Hijra

I heard a fascinating piece on the BBC World Service program - Outlook about transgender folk in India. Traditionally these folk have been called a third gender - the hijra or hijira - and offered great honor in religious and social ceremonies - now, increasingly, they are marginalized and forced to find employment in less honorable ways.

This made me think about who it is we give honor to, who it is we regard as special. Often, it seems, we fall for the best marketing. On the other hand, if we never say anything good about ourselves it is certainly true that we run the risk of going unnoticed. The world is busy and people look for the easy catch - the danger is, that in our behavior we mold ourselves into that easy catch, that alluring place, in order to court popularity.

People who are difficult, people who behave outrageously - sometimes they are the voice of the holy, sometimes they are the voice of prophecy. Whilst we are thinking about John the Baptist in this week of Advent we should remember that the extraordinary and bizarre is often the harbinger of divinity. The forerunner of Incarnation was not someone who would sit easily with us, he would not go unnoticed but we would write him off as he fit into no molds.

The hijra were once holy, once undefined - now they are cast aside as society modernises - this is not a statement about gender or sexuality but a reflection on how perception and value changes over time. Who is it that we value? Who is it that we should recognize?