: Suffering caused by dominant people. • Hypocrisy: Pretend, Fake. • Predecessor: Ancestor. 8.11 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. The Character-Sketch of ‘Patil’ in the ‘Outcaste’ __________ _______ Patil __________ ___________ 2. Enumerate the List of Dalit Women Characters in the Outcaste? Sr. No. Name of Dalit Woman Character 1] 2] 3] 4] 213 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
8.12 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. Explain the background of title ‘Outcaste.’ 2. Enlist the works of Sharan Kumar Limbale. 3. Suggest three books similar to the theme of text. 4. Justify- “Writing is a form of therapy- Graham Green” 5. Discuss the contribution of Limbale to Dalit Literature. Long Questions 1. Examine the salient features of The Outcaste as an autobiography. 2. Analyze the setting, characters of The Outcaste with examples. 3. “The Outcaste is Outcast is an experiential writing.” – Comment. 4. Elaborate the miserable conditions of Dalits in The Outcaste with suitable examples. 5. State the mythological depicted in the Outcaste (Example, Ekalavya, Shambooka etc.) 6. Explain the ‘female castaway’ in the Outcaste’. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. According to Graham Green, “Writing is a form of ___________________. a) Recipe b) Therapy c) Canopy d) All of these. 2. The Outcaste was originally written in ________________ Language. a) Marathi b) Hindi c) Kannad d) Tamil 3. The Outcaste is the translation of _____________________. a) The Dalit Brahmin b) The Hindu Dalit c) Akkarmashi d) None of these 4. ______________ movement is reflected in The Outcaste. a) The Ambedkar b) Gandhian c) Philosophical 214 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
d) All of these 5. Santosh Bhumkar translated Akkarmashi (Marathi) to Outcaste (English in __________. a) 2000 b) 2005 c) 2003 d) 2002 Answers: 1-(b), 2-(a), 3-(c), 4-(a), 5-(c) 8.13 REFERENCES Textbooks • Beauvoir, S. (1949). The Second Sex, Trans, HM. Parshley, Vintage Publication, New York. • Greene, Graham. (1999). Ways of Life: An Autobiography, Vintage Books, London. • Morrison, Tony. (1990). Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation, Literature in Modern World. Ed. Dennis Walder. Oxford University Press, New York. • Rege, Sharmila. (2006). Writing Caste, Writing Gender: Reading Dalit Women's Testimonies. Zubaan Publications. • Alok Mukherjee. (2004) Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies and Consideration. Trans New Delhi: Orient Longman. • Bharti, C.B. (1999) The Aesthetics of Dalit Literature. Trans. Darshana Trivedi. Hyati. Reference Books • Pawar, Daya. (1982). Baluta. Granthali Prakashan, Mumbai. • Limbale, Sharankumar. (2003). The Outcaste. Trans. Santosh Bhoomkar, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. • Limbale, Sharankumar. (2010). Toward as Aesthetic of Dalit Literature. Translated by Alok Mukherjee. Orient Blackswan Private Limited, New Delhi. • Thorat, Sukhadev and Umakanth (2004). Caste, Race and Discrimination: Discourses in International Context New Delhi, Rawat Publications, New Delhi. P-295. • Sawant, B. & Sidhartha. (2012). An Era of Dalit Literature and An Explosion of Muffed Voice. IRR Journal, Vol- 3. P-66-68. • Siddiqui, Farah. (2014). Dalit Literature: Issues and Trends, European Academic Research, Vol. 1. Pp. 5905 -5916. • Sonkamble, P.I. (1993). Athavaninche Pakshi, Chetana Prakashan, Aurangabad. Websites 215 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
• www.goodreads.com • www.the-criterion.com • www.uky.edu/centres/Asia/ • http://fhrc.flinders.edu.au/writers in conversation 216 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
UNIT-9: BINODINI DASI’S MY STORY AND LIFE AS AN ACTRESS, MARY G. MASON, ‘THE OTHER VOICE: AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF WOMEN WRITERS’ IN LIFE/LINES: THEORIZING WOMEN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY STRUCTURE 9.0 Learning Objectives 9.0 Objectives 9.1 Introduction 9.2 About Authors and Their Lives 9.3 Analysis of Texts 9.4 Literary Elements in Texts 9.5 Critical Reviews 9.6 Summary 9.7 Keywords 9.8 Learning Activity 9.9 Unit End Questions 9.10 References 9.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, student will be able to: • Comprehend the Binodini Dasi and Mary Mason as the authors. • Analyse the texts as the literary form of English literature. • Compare and contrast as Indian and Western forms of writing. • Appreciate the texts from readers' perspective. • Examine the salient features of the texts . 217 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
9.1 INTRODUCTION My study offers a critical exploration of the autobiographical writings of the Bengali actress Binodini Dasi (1863-1941) namely Amar Katha (‘My Story’, 1912) and Amar Abhinetri Jiban (‘My Life as an Actress’, 1924-25). One of the earliest professional actresses of the nineteenth century public theatre in colonial Calcutta, Binodini Dasi was also a powerful writer with a voice of her own. The colourful story of her life, its ups and downs, her dreams and betrayal are recorded in her autobiographies Amar Katha and Amar Abhinetri Jiban. But during her time, neither her autobiographies nor her poems were given their due appreciation. Even they were left out from the anthologies of women (‘Bhadromahila’) writing of her time. As these texts have remained neglected it is time that they are rescued from the deliberate amnesia of scholars and in doing so, given their proper historical value. These texts would help us to rewrite new facets of socio-cultural history by focusing on the denials, repressions and the blank spaces of the grand narrative of the homogenous recorded history. An Attempt is made to read the life and actions of this female autobiographer as texts pitted against the complex spectrum of religion, society and culture of colonial Bengal. The marginal voice of this suppressed, and hence ‘Subaltern’, (as Gayatri Spivak used it), woman cannot be dismissed as powerless. She does raise a voice of her own. But she can neither be labelled as nascent or as radical ‘Feminist’ in accordance with the Western critical discourses. My study explores the social, emotional and sexual exploitation of women amidst a patriarchal, colonial regime in which they have tried to create their own identity and Selfhood. Introduction to ‘The Other Voice’ The text presents the kaleidoscopic view representing the inner voice of women, their perceptions, ideas, ways of life, lifestyles etc. Ideally, the various sacred and religious texts believe in treating two castes of human mankind: Men and Women. However, there is a lot of mess created under the name of various religions, castes, communities dividing and ruling the powers from time to time. The continuous ignorance towards women, their suppression, 218 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
deliberate efforts to keep them away from education and other public accesses created inferiority. The patriarchal system was more responsible for same while other elements also supported in this direction. Hence, the other voice is the reflection of women and their thoughts in the contemporary society. 9.2 ABOUT AUTHORS AND THEIR LIVES About Binodini Dasi Binodini Dasi (1863–1941), also known as Notee Binodini, was an Indian Bengali actress and thespian. She began acting at 12 years old and finished when she was 23, as she later described in her prominent self-portrayal, Amar Katha (The Story of My Life) distributed in 1913. Brought into the world to prostitution, she began her vocation as a mistress and at age twelve she played her first genuine show part in Calcutta's National Theater in 1874, under the mentorship of its author, Girish Chandra Ghosh. Her vocation matched with the development of the proscenium-motivated type of European auditorium among the Bengali venue going crowd. During a profession traversing twelve years she instituted more than eighty jobs, which incorporated those of Pramila, Sita, Draupadi, Radha, Ayesha, Kaikeyi, Motibibi, and Kapalkundala, among others. She was one of the primary South Asian entertainers of the auditorium to keep in touch with her own collection of memoirs. Her unexpected retirement from the stage is deficiently clarified. Her self-portrayal has a predictable string of disloyalty. She disregards each ordinance of the ladylike smritikatha and recorded what added up to her arraignment of decent society. Ramakrishna, the incredible holy person of nineteenth century Bengal, came to see her play in 1884.[4] She was a spearheading business visionary of the Bengali stage and presented current methods of stage make-up through mixing European and native styles. Binodini’s spirituality gathered momentum when she received the blessing of the Bengali saint Sree Ramakrishna, her patitpaban (redeemer of the fallen) who uttered the sacred words: “May you receive Chaitanya!” Ramkrishna Paramahansa indicated that the path of bhakti can be the only mode of self-redemption from material life so full of cruelty, misery and inequality. Binodini left the theatre at the peak of her career in 1887, the year of Sree Ramkrishana’s death. She, then, chose bhakti to be the only way of salvation from her ‘kolonkini jiban’. Certainly, spirituality gave Binodini a new mode of salvation and emancipation that could be exclusively hers. Binodini’s new turn to a life of spirituality, though debatable in society, enabled Binodini to claim social respectability that she would never have ‘legitimately’ acquired as a professional prostitute actress. Binodini’s struggle to elevate her in the social ladder indicates the fact that patriarchal interpellation could not dismiss Binodini as a powerless object of patriarchal domination. Rather Binodini’s endeavour confirmed her subjective ‘self’. Her attempt to refashion herself again and again in order to escape a life of shame marks her 219 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
