The Parcel by Anosh Irani: Truly changed my perspectives towards the third gender section of our society.

A beautifully written and immersing book by Anosh Irani. ‘The Parcel’ by Anosh Irani is a magical book that truly changed my perspectives towards the third gender community in India. The novel has been set in the Kamathipura area of Mumbai, biggest red light area as well as home to the most of the prostitutes, pimps and the transgenders. The novel revolves around the protagonist Madhu, a hijra. Born in the body of a male and having the traits of that of a woman, Madhu was deprived of her parent’s love. She had no friends for she was different than rest of the others. She had an unexplained hatred towards her brother. One day she meets gurumai who ends up becoming her ‘mai-baap’ and cares for her like her own parents. Gurumai accepted Madhu as her daugther thus the relationship between Madhu and gurumai was more than that of a leader and a disciple but it more likely was that of a mother and a daughter relationship. Being abandoned by her own parents, gurumai provided her with the love, care, and the shelter.

Just in order to overwhelm her past that she was once a transgender sex worker, she opted for begging for the alms to earn her livelihood, thus, Bombay Central was her favorite hub to carry out her business. There was one person Madhu loved and it was Gajja, who worked in a Hospital as a ward boy. Madhu always counted on Gajja for the emotional support as he supported her and understood her. Even though, Madhu was once betrayed by Gajja as he had left Madhu for a woman. Madhu still loved him.

One day, life of Madhu took a turn due to the call of duty and she was compelled to face her past once again. This time, not as a sex worker but as a caretaker of the Parcels- sold underage virgin girls. Those girls were referred as a ‘Parcel’ as they arrived from different places, while some were sold by their own families, while some fell prey to the pimps, while some were trafficked but everyone was prejudiced by their own destinies to be trapped and nowhere to go. Gurumai had asked Madhu to meet Padma and one phone call of hers changed Madhu’s life, forcing her to look back to her past. Madhu lived in Hijra Gulli with Gurumai and other disciple hijras who eventually became her sisters. Padma was one of a brothel madam who assigned Madhu to take care of the Parcels. There was one Parcel named Kinjal aka Janhavi, a Nepali girl who was sold by her own aunt and being transported to Mumbai by the Pimp.

Madhu cared for Kinjal even though she was often rough to her. Madhu’s duty was to protect the parcels from being caught by the police, it was her duty to make sure the parcels don’t get caught and imprisoned by the police as whenever there was any raid in the brothel, many girls used to be caught and just in order to prevent it from happening, Madhu taught Kinjal to plunge into the water in the tank for hours and hours just so that any raid occurs and she could hide herself this way, thus the cistern became a hideout for the parcel to hide themselves. In every session, Madhu used to train Kinjal to plunge into the cistern by hiding herself out properly and also protecting her own dress to bloat in the water so as to not make the hiding obvious.

There were other prostitutes who used to service different men and while some were affected with the hiv’s – ‘pojeetives’. While servicing men, some sex workers had to undergo intensive tortures like burning their body with the cigarette butts, slapping them and pulling their hair, the tolerated physical violence against them just so that they could live in the brother just so that they had shelter to live in. Whatever they used to earn, it used to go to the brothel madams and in return they were allowed to seek shelter under the cellars of the brothel. Most of the sex workers had dark past which landed up in the brothels as a sex worker, some were sold by their own families while some were trafficked, while some opted for the sex trade in return for the shelter. The life of the hijras and the sex workers were dreadful as they didn’t even have access to the basic necessities of life like sanitation, comfort, etc. Most of the men they services were truck drivers, servants, ward boys, etc. who used to torture them brutally when drunk and they suffered the pain which could not be compensated.

The book ‘The Parcel’ by Anosh Irani, has written this novel that revolves around the lives of these people and how do they make their living even at their worst. The lessons that I have learned from this book are:

First, how easy is it to hate a transgender and turn the glance away by the mere glimpse of them? How easy it is to say that all they do is beg for the alms and if refused, they curse you? But have you ever tried to figure out how difficult their lives are without any opportunity, dignity, source of income and no access to the basic necessities of life. We should respect them for they have feelings too as a human irrespective of their gender.

Second, how easy it is to call someone a prostitute and defame them by scarring their very image but have we ever tried to find out that whatever they are doing is their duty by earning their livelihood out of a choice.

Thus, they need to be respected too irrespective of the work they do but because they are a human most prominently.

“The body was the enemy. The more you loved it, the more you thought of it as a part of you, the more it blackmailed you.” – THE PARCEL 

“Women are equally responsible for the whimpering and rotting of their own fledglings.” – THE PARCEL