Illuminate Lives

How do you see homosexuals around you?   In India, it’s very easy to face one or two in public places. They popularly call them as ‘hijrahs’.   They are known for the way they applaud and demand for small ransoms. What strikes into your minds when you have a confrontation with one?   Here, i would like to share one of my special experiences in this regard.   Although i had been watching these extraordinary mankinds on and off but this one is really close to my heart.   A few months ago, i was moving to Delhi with my mother by train. When we had just 1 hour   left for our journey, some of them came clapping, cheering and laughing.   One of them came to us and my mother handed her a ten- rupee note. Then, my mother asked her for   a coin.   She gladly took one coin out of her purse, handed over it to my mom,   placed her hands over my head and bestowed me. Sorry, did i use ‘she’ pronoun to address her,   but that is what we call someone dressed up in a saree.     When she went

Yesterday morning, while rambling along the road on my way to college i saw a vendor taking chickens onto his cycle-cart.   The chickens were neither fastened nor caged rather kept openly.   I pondered why the birds weren’t   moving or trying to flee.   After a brief observation, i realized that their legs were intentionally injured.   The scene distressed me. The chickens thus meant for poultry purposes are ill-treated in several instances. They are tied up by their legs and transported on two-wheeler. They are tightly caged with more of their kinds.  Many a times they die due to suffocation and lack of locomotion.  Imagine yourself packed up with a group of people in a lift.  How long can you stand the suffocation and discomfort without being able to move an inch?   A difficult question indeed!                   These chickens are usually not fed, which ultimately compels them to prick and harm their contemporaries with their beaks.   It’s so awful that they are forc