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The murky and pitiable life of transgenders The Truth About Me, A Revethi, Penguin Books, Pp 304 (PB), Rs 299 'THE Truth About Me’ is the heart-wrenching autobiography of a transgender person, a female trapped in a male body. As Revathi (originally named Doraisamy by her parents) grew up, she felt more and more like a woman and she was ridiculed for this by everyone. She was beaten up by her parents for bringing bad name to the family. Absolutely desperate, wanting to be with people of "her" kind, she takes a train to Mumbai. She is adopted by a person, a kind of godmother, as is the custom with hijras. Once the adoption ceremony is done, she belongs to the family. She has to work and earn for the family. In return, the family protects her. The first set of jewels and saris come from the adopted mother. If at any point the girl wants to leave the family and join another, she has to return all that she got from the family in gift. Revathi has written about her life as a transgender person, the kind of contempt and ridicule the society heaps on them. She says people who are different are not so by choice, but because of the quirk of nature. She bemoans the fact that transgender persons in India have only two options - to beg or to do sex work. She did both to make a living. She kept visiting her family back home, contributed money for them and yet kept hidden most of her sufferings from them. She got a breakthrough when she was introduced to an NGO working for the cause of people like Revathi in Bangalore. She joined it as an office assistant. Fate was not kind to her. She fell in love with a senior person there and desired marriage, a desire forbidden for the transgender person. She married him but it lasted less than a year, with him walking out on her. Back she was on the streets. Picking up courage, Revathi went back to village to try and a ive life of peace and dignity. But that too did not work out. She came back to Bangalore, to join the NGO to eke out a living other than that of a sex worker or beggar. People like Revathi live a life of a condemnation. They are marginalised and hence exploited by all sections of the society. The pages where Revathi describes the cruelties she suffers at the hands of the police brings tears. The police routinely rob these people and sexually abuse them. They definitely need and deserve a helping hand. It is a book that takes us through the dark alleys, which we only snigger at without realising the pain and suffering of the people who live there. -VN (Penguin Books, 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017)

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