Suicide rates in the transgender community see alarming spike

It’s hard to miss her wide smile, deep dark kohl-rimmed eyes, and her swift moves, negotiating the heavy traffic, as she goes about begging in her broken English on Commercial Street on a Friday afternoon.

Meet Sundari, a 30-year-old transgender, who almost religiously comes to Commercial Street to beg — which she proudly claims is her profession. “I am a beggar. I have no qualms in calling myself a beggar,” she says, proudly.

When told that begging is illegal, a visibly angry Sundari replies curtly, “Give me a job, I will work.”

“I am a transgender. I am an outsider in society. I am neither a man nor a woman. The entire transgender community is discriminated against. The mainstream will never accept us as citizens. We are called ‘the other sex’,” Sundari says.

“I am from a poor family in Mysore. After the neighbours came to know that I was a hijra [eunuch], they forced my parents to throw me out of my home. I was around 12 years old then. I had no option but to join the hijra community,” says Sundari, flaunting a red saree.

She left not just her home, but also her education. “I wanted to complete my studies and get a decent job. But my dreams were shattered,” she says. She grew up within the community where she was taught to sing, dance and beg on the streets of Mysore. Sundari says she was also sexually abused and had been raped.
“I was a sex worker for some time. But now, I only beg,” adds Sundari.

Sundari feels if the society accepts the “third sex” as part of the mainstream, condition of transgenders is likely to change.
Sundari adds that frustration runs high in the lives of trans-genders, because of lack of any security system.

“We lead a very stressful life. This leads to depression and suicide,” she says. Sundari’s concerns are reflected in the sudden rise in the numbers of suicides in the transgender community in Bangalore.

Over the last 10 days, two trans-genders have committed suicide. Over the last 15 months, around 28 have committed suicide in the city. Activists say the number might be much higher, as many cases are not reported.

Sangama, a Bangalore-based voluntary organisation which is working for the betterment of sexual minorities says that the rate of suicide among transgenders in recent times has increased.

“There is no help from the government,” says Shubha Chako, secretary of board, Sangama, an NGO that works with sexual minority groups.

According to Sangama, Karnataka has 7,000 transgenders. Most have no access to jobs, education or health facilities.

Sangama has started giving them pyschosocial counselling to deal with a large number of cases of depression among the community.

Samara has a 24/7 crisis helpline: 9945601651 and 9945601652.