‘agency’ which blasted the hypocrisy and the double standards of contemporary patriarchal system. Binodini Dasi was the primary South Asian entertainer of the auditorium to keep in touch with her own personal history. Her collection of memoirs is understandable and investigates a segment of the nineteenth century Bengali world quiet with European thoughts, yet cognizant enough to painstakingly enslave the female to the space of the family. Anyway, she was neither that nor is today, perceived as an author by either researchers or the Sahitya Akademi. In the prime of her profession, she quit the stage to settle down to home life however her joy was brief. Her unexpected retirement from the stage was deficiently clarified. She began her stage life as an ignorant starving stray and left as a refined, refined, profoundly lucid and proficient woman – nearly Bhadramahila. This paper presents how ladies who discussed and communicated in their lives the actual exemplification of freed family were, secretly seen from a good ways, to be cherished and be adored and never seek to decent ideas of femininity. In its initial days, Bengali Theater was man's reality. No lady was permitted to take an interest in it. Men used to play out the female jobs in those plays. Anyway, things changed, and the Kolkata theater presented female specialists in front of an audience, even before the English auditorium had done it. One of the stalwarts among the original of entertainers on the Kolkata stage was without a doubt Binodini Dasi, prominently in the later years as Noti Binodini (additionally spelled as Nati Binodini). Binodini Dasi (1863-1941), brought into the world in a poor, low-station, lady headed family in frontier Kolkata, was a valuable youngster who was enrolled to the stage at 10 years old to help her family. In those days, the women from upper-rank families were not permitted to follow up on stage. Theater chiefs used to project ladies from red light territories. This was a heritage to the Indian performing expressions overall, where, since ages, the solitary theater specialists used to be the whores. Binodini was one among such entertainer, who came from red light space of Kolkata as a whore. Anyway, her excellent ability assisted her withstanding apart among all and be one of the significant Bengali actors of her time. She had begun her profession as an entertainer at the youthful age of twelve and when she resigned, she was 23 years of age. Theater sweethearts recalled her name for the ages to come. With regards to her occupation, she was apprenticed to Ganga Baiji for preparing in music. In \"Amarkatha\", Binodini relates her introduction into her life. Her fellowship with Ganga Baiji guided her towards the domain of theater. She recalls: \"When I was nine, a vocalist came to live in our condo. She was a vagrant. Her name was Ganga Baiji. Later she turned into a celebrated artist in the Star Theater... We became companions and used to call other \"Golap\". Later she was handpicked by the Bengali Theater legend, Girish Chandra Ghosh(1844-1912),- - one of the principal playwright of the time, with whom she was, to have a nearby, if violent relationship—she was additionally urged to compose and distribute verse. He, at the end of the day, acclaimed Binodini's presentation, - \"An ability like Binodini is uncommon in the 220 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
world\".... It was he who said, \"I announce that Binodini's achievements in the venue are considerably more because of her intrinsic abilities instead of my teaching........\" As an entertainer, she was first showed up in front of an audience even before her youngsters in Shatrusamhar for example \"Killing the Enemy\" on second December 1874 at the Great National Theater. Her acting vocation crossed scarcely 12 years, finishing with Bellik Bazaar for example \"Marketplace of the Impudent\" on first January 1887 at Star Theater. Anyway, she performed in excess of 90 jobs in 80 plays, a large portion of them are light activity pieces, legendary plays and scholarly chronicled sentiments coordinated with her comic jobs in jokes and pantomimes. She was similarly acceptable in every difficult job. A portion of the significant names can be referenced as the National, Great National, Bengal, and Star. She acted in six characters in a single creation, for example, Parimala, Baruni, Rati, Maya, Mahamaya, Sita in Meghanadbudh for example \"Slaughtering of Meghanadh\", in 1881.There was another instance as three in another namely Ayesha, Thilottama, Asmani in Durgesh Nandini i.e., “Chieftain’s Daughter”, in 1876. Both of these were dramatized by her mentor Girish Ghosh. The wide range of her interpretations in diverse roles proved her ability. Most of her roles were almost contrasting. Some of the are Kunda in Ghosh’s dramatization of Bakim Chandra Chattarjee’s “ tragedy “Bisha-Briksha” i.e., Poison Tree, and Kanchan in Dinabandhu Mitras satirical Sadhabar Ekadashi i.e., “wife’s widowhood Fast”, the Godly Chaitanya in chaitanyalila i.e., “Chaitanya’s Miracles” and the sophisticated Bilasini in Bibaha Bibhrat i.e., “Marriage Muddle”, She likewise went about as the changed Chintamani in Bilwamangal and the lighter Rangini in Bellik Bazaar. These were coordinated by Girish Ghosh. Some other notable characters played by her incorporate Sita, Draupadi, Kaikeyi, and Kapalkundalam Motibibi, etc. Scholarly people of her age, for example, Chatterjee’s, Father Lafont, Edwin Arnold, and Colonel Alcott and so on consistently lauded her acting. Her exceptionally charged presentation as Chaitanya (1486-1533), the charming holy person whose backing of devotionalism as the method of salvation had separated existing rank chains of importance. Binodini as Chaitanya was honoured by and similarly charming sage, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-18886), after execution of Chaitanya-Lila Part-I in 1884. This frequency had profound effect on the entertainer, later who turned into a passionate lover of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Aside from her brilliant presentation acquired her titles, for example, \"Moon of the Star Theater\", \"Blossom of the Native Stage, etc. About Mary G. Mason Mary Mason is a British vocalist who scored a minor hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1977 with a mixture of Chip Taylor's \"Heavenly messenger of the Morning\"/\"Any Way That You Want Me\", arriving at 27 and going through about a month and a half in the graph. Prior in the year, Mason partook in the \"A Song for Europe\" challenge, with the melody \"What Do You Say to 221 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Love?\". The melody completed in runner up, behind Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran's \"Absolute bottom\". The transmission for the show was passed out, which frustrated Mason as she told the press she had been depending on having an enhanced visualization. She recorded for the Epic name in the United Kingdom. 9.3 ANALYSIS OF TEXTS Analysis of ‘My Story and Life as an Actress’ Despite the fact that her self-portraying works were created and distributed numerous years after the fact, they structure an uncommon declaration to the abilities and struggles of the original of Bengali entertainers, who went to the venue from devastated, offensive families. Assuming the parts of fighting courageous women and benevolent satis, these functioning ladies epitomized working class yearnings for moral cleansing and public wonder and battled to discover monetary and social asylum in their own lives. The Introduction portrays the continuum among entertainer and author by giving an outline of two very divergent chronicles. In the Preamble to 'A Bengallie Theater' is illustrated the passage and development of the 'entertainer' on the public stage in Calcutta of the 1870s. The subsequent part, 'Scripting a Life', is an endeavour into the sand traps of self-portrayal, shored by the numerous parentages that the entertainer essayist shared and didn't impart to her counterparts. The Afterword offers a map making of the section from Binodini Dasi, the entertainer and essayist, to 'Nati Binodini' as a public referent in Bengali social history. This set of experiences of portrayals incorporates, a little amusingly maybe, interpretations of two articles by Girishchandra on his student. One introduced her excerpted life account serialized in the theater magazine, and the other (referenced prior) was explicitly composed for Binodini's book. To keep up the genuine interrelation between explicit execution settings and more extensive flows in social and social history, I have taken response to a to some degree many- sided arrangement of cross-referring to. The technique by and large followed here has been to depend on an order dependent on first appearances: for instance, the first run through a play is referenced, other than the data in the actual setting, extra data is given in the notes when essential. The peruser is therefore alluded to this note when a similar play is first alluded to in Quite a while's writings. Bhattacharya has carefully contextualized Binodini's works and her dramatic world, offering both abundant documentation and a bunch of interpretive reflections that decentre any oversimplified perusing. Binodini's life accounts, encompassed in layers of analysis, involve the centre. The gleams, including the editorial manager's three expositions and notes, thematize focal issues hurled by her vocation as an entertainer and creator and present a luxuriously finished overview of Bengali-language source materials. This basic mechanical assembly far broadens the meaning of the volume, which both shows the handiness of entertainers' collections of memoirs and contributes considerably to South Asian execution examines. 222 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
The tone of the personal histories contrasts quantifiably. Interpretation can't completely enrol the formal and everyday styles they individually utilize; however, the interpreter's ability makes the rich emotive impacts of Binodini's pen wake up. \"My Story\" is written in misery at the deficiency of the three most significant people in Binodini's day to day existence: her defender; her tutor, dramatist and entertainer Girish Chandra Ghosh; and her little girl. Recipes of regret and self-denigration in this way open her account, however even here the entertainer's absence of confidence and her straight to the point, even threatening declarations underscore some obstruction. For example, she later recounts her ground-breaking commitments toward setting up the Star Theater in Calcutta, and her waiting feeling of treachery at not having the performance centre named after her as guaranteed. Portrayals of her uplifted creative mind now and again the stage and her extreme, daze like states while authorizing strict plays empower perusers to imagine the show of her life and exhibitions. \"My Life as an Actress\", albeit more shortened, covers a similar territory in a lighter vein. Especially awesome are the movement accounts, in light of the visit through the Great National Theater in 1875 to the \"unfamiliar\" domains of Delhi, Lahore, and Vrindavan. Binodini considers herself to be a lively, loving youngster who flourished in the family-like climate of the dramatic organization. Her later distress remains rather than the underlying guiltlessness of her investigations of the world and of the characters whose quintessence she instinctively gets a handle on. In her presentation, Bhattacharya follows the foundation of the nineteenth-century Bengali theater, noticing the investment of three gatherings: highborn benefactors who established the principal stage or \"babu theater,\" social and strict reformers who guided its plan, and the working class \"loners\" who subbed dedication to theater for more regular expert pursuits. She investigates the abnormality of the entertainer, whose class position was so unique in relation to these upper-and upper-working class guys, but then whose presence was crucial for theatre’s business achievement. It was this class position that additionally isolated Binodini from other Bengali ladies who were starting to compose. The public entertainer was seemingly even in a difficult situation as for the more established concubines (baiji, tawaif) who at any rate appreciated the security of acting in private. Likewise critical to a comprehension of the self- portrayals is Bhattacharya's investigation of the theater diaries in which they were distributed, filled basically with the male-wrote \"collections of memoirs\" of anecdotal entertainers, and her depiction of the current models for Bengali self-portraying composing from which Binodini seems to draw motivation. Analysis of ‘The Other Voice: Autobiographies of Women Writers’ in Life/Lines’ In the course of the 1980s, a new genre of literary studies emerged. The study of women’s autobiographies has become an interdisciplinary area of scholarly pursuit in its own right, with anthologies and conferences devoted solely to this subject. Such a novel object of investigation has naturally called forth a number of theorizations of varying qualities. But, before addressing 223 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
