Troubled Twilight World (part 1 of 3)

[JesusA (imported)]

Once or twice upon a time they were charged with important affairs of state. More often still they guarded harems, taught the ladies music and dance, and learned the loyalty of their lords through unbroken and unthreatening service. That they were unsexed to begin with gave them such an indefinite niche in the social order that many of their number slipped easily into position as janissaries, chamberlains, generals, admirals and even unofficial chancellors of state. But if their name is hardly a household word today, it is not because eunuchs haven't survived. When their courtly universe crumbled with the rude advent of republicanism, the Indian fraternity, at least, sought refuge in their own cult, sustained by centuries of tradition. Now, however, the twilight sexual world of eunuchry is facing its most severe test of public tolerance since the reform-minded British raj booted away its underpinnings of royal patronage. If nothing else, the scandal that has surfaced in the far-western state of Gujarat - birthplace of the apostle of freedom and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi - has left Indians wondering just how free and non-violent eunuchs really are.<p>The explosive tale began to erupt on a lazy afternoon in July when a 15-year-old boy with a pretty face and a sari draped somewhat awkwardly around him walked into a police station in Chhota Udepur, a small town about 60 kms. east of Baroda, the state capital. Before the bewildered police officers and his father, who accompanied the boy, Mohamed Hanif Vora broke down uncontrollably and, through incoherent words and bouts of sobs, narrated the story of his gruesome transformation at the forcible hands of a cult of eunuchs who had befriended him in Baroda. Though not without holes, the lad's recital, which led to several arrests and prosecutions, furnished an account of a macabre castration ceremony and opened a rare window on the ways in which eunuchs renew their ranks.<p>The son of a poor labourer named Musabhai Vora, Mohamed ran away from home after a family quarrel one day early this year and drifted to the nearby capital. After a few days of wandering, he landed a job as errand boy for a cinema house - a source of entertainment that was to become his daily diversion until a more real-life melodrama intruded. His short stint running errands soon gave way to a second job as a water carrier, though in the alien city he continued to haunt the late-night movies. One night, as Mohamed told it, as he was returning from one such late show he was waylaid by a man who demanded sexual favours. The frightened boy, however, was saved by two eunuchs who happened along and chased away the sodomist.<p>One of the rescuers, named Anu Masi alias Anup Kumar alias Noor Mohamed Malik, offered shelter for the night to the runaway and took him to "her" (eunuchs customarily adopt feminine names and attire) hut near the railway station. Next day, Anu Masi and her cultmate, Sarla Kanwar (alias Raghunath Krishnanath Shirke) took Mohamed to a crowded quarter in another part of the city with the promise of a better job. Here the boy was introduced to a sizeable congregation of eunuchs who shared lodging in an akhada, or commune for the castrated. The communal nayak (leader), one Kanta Kanwar alias Kantilal Ranchodbhai Patel, then asked her disciples to strip the foundling and dress him in women's clothes, after which Mohamed was sent out with the others on begging rounds.<p>From the outset, the boy was forced to conduct himself in standard eunuch style - walking seductively, dishing out abusive language and greeting with the patented hand-clap performed with a twist of the body and a lubricious slap of palms. According to what he told the police, Mohamed feared he had no resort but to follow them, suspecting that any attempt at flight would mean death. After a few days of initiation, he was removed once more, this time to a hideout owned by a senior eunuch, Lilade Sitade Pawaiyya (alias Atmaram Thakore), where he was locked up for three fearful days. Then, on the fateful night of April 8 - which on the Hindu calendar is the auspicious day of Chaitra Punima, or the full moon of the last month - the eunuch "surgeon" Hirabhai Masaji Thakore, 65, and the community priest, Shankar Budhaji Thakore, 48, were summoned by the nayak.<p>All the while, said Mohamed, he remained in solitary confinement, sweating in the grip of anxiety. He was put through a "purification" ceremony, and as the arranged hour neared he was made to lie on the floor with Shankar covering his mouth and hands and Kanta Kanwar, the nayak, spread-eagling his legs. Hirabhai, wielding a sharp dagger, then moved in and performed the critical chop with one swift slash. To mask the boy's screams, a cassette recorder was played at full volume.<p>Mohamed passed out and remained unconscious for the next two days. After a month-long treatment at Hirabhai's den, the teenager, now a eunuch renamed Jyoti Kanwar (most of the local eunuchs style themselves thus after Hansmukh Kanwar, a 19th -century eunuch prince of Baroda's ruling Gaekwar family under the Maratha confederacy), was sent back to the akhada. Kanta Kanwar assigned him/her a regular begging beat and, before he was set loose with his companions, warned, in Mohamed's words to police, that he would be "burnt alive" if he so much as whispered a word about his mutation. As he tells it, Mohamed a.k.a. Jyoti Kanwar then went about his duties and in a few days raked in for his "guru" as much as Rs. 5,000 (US$425), a princely sum for his country and station.

