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Defying norms, in a rundown neighbourhood in Malda in West Bengal, transwoman Arindam Saha Kundu (now known as Priyanka) and her fellow transgender friends (Abhijit Nag and Bapon Jemadar) are busy imparting education to more than 40 children belonging to the Dalit community that is largely engaged in manual scavenging.
Known for its juicy mangoes, Malda district has a high percentage of children not attending school, as documented in the book Dalits and Tribes of India (a compilation of Papers presented at a three-day National Seminar on "Agenda for Emancipation and Empowerment of Dalits and Tribes").
Children from the scheduled communities are even less likely to do so. The railway colony in Malda town harbours the Dalit community.
Choosing to look beyond their own share of problems (discriminated for their gender), Priyanka and the rest, hailing from the town itself, decided to be a ray of hope for the marginalised kids, who lose much of their childhood to manual scavenging, gambling and drugs.
She also wanted to give in to her maternal instincts.
So in June, "Sapno Ki Udaan", under the Gour Bangla Sanghati Samiti, took wings in a room of a local club.
The beginning was shaky.
"The children were friendly with us. So we didn't have much issues with them, but their parents were reluctant. It was not just that we were transgender persons, it was also the fact that they didn't feel educating their children would be of much help," Priyanka explained.
The idea was galvanised into action with the help of Bapon, a transgender person from the Dalit community. He helped convince the parents to let the children come each evening to the school.
Salaries are supported through crowdfunding.
According to Abhay Kumar Roy, a lecturer in Malda College's department of English, who also supports the group in academic ways, the fact that the transgender community members chose to look beyond their own problems and work for the disadvantaged, speaks a lot about what can be achieved if alternative gender identities are recognised. Roy researches on pluralistic interpretation of mythology
(WIth inouts from IANS)
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