the historiography of women’s autobiography, it may be useful to first briefly survey the history of autobiography From ‘Woman’ to ‘Women’ In the most recent period, a new consensus appears to emerge, stressing the multiplicity of voices expressed by women’s autobiographies. Women’s autobiographies, observers say, are far more difficult to categorize than men’s self-reflections. Indeed, even within a single woman’s autobiography several distinct voices may be heard. Whereas traditional men’s autobiographies are said to reflect the Enlightenment belief in a consistently rational and democratic self which is, almost by definition, universal, autonomous and free, by contrast women authors highlight the ‘exotic, unruly, irrational, uncivilized, regional, or paradoxically unnatural’. An imaginative analysis of women’s autobiographies from a feminist perspective, then, results in the celebration of the ‘contingent, chaotic, tangential’ and stimulating engagements ‘with the cacophonous voices of cultural discourses’ hitherto suppressed by the dominant Enlightenment paradigm in traditionalist Eurocentric cultural studies. 9.4 LITERARY ELEMENTS IN TEXTS Dasi's Autobiography has been planned with at any rate two sorts of readership at the top of the priority list. The language of interpretation is English: thusly, it will at any rate make Binodini's works accessible to the individuals who have no admittance to Bangla and additionally no exceptional information on Bengali social history. On a more eager note, it might even invigorate interpretations and relative investigations of other such records of ladies and/in execution in the country. At the point when I had started interpreting the self-portrayal, I additionally read a Hindi interpretation of the Marathi film entertainer, Hansa Wadkar's collection of memoirs, Sangtae Aika (1966); and wanted that she had been converted into Bangla, and Binodini into Marathi or Kannada . . . the prospects are many. Besides, there has been a cognizant choice in this book to forefront Binodini Dasi's way of life as a phase entertainer. With an editorial manager's out of line advantage, I have reliably inserted the entertainer's writing in her exhibition setting, visualizing that the composite writings will likewise be useful in auditorium contemplates. Also, the more limited sonnets and a more extended story sonnet by Binodini have not been remembered for this volume, which offers just interpretations of the personal stories. My Story and My Life as an Actress. For as unrestricted a perusing as could be expected, the writings are left genuinely undisturbed. Complete segments about the material states of execution just as certain insights regarding the creations referenced by Binodini in her works are to be found in the 'Notes on the Bengali Public Theater'. These, along with the notes to singular segments (put toward the finish of each segment) are additionally planned to work as reference for perusers chipping away at provincial venue somewhere else in the country. 224 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
9.5 CRITICAL REVIEWS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHIES • Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in her study “Can Subaltern Speak?” implies that subaltern women’s text cannot be read as having anything original to say because the colonized woman has no subject position. Everyone else speaks for her, so she is continuously rewritten as the object of patriarchy and imperialism. • Taslima Nasreen, a radical woman writer of modern Bengal, claims that one cannot protest against any institutionalization until and unless s/he is free from its ideology: “unless a woman becomes ‘fallen’ there is no way she can liberate herself from the cage of the social institutions” • Binodini’s writing back is the voice of feminist, marginal and public women’s asserting back against dominant patriarchy. The terms ‘subjectivity’, ‘agency’, ‘experience’ and ‘identity’ are hotly debated in feminist theory today. Many agree with Chris Weedon’s argument that in the shaping of the 19th century Indian woman’s subjectivity, personal ‘experience’ is a crucial component of ‘subjectivity’ and a woman’s ‘self’ is formed by her observation of and her practical engagement with the world. Binodini’s case is no exception. The construction of Binodini’s ‘self’ is shaped by the societal norms, discourses which she experienced in her day-to-day life. 9.6 SUMMARY • Binodini Dasi (1863–1941), otherwise called Notee Binodini, was an Indian Bengali entertainer and actor. She began acting at 12 years old and finished when she was 23, as she later related in her prominent life account, Amar Katha (The Story of My Life) distributed in 1913. • Brought into the world to prostitution, she began her profession as a concubine and at age twelve she played her first genuine dramatization part in Calcutta's National Theater in 1874, under the mentorship of its organizer, Girish Chandra Ghosh. • Her profession matched with the development of the proscenium-roused type of European venue among the Bengali performance centre going crowd. • During a vocation traversing twelve years she instituted more than eighty jobs, which incorporated those of Pramila, Sita, Draupadi, Radha, Ayesha, Kaikeyi, Motibibi, and Kapalkundala, among others. She was one of the primary South Asian entertainers of the performance centre to keep in touch with her own life account • Her abrupt retirement from the stage is inadequately clarified. Her life account has a reliable string of double-crossing. She abuses each group of the ladylike smritikatha and recorded what added up to her prosecution of good society. • Ramakrishna, the extraordinary holy person of nineteenth century Bengal, came to see her play in 1884. She was a spearheading businessperson of the Bengali stage and 225 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
presented current strategies of stage make-up through mixing European and native styles. • The two personal histories are viewed as important even today as they enhance history by giving an elective record from a minimal lady's viewpoint. Additionally, it is Binodini alone who battled against the social disgrace of 'nati' (a public female artist), named on her and who constrained the general public to re-examine her situation as an entertainer. Presently when we call 'Nati Binodini' we consider her as an incredible thespis not as a whore artist. • Contemporary female public entertainers presently getting a charge out of societal position and decency ought to express gratitude toward Binodini for her solitary battle for the canonization of public entertainers. Summary of ‘The Other Voice: Autobiographies of Women Writers’ in Life/Lines’ • In the most recent period, a new consensus appears to emerge, stressing the multiplicity of voices expressed by women’s autobiographies. Women’s autobiographies, observers say, are far more difficult to categorize than men’s self-reflections. • An imaginative analysis of women’s autobiographies from a feminist perspective. • The Other Voice results in the celebration of the ‘contingent, chaotic, tangential’ and stimulating engagements ‘with the cacophonous voices of cultural discourses’ hitherto suppressed by the dominant Enlightenment paradigm in traditionalist Eurocentric cultural studies. 9.7 KEYWORDS Pioneer: A person who is one of the first to settle in an area; a person who begins or helps develop something new and prepares the way for others to follow They were pioneers in the field of medicine. Scrupulously: To think carefully about something or the possibility of doing something. Pronouncement: A formal or authoritative announcement or declaration. Reminiscent: making you remember a particular person, event, or thing. Tenants: A person who pays money (rent) to the owner of a room, flat, building or piece of land so that he/she can live in it or use it. Proscenium: The part of a theatre stage in front of the curtain. 9.8 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Visit the life and works of Binodini Dasi & write the summary after reading it from https://www.firstpost.com/long-reads/binodini-dasis-searing-story-has-inspired-two- 226 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
upcoming-biopics-will-she-finally-get-her-due-7573711.html _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. Prepare the list of well-known women writers in India especially after post- independent period. Indian Women Writers in English (Post-Independent Period) Author Name Name of Books/ Autobiographies 1] 2] 3] 4] 9.9 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. Write about Binodini Dasi as an actress. 2. Explain the Bengali family background of Binodini Dasi. 3. Discuss the various themes of women writing in India in short. 4. Comment on the Title of ‘The Other Voice.’ 5. Narrate the contemporary city of Calcutta depicted in the autobiography. Long Questions 1. “Women’s autobiographies are the self-reflections in a nutshell.” Justify with reference to two texts in the unit. 2. Elaborate the socio-cultural dilemmas faced by Binodini Das with examples. 3. Differentiate the distinctive features of both texts: ‘My Story and Life as an Actress’ and ‘The Other Voice’ 4. “Binodini’s writing back is the voice of feminist, marginal and public women’s asserting back against dominant patriarchy.”- Justify. 5. Explain in detail the ‘subjectivity’, ‘agency’, ‘experience’ and ‘identity’ in both of the texts in the units. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. The term ‘Subaltern’ is used by ___________________. 227 a) Gayatri Spivak b) Binodini Dasi c) Girish Chandra Ghosh d) None of these CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