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[JesusA (imported)]

Once or twice upon a time they were charged with important affairs of state. More often still they guarded harems, taught the ladies music and dance, and learned the loyalty of their lords through unbroken and unthreatening service. That they were unsexed to begin with gave them such an indefinite niche in the social order that many of their number slipped easily into position as janissaries, chamberlains, generals, admirals and even unofficial chancellors of state. But if their name is hardly a household word today, it is not because eunuchs haven't survived. When their courtly universe crumbled with the rude advent of republicanism, the Indian fraternity, at least, sought refuge in their own cult, sustained by centuries of tradition. Now, however, the twilight sexual world of eunuchry is facing its most severe test of public tolerance since the reform-minded British raj booted away its underpinnings of royal patronage. If nothing else, the scandal that has surfaced in the far-western state of Gujarat - birthplace of the apostle of freedom and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi - has left Indians wondering just how free and non-violent eunuchs really are.<p>The explosive tale began to erupt on a lazy afternoon in July when a 15-year-old boy with a pretty face and a sari draped somewhat awkwardly around him walked into a police station in Chhota Udepur, a small town about 60 kms. east of Baroda, the state capital. Before the bewildered police officers and his father, who accompanied the boy, Mohamed Hanif Vora broke down uncontrollably and, through incoherent words and bouts of sobs, narrated the story of his gruesome transformation at the forcible hands of a cult of eunuchs who had befriended him in Baroda. Though not without holes, the lad's recital, which led to several arrests and prosecutions, furnished an account of a macabre castration ceremony and opened a rare window on the ways in which eunuchs renew their ranks.<p>The son of a poor labourer named Musabhai Vora, Mohamed ran away from home after a family quarrel one day early this year and drifted to the nearby capital. After a few days of wandering, he landed a job as errand boy for a cinema house - a source of entertainment that was to become his daily diversion until a more real-life melodrama intruded. His short stint running errands soon gave way to a second job as a water carrier, though in the alien city he continued to haunt the late-night movies. One night, as Mohamed told it, as he was returning from one such late show he was waylaid by a man who demanded sexual favours. The frightened boy, however, was saved by two eunuchs who happened along and chased away the sodomist.<p>One of the rescuers, named Anu Masi alias Anup Kumar alias Noor Mohamed Malik, offered shelter for the night to the runaway and took him to "her" (eunuchs customarily adopt feminine names and attire) hut near the railway station. Next day, Anu Masi and her cultmate, Sarla Kanwar (alias Raghunath Krishnanath Shirke) took Mohamed to a crowded quarter in another part of the city with the promise of a better job. Here the boy was introduced to a sizeable congregation of eunuchs who shared lodging in an akhada, or commune for the castrated. The communal nayak (leader), one Kanta Kanwar alias Kantilal Ranchodbhai Patel, then asked her disciples to strip the foundling and dress him in women's clothes, after which Mohamed was sent out with the others on begging rounds.<p>From the outset, the boy was forced to conduct himself in standard eunuch style - walking seductively, dishing out abusive language and greeting with the patented hand-clap performed with a twist of the body and a lubricious slap of palms. According to what he told the police, Mohamed feared he had no resort but to follow them, suspecting that any attempt at flight would mean death. After a few days of initiation, he was removed once more, this time to a hideout owned by a senior eunuch, Lilade Sitade Pawaiyya (alias Atmaram Thakore), where he was locked up for three fearful days. Then, on the fateful night of April 8 - which on the Hindu calendar is the auspicious day of Chaitra Punima, or the full moon of the last month - the eunuch "surgeon" Hirabhai Masaji Thakore, 65, and the community priest, Shankar Budhaji Thakore, 48, were summoned by the nayak.<p>All the while, said Mohamed, he remained in solitary confinement, sweating in the grip of anxiety. He was put through a "purification" ceremony, and as the arranged hour neared he was made to lie on the floor with Shankar covering his mouth and hands and Kanta Kanwar, the nayak, spread-eagling his legs. Hirabhai, wielding a sharp dagger, then moved in and performed the critical chop with one swift slash. To mask the boy's screams, a cassette recorder was played at full volume.<p>Mohamed passed out and remained unconscious for the next two days. After a month-long treatment at Hirabhai's den, the teenager, now a eunuch renamed Jyoti Kanwar (most of the local eunuchs style themselves thus after Hansmukh Kanwar, a 19th -century eunuch prince of Baroda's ruling Gaekwar family under the Maratha confederacy), was sent back to the akhada. Kanta Kanwar assigned him/her a regular begging beat and, before he was set loose with his companions, warned, in Mohamed's words to police, that he would be "burnt alive" if he so much as whispered a word about his mutation. As he tells it, Mohamed a.k.a. Jyoti Kanwar then went about his duties and in a few days raked in for his "guru" as much as Rs. 5,000 (US$425), a princely sum for his country and station.

