A. Revathi

This book, by A. Revathi, is challenging to review because it forces us to look at ourselves in the mirror and question our values. Most of us talk about human values, respecting each other’s differences, and spout much holy wisdom but fail to apply the philosophy to ourselves.
‘Hijras,’ or eunuchs, have been part of Indian society for centuries, and in ancient and medieval times, families often sent one boy to serve as a eunuch in royal households. Since then, our society has show more condemned hijras to live on the fringes of society. We regard them as strange, fear their curse, and condemn them to begging and prostitution, yet do not pause to think of how they live, whether we can integrate them into society, or what happens when they age.
I always believed that hoodlums kidnapped effeminate young boys, castrated them, and put them on the street to beg.
Then, I bought A. Revathi’s book on a whim and learned about her life and struggles. Her first struggle was to be accepted by her family and society as a man who wished to become a woman. She then took us on her journey, struggles, falls, and eventual redemption, if you may call it that when she joined an NGO.
Her writing is terse bald, and you will not find the delicate flourishes you expect from a professional author. She does not whine and cry for your sympathy but tells her story in a straightforward manner. The direct, terse delivery focuses your attention on the tale, her desire, frustrations, moments of joy, and destination as an NGO worker. Grand flourishes and delicate phrases would distract you from the story.
Her story should push you to question your attitudes towards those we ‘other,’ and those who live on society’s margins. show less

An extraordinarily riveting memoir of liberating a claustrophobic soul besieged by stereotypic hindrance and contemptuous societal intolerance. Revathi born as Doraisamy was the youngest son, perpetually signifying that he was a woman blossoming in a man’s physicality. Revathi’s metamorphism and cathartic revelation into her true calling of trangenderism is a touching and spirited journey of an individual whose sect (‘hijras'/eunuch) is marginalized to the duplicitous fringes of the show more Indian society. A must read for every voice who bellow for individual rights yet adhering to chauvinism denying civil liberties in the name of sexuality, caste and creed. show less

Included in a blog post and resource list at https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2019/06/10/non-fiction-about-gender-and-trans-e...