2. Binodini’s endeavour confirmed her subjective as ______________. a) Society b) ‘Self’ c) Both of these d) None of these 3. Dasi’s Autobiography has the following feature/s: _____________. a) Bengali Theatre b) Social History c) Life of Women d) All of these 4. “Can Subaltern Speak?” is the study by ____________________. a) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak b) Taslima Nasree c) Binodini Das d) None of these. 5. Binodini Dasi played her first drama in _________________. a) 1885 b) 1874 c) 1875 d) 1888 Answers: 1-(a), 2-(b), 3-(d), 4-(a), 5-(d) 9.10 REFERENCES Textbooks • Anderson, Linda. (2007). Autobiography, Routledge Publications, London and New York. • Bandyopadhyay, Asitkumar. (2006). Bangla Sahityer Itivritta, Modern Book Agency Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata Pp.278-341. • Chris Weedon. (2003). \"Subjects\" in Mary Eagleton ed. A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory, Blackwell Publications, Oxford. • Chatterjee, Partha. (1999). The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories, in his The Partha Chatterjee Omnibus, Oxford University Press, New Work. • Chatterjee, Sudipto. (2007). The Colonial Staged: Theatre in Colonial Calcutta, Seagull Books, London and New York. Reference Books • Das, B. (1998). My Story and My Life as an Actress, Kali for Women Publications, New Delhi. • Forbes, Geraldine. (2005). Women in Colonial India, Chronicle Books, New Delhi. 228 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
• Kierkegaard, S. (1967). Crisis in the Life of an Actress: And Other Essays on Drama. • Shuttleworth, H. C. (1885). The Diary of an Actress, or Realities of Stage Life. • Lal, Ananda. (2009). Theatres of India: A Concise Companion, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York. • Miller, Nancy K. (1991). Getting Personal: Feminist Occasions and Other Autobiographical Acts, Routledge, New York. • Sharma, T. (2005). Historiography, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi. • Srinivasan, Doris M. (2006). Royalty's Courtesans and God's Mortal Wives. In Feldman, Martha; Bonnie Gordon (eds.). The Courtesan's Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Oxford University Press. pp. 173-175. ISBN 978-0-19-517029-0. • Tharu, Susie and Lalita, K. (1993). Women Writing in India, Oxford University Press, New York. • Gupta, Debnarayan. (1984). Nati Binodini: Manche: Sansare, M.C. Sarkar and Sons, Calcutta. • Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. (1988). \"Can the Subaltern Speak?\" Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Eds. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg. Hampshire: Macmillan, Pp. 271-313. • Barclay, G. L. (1868). The life and remarkable career of Adah Isaacs Menken, the celebrated actress: An account of her career as a Danseuese, an actress, an authoress, a poetess, a sculptor, an editress, as captain of the \"Dayton light guard,\" as the wife of the pugilist John C. Heenan, and of \"Orpheus Kerr\" ... Websites • https://www.jstor.org/stable/25068613?seq=1 • https://www.firstpost.com/long-reads/binodini-dasis-searing-story-has-inspired-two- upcoming-biopics-will-she-finally-get-her-due-7573711.html • http://docshare01.docshare.tips/files/27601/276012293.pdf 229 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
UNIT 10: A REVATHI’S TRUTH ABOUT ME: HIJARA LIFE STORY STRUCTURE 10.0 Objectives 10.1 Introduction 10.2 About the Author 10.3 Life of an Author 10.4 Special Achievements 10.5 About Autobiography 10.6 Year of Publication 10.7 Motive/Purpose of autobiography 10.8 Special Features 10.9 Critical Appreciation of Autobiography 10.10 Critics Reviews 10.11 Summary 10.12 Keywords 10.13 Learning Activity 10.14 Unit End Questions 10.15 References 10.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying the unit, the students will be able to • Explain the form of autobiography within the context of Indian writing in English. • Analyse the text from literary point of view. • Comprehend the key element of the text. • Illustrate the salient features of Revathi’s Autobiography. • Critically appreciate the characters, setting, motives of the text . 230 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
10.1 INTRODUCTION Revathi published her second book, The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story, in 2010. The credit for writing the book goes to the eminent feminist historian V Geetha. Because she not only developed the content in Tamil but let it translate into English. As per the statement by Revathi, she released the book in English language instead of Tamil. Because she didn’t want to loggerhead with her family ideologically. One more reason is that this book has enumeration about her family, but they can’t interact in English. The characters by Hijra portrayed in the book with significant roles is not only in the context of Hinduism but its trace is in the famous epics like the Mahabharata as well as the Ramayana. There are numerous facets of Shiva who is highly revered among the Hindus especially in the Hijra community has one such facet or from known as androgynous Ardhanari. Means it is a merger of equal halves between Shiva and his beloved wife. As per the chronology of more than 4,000 years and as mentioned in prehistoric text, where the Hijra community forms a testament to our sexual diversity, yet people are oblivion about the Indian culture. Nonetheless, Indian law has given high recognition to transgender people that includes Hijras being a third front gender. However, these laws were withdrawn after India got its independence. The Hijra community has got a special place in the society that’s why their presence is highly solicited in religious and many spiritual ceremonies. Still, they are subjected to abuse and discrimination. They also face violence, and many instances hate crimes against this community. The ancient literature has given better representation of Hijra community, where the famous being the Kama Sutra, which is basically a text for the Hindus with specific mention on human sexual behavior. This book has been written long back in and around 400 BCE and 200 CE. 10.2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR The birthplace of Revathi is the southern state of Tamil Nadu and in Namakkal district. She born as Doraisamy, but people considered as female due to physiology attribute. Her childhood was not as usual as others because she had gone through violence both at school and within the family. The reason being all her expressions were in ‘feminine' ways. She was very much interested in spending times with young girls than boys. Moreover, her dressing was like a woman and covering with the clothes of her mother. For others, the appearance was like male dressing like a female. She also struggled a lot in her academics due to hardships at personal and social level. Eventually, she dropped from the school and didn’t pass in tenth examination. However, she found solace with her meeting with people belonging to the kothi community. This happened when she on a school trip to Nammakal. She got a sense of closeness and thought of going to Delhi with them because she wanted to defend her true gender identity. In Delhi, she chanced upon the people from the Hijra community and started living around them. 231 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Further, she went through the operation procedure for changing the gender. This transformation was being considered as ritual to get inducted into the hijra family. After the operation, she got a new name, Revathi by the guru/ head of the household. This is how she got her true gender identity. Earlier, Revathi had to gone through a lot of harsh reality being a hijra. Resultantly, she experienced social exclusion, sexual assault, and violence. For her survival, she ended up with doing many odd jobs like dancing at marriage ceremony, begging alms and sex work. She was fed up doing these unwarranted jobs for survive in Delhi. So, she made a comeback to her native place, but she was not accepted to the mainstream society. Then she tried her luck in Bengaluru for getting some work. Initially, she again indulged in sexual commercial activities. In the meantime, she landed a job at Sangama, which is an NGO that works in support of sexual minorities needing their rights. Here, she got a good exposure by attending various activist meetings and aware of her rights. She started working there in the capacity of a peon and scaled up the hierarchy of the organisation to become a director. If the sources are to believe, she married one co-worker at Sangama. Now she is famous being a transgender-rights activist in Bengaluru. Revathi got her first book published in Tamil in 2004 known as Unarvum Uruvamum (Our Lives, Our Words). The book contains many real-life stories of the Hijra community in South India. She got the credits for writing the book which inspired other hijra writers to publish books like Priya Babu's Naan Sarvanan Alla (2007) and Vidya's I am Vidya (2008). Afterwards, she published her second book, The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story, in 2010. This book was basically written in Tamil which then translated into English by the feminist historian V Geetha. However, Revathi had to say otherwise, i.e., the book was released in English to avoid conflict with her family, because the family members featured in her book were unable to interact in English. Later, the book got its Tamil version as Vellai Mozhi in 2011. In this book, she has given a reference to a famous Tamil Dalit writer Bama being the prime source of inspiration. 10.3 LIFE OF AN AUTHOR Revathi born on 8th July 1966 and married in 1986 and breather her last in 2013. Suresh Chandra Menon was her husband, and he was a cinematographer and director by profession. Though she remained true to her gender identity, Revathi had gone through many harsh realities being a hijra thereby lived a pathetic life of socially excluded, sexually assaulted along with violence. That’s why to meet her daily livings was doing dancing, begging and indulged in sex work. 232 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
10.4 SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS 2004 witnessed the first book by Revathi in Tamil, Unarvum Uruvamum (Our Lives, Our Words). It encapsulates real incidences of people especially from the Hijra community in South India. Other hijra writers being inspired by her writing work, got their books published like Priya Babu's Naan Sarvanan Alla in 2007 and Vidya's I am Vidya in 2008. 10.5 ABOUT AUTOBIOGRAPHY The English addition of ‘The Truth about me’ by A Revathi is actually an autobiography by an Indian Hijra, i.e., belonging to transgender community. It has many rich contents developed first time by an Indian transgender. The book is filled with traumatic and terror tales of Revathi born as a male (Doraisamy) in 1970. She belongs to an upper caste, i.e., Gounder family in a rural pocket near to Namakal town which comes under the Salem district of Tamil Nadu. In her grown-up days, she exhibited the feminine character even though he was born as male. So, she was playing with only girls and putting on sister’s dress. Even Revathi was avoiding going to boys’ toilet while in school. Everybody noticed all her activities thereby she was being scolded and beaten often even by schoolteacher including the own family members. Fellow classmates were also passing comments by uttering ‘number 9’ or ‘girl boy’. At the age of 15 years, she felt trapped in her society due to unusual things happened her because of male body. Therefore, she wanted to put behind the traumatic life. Hence left her native village and accompanied with fellow travellers shifted to another city and mingled with the Hijra community as a new chela or disciple to a gurubai or head. Revathi has also given detailed description of her relationship with the Hijra community and its hierarchies, rituals and nirvana performance i.e. (sex change operation). Since Hijra are treated as outsiders, it becomes pathetic for an Hijra to live a simple life in in India. Therefore, for their daily earnings, they go here and there and demand money from many shops, they are seen asking money in trains and at traffic signals. Otherwise, work as sex worker for money. In her initial days in Delhi, she was begging. Later her sexual inclination compelled her doing intercourse near many railway stations in Mumbai. Her book describes many anecdotes of daily travails being encountered by Hijras. They find themselves in the receiving end of police and goons as these people needs to be bribed. Otherwise, they make the lives of Hijras like hell. Even the hijras has to face the exploitation by the gurubais leading to fight among one another. These are the major issues faced by Hijras. However, they never face the situation like religious discrimination. 233 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