[JesusA (imported)]

Once or twice upon a time they were charged with important affairs of state. More often still they guarded harems, taught the ladies music and dance, and learned the loyalty of their lords through unbroken and unthreatening service. That they were unsexed to begin with gave them such an indefinite niche in the social order that many of their number slipped easily into position as janissaries, chamberlains, generals, admirals and even unofficial chancellors of state. But if their name is hardly a household word today, it is not because eunuchs haven't survived. When their courtly universe crumbled with the rude advent of republicanism, the Indian fraternity, at least, sought refuge in their own cult, sustained by centuries of tradition. Now, however, the twilight sexual world of eunuchry is facing its most severe test of public tolerance since the reform-minded British raj booted away its underpinnings of royal patronage. If nothing else, the scandal that has surfaced in the far-western state of Gujarat - birthplace of the apostle of freedom and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi - has left Indians wondering just how free and non-violent eunuchs really are.<p>The explosive tale began to erupt on a lazy afternoon in July when a 15-year-old boy with a pretty face and a sari draped somewhat awkwardly around him walked into a police station in Chhota Udepur, a small town about 60 kms. east of Baroda, the state capital. Before the bewildered police officers and his father, who accompanied the boy, Mohamed Hanif Vora broke down uncontrollably and, through incoherent words and bouts of sobs, narrated the story of his gruesome transformation at the forcible hands of a cult of eunuchs who had befriended him in Baroda. Though not without holes, the lad's recital, which led to several arrests and prosecutions, furnished an account of a macabre castration ceremony and opened a rare window on the ways in which eunuchs renew their ranks.<p>The son of a poor labourer named Musabhai Vora, Mohamed ran away from home after a family quarrel one day early this year and drifted to the nearby capital. After a few days of wandering, he landed a job as errand boy for a cinema house - a source of entertainment that was to become his daily diversion until a more real-life melodrama intruded. His short stint running errands soon gave way to a second job as a water carrier, though in the alien city he continued to haunt the late-night movies. One night, as Mohamed told it, as he was returning from one such late show he was waylaid by a man who demanded sexual favours. The frightened boy, however, was saved by two eunuchs who happened along and chased away the sodomist.<p>One of the rescuers, named Anu Masi alias Anup Kumar alias Noor Mohamed Malik, offered shelter for the night to the runaway and took him to "her" (eunuchs customarily adopt feminine names and attire) hut near the railway station. Next day, Anu Masi and her cultmate, Sarla Kanwar (alias Raghunath Krishnanath Shirke) took Mohamed to a crowded quarter in another part of the city with the promise of a better job. Here the boy was introduced to a sizeable congregation of eunuchs who shared lodging in an akhada, or commune for the castrated. The communal nayak (leader), one Kanta Kanwar alias Kantilal Ranchodbhai Patel, then asked her disciples to strip the foundling and dress him in women's clothes, after which Mohamed was sent out with the others on begging rounds.<p>From the outset, the boy was forced to conduct himself in standard eunuch style - walking seductively, dishing out abusive language and greeting with the patented hand-clap performed with a twist of the body and a lubricious slap of palms. According to what he told the police, Mohamed feared he had no resort but to follow them, suspecting that any attempt at flight would mean death. After a few days of initiation, he was removed once more, this time to a hideout owned by a senior eunuch, Lilade Sitade Pawaiyya (alias Atmaram Thakore), where he was locked up for three fearful days. Then, on the fateful night of April 8 - which on the Hindu calendar is the auspicious day of Chaitra Punima, or the full moon of the last month - the eunuch "surgeon" Hirabhai Masaji Thakore, 65, and the community priest, Shankar Budhaji Thakore, 48, were summoned by the nayak.<p>All the while, said Mohamed, he remained in solitary confinement, sweating in the grip of anxiety. He was put through a "purification" ceremony, and as the arranged hour neared he was made to lie on the floor with Shankar covering his mouth and hands and Kanta Kanwar, the nayak, spread-eagling his legs. Hirabhai, wielding a sharp dagger, then moved in and performed the critical chop with one swift slash. To mask the boy's screams, a cassette recorder was played at full volume.<p>Mohamed passed out and remained unconscious for the next two days. After a month-long treatment at Hirabhai's den, the teenager, now a eunuch renamed Jyoti Kanwar (most of the local eunuchs style themselves thus after Hansmukh Kanwar, a 19th -century eunuch prince of Baroda's ruling Gaekwar family under the Maratha confederacy), was sent back to the akhada. Kanta Kanwar assigned him/her a regular begging beat and, before he was set loose with his companions, warned, in Mohamed's words to police, that he would be "burnt alive" if he so much as whispered a word about his mutation. As he tells it, Mohamed a.k.a. Jyoti Kanwar then went about his duties and in a few days raked in for his "guru" as much as Rs. 5,000 (US$425), a princely sum for his country and station.

