Bengaluru Half way through meeting people, blandishing them to cast their votes, (28yr) old transwoman, Riyana Raju, general secretary of Karnataka Youth Congress, paused. grim midday heat forced her to take shelter in the near bus stop at Bengaluru's Austin Town. Before long though she began conversing with a original woman waiting for a bus. Ashwini (30yrs) old a housewife and a mama of two, is everything that Raju could no way be. They both stand on the contrary ends of the diapason called womanishness while one takes it for granted, the other finds it imperative to wear it as a cloak around her, indeed if the sweat soaked saree clings uncomfortably in the heat.
So, when Ashwini theatrically renounced her voting rights, stating that all politicians are loose anyway, Raju eventually let her annoyance slip through. "That's so easy for you to say, You did not have to fight the way we do for indeed our introductory rights to know that our vote is the only chip we've to change for the barest minimum from the government. Do not throw that down so fluently, "she reprimanded Ashwini.
At the other end of the town, in Malleswaram, one of Bengaluru’s oldest neighbourhood, social and political activist, (40yr) old transwoman Mallu Kumbar too is of the same opinion that every vote counts. "Our community presumably has the loftiest voting percentage, nearly 99 percent. We take our responsibility veritably seriously. You do not get to see that because utmost of our votes are counted as manly.
But trust me, were each apprehensive that voting is aim a important opportunity for us, "said Kumbar, pulling out the name identity card that establishes her as manly. Not far from Kumbar, just off the Sri Venkataranga Ayangar Road, the arterial road that cuts through Malleswaram West, live Janavi Rai and her 'family' of six in a bitsy house. 38yrs old Krithika, the oldest of them, narrates how she ran around just to fix her voter ID. "After all that trouble, there's no way that I'll not cast my vote,” she added.
Getting any kind of identity card be it Aadhaar or voter ID is a problem for us, said 24year old Kundavi, who joined the family about 7years ago, Because we change our names once we exfoliate our mainly identity. I have not known a single ambisexual person who didn't have problems when getting their identity cards made," added Kundavi, who eventually got her voter ID and will be voting for the first time on April 26. May be the most heartrending story was Rai's. Not only did she complete her M.com she also cleared the state-level sub-inspector selection examinations, she said.'
After all that, and after the pledge of 1 percent reservation for ambisexual people, guess what I ended up doing? What ambisexual people generally do–begging and harlotry. I was so agonized that I tried to commit suicide indeed. Thankfully for me, an NGO eventually gave me a job,' said (29yr) old Rai. "Ambisexual people are apprehensive how important 2024 Lok Sabha election is, we keep each other informed. We indeed go door to door to ensure everyone is on this. The contest isn't between political parties, it's for the survival of our Constitution,".