The book provides the valid information that how they are disowned in the society as well as in family and relatives. Nevertheless, they also love to live a normal life like others, i.e., have a family, going to work and earning money likewise. The book is written in very simple language and it covers the life of Revathi along with the marginalized section of the people in the community and how they have to bear the stigmatic life in the society. The book has also given critical reviews on stereotypic culture and the mental attitudes of the ruling elite. Like everybody, she has also her ups and downs in life. But her turning point happened after her shift to Bangalore where she happens to join a hamam (bath house). There also she has gone through all kinds of humiliations for some time. Afterwards, she gets a job in an NGO having name Sangama working for sexual minorities. Here she started working as office assistant and got better awareness on rights, what to do in case of basic rights denied and how to fight out the discrimination faced by sexual minorities and so on. The book gives the glimpse of Revathi’s life and how lucky she was to get an NGO job and she started her writing career. She might be the exception, but others from the Hijra community have to go through the same wretched upheavals in the society. It doesn’t mean that Revathi has erased everything what happened to her in past. Still, it is haunting, but the life has gone to a different level. As compared to the past, she is living a better and quality life, there is no iota of doubt. She even contemplated suicide at one point of time in her past. In spite of odds, she struggled and continues to do so and thought why not pen something about her life in an autobiography. HIV/ AIDS brought some respite for the sexual minorities thereby leading to change in attitude of the people for them. There was also change at policy level when an order was passed by the Delhi High court order to withdraw article 377. Similarly, Tamil Nadu government decided removal of a provision meant for third gender, i.e., for Hijras. Likewise, the Karnataka government came in support of transgenders and gave Other backward Classes (OBC) status. Despite all the laws and decrees into place, there is no change in the livelihood of the transgender community. Still, they have to go through oppressed life due to the presence of capitalism and landlordism in our society. It happens as the sexual minorities have to live in the capitalist society, which is actually against the norms and attitudes as established under capitalism. 10.6 YEAR OF PUBLICATION Revathi got her book published in Tamil language as Unarvum Uruvamum (Our Lives, Our Words), in 2004. It contains a lot of tales of many hijras and their oppressed lives in South India. Her book became a source of inspiration to other hijra writers thereby books like Priya Babu's Naan Sarvanan Alla got published in 2007. 234 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
10.7 MOTIVE/ PURPOSE OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY “Hijra” as a term is being used for transgendered person, i.e., a “physiological male adopting the identity of a feminine gender, dressing sense like women, and exhibits related feminine gender roles“. The term suits well to the societies in the Indian subcontinent. The status of hijra community in India is very much marginalised geographically, socio-politically and economically. Therefore, they find it hard to get jobs and they also don’t get due recognition even in the feminine gender. They are also deprived of their due security in the context of the law of the land and judiciary. Majority of the hijras live in a rigid hierarchical familial home. Mostly either they are self-employed in activities like sex work or begging or giving blessings in religious and spiritual ceremonies. There is a difference between a hijra and transgendered male-to-female person, even though it appears overlapping to some extent in certain areas. A. Revathi has got name and fame in Bangalore as a social activist. She has dedicated her devotion to Sangama, an NGO operating out of Bangalore, where it takes the case of sexual minorities who are oppressed. The first book by Revathi, Unarvum Uruvamum (translated as “Feelings and the Whole Body”) mentions her field studies conducted among the hijras in Tamil Nadu. She also has published a second book The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story, which is basically an her autobiography. Its origin is from a Tamil book penned by V. Geetha. The story has specific mention about a tiny village in Tamil Nadu. Doraisamy was the youngest sibling among five but counted as the fourth boy. His nature was a little bit of shy, effeminate from the viewpoint of culture, inclination to be dressed like a girl and remains indulged in conventional female activities in and around the house such as doing the domestic chores, playing games, singing and dancing like others. If a male child does the activity of a female, it looks very pretty. But no one ignore the odds as he grows up. So, the childhood of Doraisamy is not normal as there are issues like the appearance and body doesn’t match as per the expectation in a society. The same goes for the natural talents. In our traditional family, people are prone to punish for any misdeeds. This is what happened to Doraisamy as he had to bear the wreath of his brother when he came for beating with a cricket bat. Though Doraisamy has accepted violence on him but it is a matter of his security. 10.8 SPECIAL FEATURES ‘Hijra’ in general a term is referred to a transgendered person. It means the appearance is like the physiological attributes of a male but adopts the identity of a feminine gender. It can be witnessed in terms of putting on clothing like a woman and other activities including the gestures like a female. Additionally, the hijra community remains marginalised in our society. They don’t enjoy the economic status and they also remain deprived at both political and social level. Another issue is regarding their unemployment as employers don’t find this community fit for any job. They also don’t get any legal protection from the government because of 235 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
feminine identities. Hijras love to live together and as per the rigid hierarchical acquainted homes. Majority of them have their own source income like working as sex worker, begging at various places, giving blessing at religious/ spiritual ceremony as people believe in superstitious things. A hijra as of now is not considered as transgendered male converted to female person even if there is scope for improvement. The focus of the paper is to have an analysis on the gender colonization having presence in several layers. Moreover, the ‘hijra’ community in India goes through all these. This is what has been presented by A. Revathi in her autobiography The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story that contains travails of travelogues. This book is credited to be debutant publication in English by a hijra from the hijra community. Like any other book, this book has also a preface, in which A. Revathi has outrightly mentioned the sole intention for penning this book: Being a hijra she was pushed to the fringes in the society. Yet she had courage to share her innermost life to the public as a hijra and her indulgence in sex work. Her story is not for hurting anybody or accuse somebody. Her sole aim is to provide insights on the lives of hijras to the penchant readers. Moreover, the intention is to give information on their culture, dreams and desires. She expects her book will enable changes in the lives of hijras once it gets published. She is again expecting that her book will pass the information to the general public that hijras can do many things not just begging or working as doing sex worker. I don’t require sympathy nether from the society nor from the government. Her primary intention is that hijras should get equal rights to live like any other in the society. Revathi was the youngest sibling (male) in his family among three brothers and a sister. Initially, A. Revathi was known as Doraisamy. Therefore, it creates confusion whoever goes through the biography because the reference somewhere is as he and somewhere as she. Furthermore, there is no such pronoun to refer third gender or the transgender. Hence it could be inferred that the transgender has purely an epistemological existence not ontological existence. Since there is no ontological existence, it becomes the prime reason of hijras being otherwise have their presence in the heteronormative society. The book has been developed in the form of a story, where it mentions of a small settlement in Tamil Nadu. Doraisamy among the five siblings was very youngest, referred as the fourth boy. People observed him as shy guy, culturally womanishness and fancy for dressing as a girl. Additionally, do all the activities like any other female doing in traditional way such as housekeeping, murmuring, gyrating, etc. In addition to the above, she was putting her sister’s dress long skirt with a blouse. Then she used to twist a long towel on every side of the head and allowing it to trail down on the back as girls do the same for their braid. Subsequently, she was walking like a shy bride, with eyes glancing to the ground, to which everyone was laughing. At that time nobody was complaining as she was little. four years old. People might have enamoured with her act being a child. But he carried on the same activities even in higher age. Definitely, people can’t ignore these abnormal activities. As a result, Doraisamy had to go through unease as he grew up in his childhood days. Because there was a physiological issue and his other desires and some inherent talents. In our society, a family gives punishment if 236 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