[JesusA (imported)]

Once or twice upon a time they were charged with important affairs of state. More often still they guarded harems, taught the ladies music and dance, and learned the loyalty of their lords through unbroken and unthreatening service. That they were unsexed to begin with gave them such an indefinite niche in the social order that many of their number slipped easily into position as janissaries, chamberlains, generals, admirals and even unofficial chancellors of state. But if their name is hardly a household word today, it is not because eunuchs haven't survived. When their courtly universe crumbled with the rude advent of republicanism, the Indian fraternity, at least, sought refuge in their own cult, sustained by centuries of tradition. Now, however, the twilight sexual world of eunuchry is facing its most severe test of public tolerance since the reform-minded British raj booted away its underpinnings of royal patronage. If nothing else, the scandal that has surfaced in the far-western state of Gujarat - birthplace of the apostle of freedom and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi - has left Indians wondering just how free and non-violent eunuchs really are.<p>The explosive tale began to erupt on a lazy afternoon in July when a 15-year-old boy with a pretty face and a sari draped somewhat awkwardly around him walked into a police station in Chhota Udepur, a small town about 60 kms. east of Baroda, the state capital. Before the bewildered police officers and his father, who accompanied the boy, Mohamed Hanif Vora broke down uncontrollably and, through incoherent words and bouts of sobs, narrated the story of his gruesome transformation at the forcible hands of a cult of eunuchs who had befriended him in Baroda. Though not without holes, the lad's recital, which led to several arrests and prosecutions, furnished an account of a macabre castration ceremony and opened a rare window on the ways in which eunuchs renew their ranks.<p>The son of a poor labourer named Musabhai Vora, Mohamed ran away from home after a family quarrel one day early this year and drifted to the nearby capital. After a few days of wandering, he landed a job as errand boy for a cinema house - a source of entertainment that was to become his daily diversion until a more real-life melodrama intruded. His short stint running errands soon gave way to a second job as a water carrier, though in the alien city he continued to haunt the late-night movies. One night, as Mohamed told it, as he was returning from one such late show he was waylaid by a man who demanded sexual favours. The frightened boy, however, was saved by two eunuchs who happened along and chased away the sodomist.<p>One of the rescuers, named Anu Masi alias Anup Kumar alias Noor Mohamed Malik, offered shelter for the night to the runaway and took him to "her" (eunuchs customarily adopt feminine names and attire) hut near the railway station. Next day, Anu Masi and her cultmate, Sarla Kanwar (alias Raghunath Krishnanath Shirke) took Mohamed to a crowded quarter in another part of the city with the promise of a better job. Here the boy was introduced to a sizeable congregation of eunuchs who shared lodging in an akhada, or commune for the castrated. The communal nayak (leader), one Kanta Kanwar alias Kantilal Ranchodbhai Patel, then asked her disciples to strip the foundling and dress him in women's clothes, after which Mohamed was sent out with the others on begging rounds.