‘Our Families Have Rejected Us And We Have Nowhere To Go’
For the transgender community, the 5 August lockdown coincided with the marriage season. The community has been without work since the past one year, and the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown has added to their economic burden.
For their livelihood, the community largely depends on arranging marriages (locally known as mazemyaraz) and singing and dancing at weddings.
Subhan said that over the last one year of lockdown, she was only able to arrange only a few weddings, which is not enough to run her household.
Subhan hails from North Kashmir’s Sopore area, some 50 kilometres away from the summer capital of Srinagar.
She now lives in Srinagar’s Basant Bagh area and works with other transgenders in the city on a partnership basis.
“I shifted to Srinagar and got together with the transgender community who helped me to earn a living,” she said.
Subhan, along with other members of her community, work in the matchmaking business, and perform in marriage ceremonies by singing local Kashmiri songs.
She says they would earn good sums of money and live a decent life in normal times.
But the abrogation of Article 370 and the subsequent lockdown in Kashmir came as a big blow to them.
Subhan said that since 5 August 2019, many transgenders have been sitting idle at their rented lodgings, and many have been suffering from depression due to lack of work.
“Our family members have rejected us and we have nowhere to go. The ongoing lockdown is taking a toll on our mental health,” Subhan told The Quint.