The Truth About Me (A Hijra Life Story)

About the Book

Revathi was born a boy, but felt and behaved like a girl. In telling her life story. Revathi evokes marvelously the deep unease of being in the wrong body that plagued her from childhood, To be true to herself, to escape the constant violence visited upon her by her family and community the village-born Revathi ran away to Delhi to join a house of hijras. Her life became an incredible series of dangerous physical and emotional journey to become a woman and to find love.

About the Author

A. Revathi is a writer, actor and activist based in Bangalore. She works with Sangama, a sexuality minorities human rights organization for individuals oppressed due to their sexual preference. She is the author of Unarvum Uruvamum; and her autobiography, The Truth about Me, is the first of its kind in English from a member of the hijra community.

Preface

In our society we speak the language of rights loud and often. But do the marginalized really have access to these rights? Individuals are denied their rights in the name of sex, sexuality; caste and religion. They have to either arrive at a compromise or engage in a struggle. I am one such individual who has been marginalized because I was born a male and wanted to live my life as a woman. The Truth about Me is about my everyday experience of discrimination, ridicule and pain; it is also about my endurance and my joys.

As a hijra I get pushed to the fringes of society. Yet I have dared to share my innermost life with you-about being a hijra and also about doing sex work. My story is not meant to offend, accuse or hurt anyone's sentiments. My aim is to introduce to the readers the lives of hijras, their distict culture, and their dreams and desires.

I am proud of the results wrought in the state of Tamil Nadu by my book Unarvum Uruvamum. I hope now that by publishing my life story, larger changes can be achieved. I hope this book of mine will make people see that hijras are capable of more than just begging and sex work. I do not seek sympathy from society or the government. I seek to show that we hijras do have the right to live in this society.

I thank Ravi Singh at Penguin for publishing my story.

I thank V. Geetha for translating my story and R. Sivapriya for editing it. I also thank Sudeshna Shame Ghosh for her support and help.