anybody does some mistake. Sometimes, it takes the violent ways. The same happened to Doraisamy as his brother once attacked him with a cricket bat. This gives an indication that people looking like Doraisamy have no security for their lives. It happens because people have not accepted to transgendered persons. This led to some doubts and apprehensions in the mind of Doraisamy. Again, he was having the shy feeling whenever him coming across any young man. So, automatically he was bowing his head down. Gradually, he felt attraction towards young men. At the same time, he was wondering why he shouldn’t get attracted towards women because of the opposite gender. Days passed and he wondered when and if he would find answers, and if indeed he would find someone who understood what he felt –Why did I love men? Was I mad? Was I the only person felt this way? Or were there others like me, in other places of the world? Could I reach them if they were at that place really? Doraisamy’s Perception about Woman Since Doraisamy was born with a male “body”, people from the heteronormative society were expecting behaviour like a male. But Doraisamy’s “male body” nurtured the desires and passions of being a “female”. He always felt that a woman is trapped within a man’s body: A woman trapped in a man’s body was how I thought of myself. How could it be possible? Can the world accept him as he is? I wished to be accepted being a woman and embarrassed with this feeling. I pondered why God decided to inflict this kind of unusual humiliation on me, otherwise, He could refrain from creating me entirely male or fully female (Revathi, 15). In his mid-teen he met a group of like-spirited men and he was wondering whether these men were perhaps like him, i.e., female inside with appearance like a male outside. When Doraisamy met them, he got aware of the existence of the hijra community and regarding “Danda” (means sex). He wished to be a woman, marry a qualified man and then have sex with him. But he got baffled with his idea, when came to terms that it is no longer feasible to become a female. However, he was expecting to be a woman by visiting places like Mumbai and Delhi and went there to live with them for several years. Then he also started wearing saris and went for surgery to become woman. To fulfil the above requirements, he stole certain amount and jewellery (earrings) from her mother and left home to reach Delhi. There he selected a “guru” (“teacher”, like a mentor/ mother) and started living with him. There he followed many rituals of the hijra community to be a “chela”. Then his guru did a pronouncement that he or she (?) was her daughter thereby her new name from today onwards is Revathi. From that time, she got a recognition in the hijra community as a woman. That day was very special in her life and started working like a woman like others. But when her guru said to go back home, she began to cry. She had known her only a few days before, but she felt her like her biological mother. Her daily chores were to wash the clothes for the seniors, fetching water, and assisting in shopping and cooking. After a few days she started dancing at temple functions and festivals in and around the villages. Nevertheless, she was feeling dejected and wondering why people were behaving oddly. Because people from the audience were shouting whether she was man or woman or working as devadasis. Some 237 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
men were courageous to touch waists or shoulders. Some others pointed to our breasts and asked, ‘Original ’or ‘duplicate’? (.....) God has made us this way, I thought, we have nothing to do with this; our parents do not like us with distaste. Yet we too go hungry. Above all we wanted to live a normal human life with dignity. The transgender community in India is living a miserable life. Due to lack of income source, hijras are seen begging in various marketplace or near railway station or they are in groups to go for “doli-baddai”: Hijras playing the dholok instrument, singing and dancing, all these activities are known as doli-baddai. They perform these things at weddings or in case of a childbirth. People also donate as per their capacity like rice, dal, wheat, a sari. Hijras keep all such information like birth of a child. If they know, they inform the family to arrive at their place on a particular date for blessing the child. So, be ready to give baddai. (.....) Similarly, hijras make money by attending marriage halls and perform dance, sing songs and don’t forget to teach the newlywed couple. They also find pleased with the activities of Hijra and give money. By seeing these kinds of deeds, people start blaming the hijra community for their begging. However, nobody acknowledges their truth as they are not considered to the mainstream economy. It is a kind of social stigma as nobody is bothered about giving employment to them. It doesn’t mean they are incapable of doing jobs. Rather they belong to third gender as per the perception of people and out of no options, they beg and involve in sex work. Heteronormative society too equally is responsible for propagating hegemonic gender discourse. This is the reason we never get to see a hijra as shop owner or working as an attendant at the minimum. The same aspect even goes to our transportation system. We never come across a hijra driving a taxi or auto or public transport driver. Sadly, we don’t see anything positive about the hijras in all these. This is the scenario in private sector. Forget about the government or in any academic education. Hence the time has come to introspect regarding the livelihood of hijras. In getting employment many candidates apply through filling a form where it is categorically mentioned to choose between a “male” or a “female”. So, this gives a clear assumption that a person other than male or female is not eligible to apply for the job. This system of applying for job really goes against the sentiments of hijra community. The story also depicts the tragic part that our society prevents them from entering the source of productive economy. Again, the society curses them to live a parasitic life! Since these are the hurdles, Revathi in her twenty decided to consider sex work not only as a source of income but to meet inevitable sexual desires. By doing so, she got wrong attention. Revathi has shared her beautiful moments and happiness in her life. Simultaneously, she has mentioned the brutal facts of life as a hijra involving impending dangers to life, many assaults, and the instances of rapes. Something noteworthy mentioned in the book is that how she had gone through the violence inflicted on her body by many including the rowdies and policemen. Revathi in her book has made attempt to feel what kind of pains and sorrows she has gone through, but she has exaggerated all these. The book also provides many glimpses of spiritual and emotional traumas. Besides, she has gone through problematic relationship 238 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
even in the hijra community and many households including the oppressive gurus. She has also not a good relationship with her family after she left the home state. Gender identity is no doubt the biggest concern for her while there is a dispute in her family for the parental property. Just imagine what kind of trauma she has gone through all her life. It’s not so easy to divide the property among three sons and a “daughter” as the daughter has multiple sources of income and has the possibility of getting rejected. It is better not to discuss about the brother who is something like terrible character. When Revathi shifted to Bangalore, she came in contact with “daughters” like her own. They are young and belong to well-educated families. These three hijras who are the acquaintance of Revathi are having different mind setup. They were not feeling comfortable to stay even in the hijra Houses. They wanted more liberty and space, and they were not in favour of dressing conservatively other than sex work. Revathi had great sympathy and respect for their desires. She named one of those as Famila which is a familiar name. Familia by nature was a dynamic and known for giving hijra-feminist- quotatives. She breather her last in 2004. Famila was under the care of Revathi but she made Revathi to join Sangama an NGO and emerged as social activist. Nobody takes job in the hijra community but Revathi was exception and went against hijra custom to join Sangama for a paid job. By working at the NGO, she knew what their rights and what measures are to be taken to educate other people from the hijra community. At Sangama, Revathi learnt the way to express regarding dissatisfaction and desires. Further, she came to know what her hijra sisters actually are looking for and why they feel discomfort to remain confined in the home. Revathi’s narrative revolves around both simple and sophisticated tales. The prose in the book has not been presented in artistic style. However, for the reads the book provides heartfelt messages and honest opinions. However, within space of “plain prose” one would find how Revathi has evolved herself over the years. Further it depicts her intense feelings, thoughts and pains. Ultimately the book wants to convey the message about the hijra community in India in terms of wretched lives, peculiar style of expressing the language, odd dressing sense and mostly deprive of economic liberty. Revathi in her autobiography has made courageous attempts to challenge and break this cyclic process of gender colonization and heteronormative discourse. Narrating the daily lives of Hijra was not so simple. Because she had gone through all the hells like torture, brutal and agony in many stages of her life right from her childhood. Still, she narrated the story in the book with the hope that the lives of Hijras will change one day. Because people laugh at hijras and don’t consider them as human beings. So, to enumerate the pain and burden along with hardships Hijras go through, have been aptly presented in the autobiography. However, the same kind of unusual treatment is not faced by the others. These are a few pain-points she aims at expressing in the book. In case of physical injury of a person, people rush to provide care. The same thing doesn’t happen with Hijras and nobody cares about them. The book is not meant for an easy red rather it has intense expression of sorrows and sad movements and deprivation from the society in every field. A. Revathi has well documented all the events and happenings she has gone 239 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
