Identity crisis: Transwoman candidate’s encounter with rural Kerala’s gender lessons

Congress candidate Amaya Prasad's campaign posters are not to be found anywhere in the Pothencode division of Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat even on November 24, last day for the withdrawal of nominations in Kerala’s local body polls. "My candidacy was approved by the returning officer (the district collector) only on November 22. It was only on November 23 that we sent the materials for printing," Amaya said.

It seems that, just like her posters, Amaya's personal history, too, has still not revealed itself to the voters in Pothencode division. To many elderly women Onmanorama talked to after Amaya had sought votes from them, she was the "nice-looking girl" or the "midukki" or the "beautiful serial actress".

When one of these women, Safiyatha who runs a bunk shop at Karikkakam, is told that their candidate for the district panchayat is a transgender, it looked like she did not understand the English term. When she was told that Amaya was once a man and now has changed into a woman, Safiyatha looked pleasantly surprised. "I wouldn't have understood if I was not told," she said. "She seemed very sweet and respectful. I might vote for her," Safiyatha said.

Amaya is introduced to voters simply as the Congress's district panchayat candidate by Congress workers who move with her from house to house. She smiles, shakes hands with both men and women and asks for votes and prayers.

At Pirappankottukonam ward, she went around seeking votes with advocate Sreeja V, Congress's Chirayankeezh block candidate, and Vijayakumari R S, the party's candidate for Mudakkal panchayat's Pirappankottukonam ward, both veterans who had won before and so were familiar to voters. Outside the corporations and municipalities, a voter can cast three votes: for district, block and grama panchayats.

At the next ward, Karikkakam, Amaya is handed over to a different set of Congress workers and is accompanied by Congress's Sujetha Kumar who is re-contesting from the ward and Shibu Panachery, the UDF's RSP candidate for Edakkadu block under which Karikkakam falls.

In one house, a woman found Amaya very familiar. "Aren't you the beautiful autorickshaw driver in 'Pavithram'?" Amaya smiled in acknowledgement and the woman looked excited. So in the next house, Sujetha Kumar, the local ward member, introduced Amaya not just as the Congress's district panchayat candidate but also as the "star of Pavithram".

The impact of the sales pitch was sudden. The women in the family who did not mask their irritation at being disturbed in the afternoon quickly brightened up. The mother was so thrilled that she picked up her mobile to call her younger daughter who was living in the city.

The husband tapped his wife and said: "These people have to visit a lot of houses. They cannot wait till you get your daughter on the line," he said. Amaya shook hands with the husband, once again sought a vote and left.

Once out of the gate and on the roadside, Sujetha Kumar had a word of advice for Amaya. "It is better if you don't shake hands with men, especially in front of their wives," he said. Amaya was a bit startled by the remark. "Chetta, the times have changed," she said.

Kumar persisted. "I know the place and the people, that's why I am saying this. Also, why can't you touch the feet of old women in these houses," he said. Amaya possesses 'convent school'-like manners. Nothing is overdone. For politicians in the traditional mould like Kumar this is indifference that could spurn voters.

Cars and two-wheelers were passing by and Kumar egged her on to at least smile at them. "People inside the cars are also voters. Let us collect as much votes as we can. Smile," Kumar said. Amaya smiled and also waved at them, and the women inside the cars waved back. She seemed to enjoy it.

There was a surprise along the way. A retired banker matter-of-factly asked her why the Election Commission was reluctant to accept her as a woman. "Sir, the Panchayat Act and rules are silent on whether a transwoman can contest from a ward reserved for women. That was the confusion. But the Collector gave the consent," she said. "See, when you showed the courage to contest, the government was forced to amend the laws," he said, and added: "It is important for people like you to set an example or else they will keep using those ugly terms like 'chanthupottu' and 'onpathu'." Amaya touched his feet before leaving.

It turned out that the Congress workers accompanying her were secretly wishing that she would not be recognised for what she is. "Anyway there is no hint of a man in her. So we had decided not to make a big deal of her gender. But if anyone asks, we wouldn't lie," a local Congress worker said, implying a remote concern that her gender could distance voters.

Even Shibu Panachery, the RSP candidate who campaigned with Amaya in Karikkakam, came to know of his fellow candidate's gender very late. Thinking this reporter was part of the local Congress team, he whispered: "I heard about it only two days ago. I am told that she is the state president of the Kerala Pradesh Transgender Congress. But I have to say this. People seem to like her."

Amaya, however, wants her transgender identity to be out there, as vivid and catchy as the campaign posters that will be ready in two days. "Voters should be aware of my identity and that is how we become normal human beings, just like the others," she said.

Amaya and Arunima M Kurup (contesting from the Vayalar division of Alappuzha district panchayat) are the two transwomen fighting for seats in local bodies this year.