LGBTQ members regain 120-year-old respect in Vadodara

VADODARA: Over a century ago, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad gave a new lease of life to the eunuch community by not just giving them right to education but also helping set up businesses to earn a respectable livelihood. History, it seems, is repeating itself 120 years later.
The royal Gaekwads are all set to mainstream the LGBTQA community in the city by setting up a first-of-its-kind cafe. "The cafe will be completely managed by the LGBTQA community that is being trained in hospitality management," said Radhika Raje Gaekwad, trustee and vice-president of Maharani Chimnabai Stree Udyogalaya (MCSU).
The cafe will serve Vadodara's traditional delicacies like kachori, bhel kachori, pattice, khaman and other items which locals have been savouring for years.
The trust has initiated the project, in which 25 members of the community, many of whom are transgenders, are being trained by a private institution. "The idea is to bring this community to the mainstream. Once they start working among us and people interact with them daily, the attitude towards this community will certainly change," Radhika Raje told TOI.
She added that managing a cafe and communicating with the mainstream will also do a world of good to their confidence. Radhika Raje first learnt about the hardships and marginalisation of this community, especially the transgenders, when she had distributed ration to transgenders and eunuchs during the first wave of Covid in 2020. It was then that she decided to integrate them into society and give them a livelihood too.
Cafe to come up in heritage building
The cafe will be named 'Gazra', which was the given name of Maharani Chimnabai Gaekwad. It will come up in the lawns of a heritage building right next to the scenic Sursagar Lake. "Apart from the usual food, this cafe will offer people some of the best and famous delicacies of the walled city. We hope our cafe that will come up by the year-end sets a trend and inspires others to take a similar initiative for LGBTQA," she said.
Art historian Chandrashekhar Patil said, "Maharaja Khanderao Gaekwad first helped the transgenders by giving them a big piece of land for negligible rent to settle in the old city in the 1860s. Then Maharaja Sayajirao III gave eunuchs the right to education by letting them attend school with the mainstream community."
Patil added that Sayajirao also gave a push to entrepreneurial eunuchs by letting them set up businesses.