through. Mostly, the book is about herself not about others in detail. This is the reason readers feel uncomfortable and distressing while going through the book. All in all, the book is straightforward in elaborating the lives of hijras and people’s indifference to them in every area. It also specifies how they are ignored by the mainstream and nobody is pondering about integrating them to our society. Finally, the story is engaging and reads find it hooked while reading. Because it mentions the life of Revathi and her issues in terms of discrimination even though she has no fault at all. 10.9 CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY • About title This is a novel cum autobiography. The title of the book is very appalling because this kind of situation doesn’t happen in India, generally. Male is behaving like a girl, but writer says that she has never behaved like a male, but she is fond of behaving like girls. • Plot/ Theme The Truth about Me book is resolutely fearless and a moving autobiography containing the life of a hijra who challenged taunts, ridicule, victimization, and brutality both in family life and outside only for getting dignity. ... These moments gave her anguish and pondered if there could be some ways to live a dignified life. • Characters This chapter provides vivid characters. However, the major ones could be categorized as: Father, Mother, Friend and Teacher. • Setting The Marathi book by Laxmi Narayan Tripathi Me Hijra, Me Laxmi, the English translation is one of the bestselling autobiographies. It has an axiom: “When you read this, you’ll still remain you. Laxmi’s not just in this book; she’s much more than what’s there between two covers…” Tripathi being a famous transgender rights activist and actor-dancer as well as television celebrity want to provide every little information about her right from the first page of the book. His aim is to portray the personality of her in terms of tantalising, vivacious and direct. She did something worth to draw the attention of onlookers at World Book Fair in New Delhi. She put up a silk saree, lips filled in deep red shade likewise presented herself to which many watched curiously at the Oxford University Press stall. “How come you aware of my autobiography?” Tripathi asks abruptly. “The vocabulary in first few chapters makes it difficult to understand and read,” to which she nods. “Well, that 240 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
is how the life is, isn’t it? Looking back at our childhood, we always want to remember the good things only. But I can’t be that. I had encountered sexual abuse at the tiny age of seven, due to feminine,” she says. “However, my life is not filled with tragic incidences. I got born in an upper-caste Brahmin family. All treated me as a son, I studied in college, I got employed in many organizations. But I’m averse to crying for the past incidents like Meena Kumari in Bollywood. I am like Cleopatra and crown yourself honey, never wait for others doing it for you,” Tripathi says, in spirited laughing. Me Hijra, Me Laxmi contains a riotous account of life lived by Tripathi. It starts with a journey where a young boy remains confused about his gender and his decision to transfer into a hijra, and the activism aspect forms the foundation of her work and gives socio- political identity. The childhood life was full of abusive, so in the adolescent period. Thus, Tripathi was determined to fight injustice like harassment by the police, lecherous men/ older hijras preaching against safe sex. She is honest in providing all the chronicles like the days spent chasing name, fame and money, and of course the price she paid. She becomes an activist or advocate for hijras abroad. Her speaking in one conference receives thunders applause from the audience. She is working relentlessly while bypassing all kinds of temptations. In the book, Tripathi has mentioned all the memoir as remain unperturbed by fate and unapologetic about choices, and simply fabulous in character. 10.10 CRITICS REVIEWS Indeed, this book was very special to read which I completed in a few ways. My friend recommended me for this autobiography. Then I developed a liking for this book. Earlier, I was hesitant to read them as my presumption was something else, but the book proved me wrong. Truth about me is basically a book in Tamil that got translated by V. Geetha. A. Revathi has made a commendable job by mentioning her own story and about the hijra community. This book is very simple to read. But it contains some incidences that give goosebumps to readers. Revathi originally born as male with feminine inclination leads him to transform into a woman and later got recognition with the name Revathi. The book highlights the struggles faced by her in the society and heart-breaking pains. The book further acknowledges readers about the hijra community, their rituals, livelihood, suffering, ill treatment in the society and their civil rights Every narrative find place in the book is easy to understand. At some pages, readers may find themselves at odd due to heart-breaking narratives. Nevertheless, this is how a book should be and everyone should go through once Revathi narrates her life by her own words right from the childhood to violence faced all through her life. Then she explains why she left home to be among the hijras who transsexual women like her are and finds peace with them to live. The narrator has emphasized both strengths and flaws, movement from one location to other, attempt to sustain and survive, getting safety in a society and so on. Eventually, she had seen struggle while living a life of 241 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
activism, there she experiences both love and heartbreak. I’m glad that I have gone through A Life of Trans Activism first, as I know Revathi has something to cheer in her future but there is nothing mentioned in this autobiography. This account was only struggle and the means to survive, daring to dream, learning ways to dare, deprived of happiness in life. The book was really an eye opener to us. Everywhere there is corruption. Bribery perhaps is the basis to live life. This account alleges that those who make shout and accuse others, indulge in violence are found guilty. Still, we can expect hope even though the struggle one can’t avoid. People still don’t acknowledge a trans woman sticking to her way of life, even she goes through all the hellish misery. This book was not so simple to flip through all the pages. It made me angry several times or I cried out of frustration in the life that is filled with only obstacles that put themselves in between A.Revathi and her dreams. Nonetheless, the book is worth reading and provides many learning lessons the hijras in India and how the change is taking place in the eyes of a hijra. Actually, it hints about the slice of life that is very pathetic and the world must be aware of it. Therefore, this book fetched five stars in critical review. 10.11 SUMMARY • ‘The Truth about me’ is an autobiography by A Revathi, written in English. Its importance is that it is the first book written by an Indian Hijra belonging to transgender community. Really, this book is a rich addition to our literature. • The book provides Revathi’s traumatic and cruelty life. She was born as male (Doraisamy) in 1970 but in a higher caste Gounder family. The birthplace is like a small hamlet near to Namakal town (Salem dist. Tamil Nadu). • As Revathi grows up, he starts developing feminine gestures and was playing with girls only. Also, she was fond of putting sister’s dress. One more interesting thing about her was that Revathi was not comfortable to go to toilets meant for boys during schooling days. • Revathi had gone through a lot of pain in childhood. He was subjected to scolding and beating by schoolteacher including family members even if there was no fault from his side. Fellow mates were calling her ‘number 9’ or ‘girl boy’. Some fellow mates even stripped his pants by force to check the gender. • She was very upset with her physiological appearances thereby left when she was 15 years. Revathi accompanied those who were also identical to her attributes, appearance like male bodies. Then she got a place in the Hijra community and remained as a chela (disciple) to a gurubai (head). • Revathi has described the complicated relationship even in the Hijra community, at various houses of Hijras in hierarchy, their rituals and the act of nirvana (gender change operation). 242 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
• Since hijras are treated like outsiders, their lives in India are not so simple. For their livelihood, they ask for money in various shops, trains, at traffic signals or else do sex work. Initially, Revathi was begging in many streets of Delhi. Later she shifted to Mumbai and gradually felt the desire for sex thereby started sexual relationship with a man and this kind of activity she was doing near train stations. • The book provides the many travails of the Hijras they face on a daily basis. Wherever they go they are not free from trouble. Right from the police to local goons all torture the hijras in one way other. Even they can’t live securely. • There is severe competition among the Hijras regarding the clients. Besides, they go through the exploitation by gurubais leading to fight and dispute among one another. • There are several conflicts among the Hijras, but they never discuss or fight for caste differences or religious discrimination. On these backgrounds, they are at the same level. • The book also informs that the desires of hijras are same that of others. They also long for living simple lives, want family, run household, going to workplace and so on. • The content of the autobiography is very simple and there is no technical jargon. Still the book has given due insights on her private life. • The book contains not only Revathi’s life but about others living as marginalized and stigmatized in our society. She has not given only narratives but very critical of the stereotypic culture and attitudes of elite people especially who are ruling. • The change in fate happens to Revathi when she goes to Bangalore and join a hamam (bath house). There also she faces the same kind of problems but when she gets employed at NGO, Sangama working for the rights of the sexual minorities, her life starts becoming better gradually. • Revathi gets aware of the rights for Hijras legally and if anybody is discriminated then how to fight for the rights. And she comes to know how they are deprived of their basic rights. What steps to initiate in case of discrimination? All these she learnt while working at the NGO in Bangalore. • It appears that Revathi is the luckiest among the Hijras as she got job and subsequently started the career in both acting and writing. It is just an exception but the lives of other hijras are the same and no change is seen in our society. Though she was employed in the NGO, still she encountered many troubles. At one point of time, she was contemplating suicide. But she wants to tell all the odds faced by her through an autobiography that’s why the book we are discussing. • Sexual minorities are always at the receive end thereby go through prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination by the people in the society. Even they face the same issue in countries where they have got legal recognition. People in our society always show a hostile attitude towards the hijras and they don’t consider their plights and extremity. 243 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
