A peacock sheds its feather and more...

 

 

 

A year ago was when I last met him, and he surprised me by showing up in a saree that carried beautiful peacock prints along the body. Not sure if it was the saree or his attitude that came with flamboyance, but it earned him the title “Peacock” aka “Mayil. And earlier in the day when I called Mayil to confirm our meeting, the same voice answered the call, and asked me to be ready to see a new avtar that night. From peacock to what next? I had not idea.

Mayil was dressed in a salwar with floral prints, the tight kameez accentuated his slim legs and the dupatta vertically wrapped around her face gave a mysterious look. On his left hand he held a handbag like a model; on the right he held his mobile phone like next door girl, and his nails contrasted the color of her salwar. A big smile blossomed on her lips colored in deep pink. Was it Cinderella or a male version of her?

That evening what embarrassed me the most was not the look Mayilu received from public, but rather my English. While Peacock had successfully transitioned from being a woman caught in a man’s body to a peahen (female) four months ago after going through sexual reassignment surgery, I had not yet made the transition mentally. I continued to look for the he in her and as a result addressing “her” as “him” all through our conversation. I apologized and asked her for blanket forgiveness, and it looked like I needed a class in English. And a month later, I am still struggling to write this piece with a “he” embedded in my mind.

The first call
She was late by 90 mins that evening for our meeting, and my anger vanished when I realized the ordeal she had to go through to make it to our meeting. During the dinner she received two calls and it conveyed a lot she wasn’t prepared to reveal.

When the first call came through she picked it up with confidence and informed the caller that she had come out to meet her ex-colleague for a job. Seeing her reaction, I decided to prod her further to understand how and why the peacock decided to shed it feather. And her revelations that night were both shocking and tearful.

In the next twenty minutes…
When she was still a he, he had a job, a steady income, a loving family, and loving bunch of friends whom he met every weekend. After transforming into a woman, she was disowned by her family and had to seek refuge in a slum amongst other transgenders and as a part of the deal she couldn’t have her friends from before visit her. Yes, the peacock lost her wings of freedom that gave her happiness and color.

When I asked her if she had thoroughly researched the risks of the procedure, went through counseling sessions, discussed her decision with the family, and prepared her lifelines before she made the decision.

As an answer to my question she shared the suffering she had to endure while trapped in a man’s body.  At every private opportunity, be it home alone or in shower she said she behaved like woman. She let me in on a secret, now a broken promise, she and a few other friends who felt the same way made years ago.  They all swore not go through the genital mutilation and gender reassignment, but live this life trapped in a man’s body. But then why did he break the promise?

Not sure if the curse of the broken promise came back to haunt her. Mayil had undergone the surgery in a private clinic. Not sure if the surgeon failed to use sterilized instruments or the physician failed to give her the right medication post surgery, but she contracted septicemia. And a fellow transgender who promised to care completely neglected her. Finally, it was Mayil’s mother and her friends who retrieved her from the jaws of death nursed her back to life.

When Mayil’s father and siblings learnt about the surgery they immediately cut their ties with her and asked her never to return home. Mayil had no option but to find a place for her and live amongst other transgenders. Despite having a good standing at work she had to resign her job and HR is reluctant to take her back since other employees may react differently to her reassigned gender.

Is gender reassignment a crime and shame? Do humans have no right to choose the gender that makes them complete and happy? Why should family, friends and society need to have the final word or approve and accept a reassigned gender?

The second call and third course
Mayilu had finished the main course and just as I offered her the menu to choose a desert she received the second call. And this time the speaker on the other end was loud and I heard the all about the new life she had to play as a peahen.

The head of the brothel house was on the line and she summoned her to return home immediately since a happy customer from the previous night had returned. Infact, her third course was waiting back home. And when I asked her if she enjoyed being a prostitute, she replied candidly and let me in on her other secrets.

Come back next week for more revelations about the curse of a new peahen and her physiology...