In Kalyan too there is a pandal organised by transgenders where they are neither discriminated against nor harassed and are part of the rituals like everyone else. (Representational image)In Kopari village, Navi Mumbai, 30-year-old transgender Pinki Jadhaw and her Guruma organise the only sarvajanik Ganesh pandal managed by transgenders in the area, which is open to all.
“When we have the right to practice the religion of our choice, why are certain religious practices banned for us?” asks Jadhaw.
In Kalyan too there is a pandal organised by transgenders where they are neither discriminated against nor harassed and are part of the rituals like everyone else.
“I have always loved Ganeshotsav, even as a child. After leaving my family home when I was 17, I came to Navi Mumbai where I now have a family, a community. However, we would not be allowed inside pandals as people have a negative perception of transgenders. Even when I would tell them that I had come for the pooja and nothing else, I was mocked and abused,” Jadhaw recounts.
She and her group decided to start organising their own pooja in 2010, but it took them two years to get enough money and ensure that all things were in place.
“I wanted the pooja to be like everywhere else, just open for us,” she recounts. Now, in its fifth year, she says her pooja is among the well-known in the village. “Even now I receive no help from others and organise the pandal with our earnings. It gets difficult,” she says.
At Vitthalwadi in Kalyan, Neeta Guru organises a small Ganpati pooja too. “This is the second year that I’ve organised this pooja. I had promised myself to organise a Ganpati pooja every year if and when I got a house,” she says.
“All of my neighbours and friends are helpful and cooperative about the pooja and this year even helped in setting everything up,” she adds.
However, Neeta did not have a pleasant experience last year. “People had a problem when we took out a procession for the visarjan. They apparently had an issue because we were dancing. It is nothing but biased behaviour,” she says.
Finally, under police protection, Neeta managed to immerse the Ganpati idol. Transgender devotees said they have faced harassment, abuse and discrimination over years at several sarvajanik Ganesh pandals.
“Sometimes, pandal organisers think that they aren’t devotees but have come to ask for money and are not even allowed inside. While this is not a good practice, it is ingrained in the psyche that is hard to change,” says activist Shiny Malegaonkar from Kalyan.
“People are narrow-minded and no law can change that. They discriminate against us even though all of us want to do the same thing, worship our deity and celebrate a festival. But if they can’t include us, we have no option but to start our own pooja. We don’t discriminate, so everyone is welcome,” says Gauri Guru, a transgender working with Pinki Jadhaw.