• Sexual minority communities in India like gays, bisexuals, lesbians, and hijras or the ‘third gender’ don’t dare to discrimination meted out to them. Their fear is for being scorned or identified by the public about their identity. This is the reason they continue to struggle to get their due rights and go through the injustice in every area and prejudices throughout the entire lives. • However, in recent times the hijras have got the attention by certain gender-rights activists and some human rights organizations. Still, the result is no so inspiring. • This book has got the rarest distinction because it is developed by an Indian hijra and that too for the first time. The autobiography by Revathi mostly covers her horror filled tumults life even though she is working in the capacity of an activist for the sexual minorities. The author was born as a male in a good family where the birthplace is the rural part of the Tamil Nadu. She was initially known as Doraisamy. Many observed him that he was different from others during the childhood as the activities are totally feminine. Right from putting dress to doing household work to singing all in one way other provides the nuances of female character. At school also the activities were like a girl child. Later the parents realized that Doraisamy is a female but appears like a male. Obviously, she was getting humiliation because of comments and taunts by others for being feminine in all the deeds. There is nobody to share his plights. Finally, he came across some gay men near to his native. To his surprise, he identified that he was not the only person having the feminine character rather they are so many. Out of those, he got aware of the fact that boy could be converted to a girl to be called as a hijra, i.e., a eunuch. • Due to constant agony suffered by near and dear ones, Doraisamy left home to reach Delhi by train. He found this city is totally different from his native place. Anyhow, he came across a group of hijras and they in turn gave him shelter and become a member of the hijra household. There he followed all the rituals and customs adhered in the hijra community. In due course of time, he became a disciple to one head from the community. Then he got chance to change the gender. It is done ither through surgery by a doctor or in the traditional way which is very painful indeed. But hijras give more respect if the gender change takes place by resorting to conventional tactics. However, Doraisamy opted for surgery which was swift but painful to some extent. It took two hours to perform the surgery and he got himself transitioned to woman at last. After the gender change, she was christened as Revathi by the guru thereby she got warm welcome in the hijra community. • Revathi did all this and opted for surgery with the intention that she would live a peaceful life after the gender conversion. But she was wrong, and life became even crueller. She has described every bit of pain she has gone through in the book where she mentions about her sordid life at guru’s home, the quarrels with her gurubais most of the times. Even she has faced many quarrel-like situations with fellow hijra disciples of the same guru. They were exploiting her sexually and economically. Further, she has 244 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
faced violence and get threated many times. Besides hijras go through poverty as there is no employer in favour of giving jobs. • She started doing badai-work, dancing and singing at homes of the people for occasions like birth of a child and marriage. Now this kind of custom is gradually fading. Otherwise, there get high respect in these occasional celebrations. But the earning from these is very paltry and very difficult to meet the daily needs. Hence, she started begging at every shop and asked for money and food. While doing so, she was getting harassment and insults by many. • Life of a hijra sex-worker is really painful as has been described by Revathi in the book. She further has mentioned about the horrific degradation by the fellow hijras including gurus, drunken men and the police. She faced brutal sexual assault even in police station when she went there for complaining. A rowdy resort to raping her and robbing the possessions. Even she got threated by a group of thugs. To save life, confined herself in a bar and became a drinker. • Life of a hijra has a sequence of torments. And her dream of living with a spouse remains as a dream only. After going through all these, she makes a return to native village to get solace in her family. • A hijra after all a human being. She deserves respect, she replies and tells her tormentors to lay off. • A major change occurs in the life of Revathi after her shift to Bangalore. There also she remains engaged like a sex worker. Then, she comes in contact with activists of an NGO that is working for defending the rights of sexual minorities. The NGO offers a job, with a modest payment to which she happily accepts to escape herself from the brutal life being a sex-worker. • Revathi’s life changes a lot after her employment, and she has got a new lease of life. But that is for a short period as she finds her guru and chela are one day found murdered in two separate incidents. Both were tragic victims to brutal thugs. • There is no limits to her misery because her dream man claiming to be a bisexual though marries her but abandons after some months despite his love for her and though her profound dedication to him. To her horror, she finds herself alone in the world. Still, she makes her mind to defy the odds in her life. • The intention for writing the autobiography is to send a message to the world that hijras live an inhuman life. They deserve a lot of attention and respect not only in our society but at the level of government. • V. Geetha, a famous Chennai-based feminist has done the translating work into English from the original version in Tamil. The book is very gripping, thought provoking and awe-inspiring. • Revathi describes her terror-filled life, she does not plead for pity, though. 245 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
• The author has made appeal to the public to recognize hijras and give them due space in the society as fellow humans. By the same time, the author hasn’t shied away from discussing private lives of hijras. • There is also a highlight about sex-change operation, sexual encounters with many customers, the vicious sexual assault by the police, etc. All the stories strike a chord with readers and admirable. • The book provides minute observations of our society especially from the viewpoint of gender. And why there is dominance by the masculine gender. All the insights are very compelling and has been presented in lucid manner. • The book sends a powerful message that we have to evaluate our lives in the society that what does a male convey or a female logically. We shouldn’t confine to divide the society on the basis of gender. Rather we have to think beyond gender and should exhibit our true faith to humanity than anything else. 10.12 KEYWORDS • Hijara: Typically, this word is used in South Asia, where a person’s birth sex is male but appears as female or as neither male nor female. • Grounder: When people indicate someone being a grounded person, they refer to someone’s physical and mental state of being confident and sure of oneself. Being grounded gives the indication of a strong connection with who you are, that brings in both physical and emotional balance. • Colonize: It is the act of one country settling another place to be the new rulers of the new country, and to live there. E.g., Settlers who went from the ancient cities of Greece to start new cities. • Heteronormative: It is the belief that heterosexuality is the default, preferred, or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex. • Enmeshed: To catch or involve someone in something unpleasant or dangerous from which it is difficult to escape: The whales are caught by being enmeshed in nets. She has become enmeshed in a tangle of drugs and petty crime. 10.13 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Complete the following chart of published Revathi’s books Sr. Name of Book Year of Published No 1 246 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
2 3 4 5 2 Write in short about the following. 1) Historical Background of Hijara in Indian Culture _________________________________________ 2) Hijara as a Transgender Community _________________________________________ 3) The First Book of A. Revathy _____________________________________________ 10.14 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What types of the writer’s village? 2. Why is the writer behaving as like girls? 3. What do friends say to author? 4. How she behaved in the village? 5. Why did she put the coconut shell on her chest? 6. Why did not like her behaver to her bother? Long Questions 1. Illustrate the contemporary caste system noticed in autobiography in South India? 2. Why did protagonist behave as like a girl in the school? 3. Describe the typical male dominance in Indian society in the text with examples. 4. Explain the perceptions of people towards trans-genders in society. 5. “The pains of trans-genders are beyond imagination.” Justify. 247 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
B. Multiple Choice Questions 248 1. Hijara community described in the text represents the state of ___________. a) Tamil Nadu b) Sanchi c) Maharashtra d) Gujarat 2. In which state the author was born? a) Tamil Nadu b) Bengaluru c) Hayatabad d) Vijapur 3. The author published her first book in _____________. a) 2003 b) 2005 c) 2007 d) 2004 4. What is the name of her second book? a) The Truth about Me: A Hijra life Story b) History of Tamil Nadu c) Wings of fire d) My Dear 5. She worked with people who were _____________. a) Social worker b) Trance gender c) Physically disable d) Mental people Answers: 1-a; 2-a; 3-d; 4-a; 5-b. 10.15 REFERENCES Textbook • Pāmā. (2014). Karukku. Oxford India Paperbacks/Oxford University Press: London. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
• Sodhi, Meena. (1999). Indian English Writing, The Autobiographical Mode. Creative Books, New Delhi. • Revathi, A. (2010). The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. • Revathi. As told to Nandini Murali. (2016). Life in Trans-activism, Zubaan. • Stryker, Susan, and Stephen Whittle (2006). The Transgender Studies Reader. Routledge: New York: • Vidya, L. S. (2014). I am Vidya: A Transgender's Journey. Rupa Publications: Delhi. Reference Books • Bandopadhyay, M., & Pandey, J. M. (2017). A Gift of Goddess Lakshmi. Random House India: Delhi. • Das, Kamala. (2009). My Story. Harper Collins Publishers, India. • De’Souza, Eunice. (2002). Women’s Voices: Selections from Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Indian Writing in English. Oxford University Press, India. • Laxmi, & Pande, P. (2016). Red Lipstick: The Men in My Life. Penguin: UK. • Laxmi, Rao, R. R., & Joshi, P. G. (2015). Me Hijra, Me Laxmi. Oxford University Press: USA. • Mondal, M. (2014). Gender Geometry: A Study of A. Revathi’s Autobiography The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story, Lapis Lazuli-An International Literary Journal (LLILJ), Vol. 4(1), Pp. 125-132. Websites • www.socialism.in • www.ijelr.in • http://pintersociety.com • https://www.thehindu.com/books/ 249 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
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