<p>From the outset, the boy was forced to conduct himself in standard eunuch style - walking seductively, dishing out abusive language and greeting with the patented hand-clap performed with a twist of the body and a lubricious slap of palms. According to what he told the police, Mohamed feared he had no resort but to follow them, suspecting that any attempt at flight would mean death. After a few days of initiation, he was removed once more, this time to a hideout owned by a senior eunuch, Lilade Sitade Pawaiyya (alias Atmaram Thakore), where he was locked up for three fearful days. Then, on the fateful night of April 8 - which on the Hindu calendar is the auspicious day of Chaitra Punima, or the full moon of the last month - the eunuch "surgeon" Hirabhai Masaji Thakore, 65, and the community priest, Shankar Budhaji Thakore, 48, were summoned by the nayak.<p>All the while, said Mohamed, he remained in solitary confinement, sweating in the grip of anxiety. He was put through a "purification" ceremony, and as the arranged hour neared he was made to lie on the floor with Shankar covering his mouth and hands and Kanta Kanwar, the nayak, spread-eagling his legs. Hirabhai, wielding a sharp dagger, then moved in and performed the critical chop with one swift slash. To mask the boy's screams, a cassette recorder was played at full volume.<p>Mohamed passed out and remained unconscious for the next two days. After a month-long treatment at Hirabhai's den, the teenager, now a eunuch renamed Jyoti Kanwar (most of the local eunuchs style themselves thus after Hansmukh Kanwar, a 19th -century eunuch prince of Baroda's ruling Gaekwar family under the Maratha confederacy), was sent back to the akhada. Kanta Kanwar assigned him/her a regular begging beat and, before he was set loose with his companions, warned, in Mohamed's words to police, that he would be "burnt alive" if he so much as whispered a word about his mutation. As he tells it, Mohamed a.k.a. Jyoti Kanwar then went about his duties and in a few days raked in for his "guru" as much as Rs. 5,000 (US$425), a princely sum for his country and station.

[JesusA (imported)]

Once or twice upon a time they were charged with important affairs of state. More often still they guarded harems, taught the ladies music and dance, and learned the loyalty of their lords through unbroken and unthreatening service. That they were unsexed to begin with gave them such an indefinite niche in the social order that many of their number slipped easily into position as janissaries, chamberlains, generals, admirals and even unofficial chancellors of state. But if their name is hardly a household word today, it is not because eunuchs haven't survived. When their courtly universe crumbled with the rude advent of republicanism, the Indian fraternity, at least, sought refuge in their own cult, sustained by centuries of tradition. Now, however, the twilight sexual world of eunuchry is facing its most severe test of public tolerance since the reform-minded British raj booted away its underpinnings of royal patronage. If nothing else, the scandal that has surfaced in the far-western state of Gujarat - birthplace of the apostle of freedom and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi - has left Indians wondering just how free and non-violent eunuchs really are.<p>The explosive tale began to erupt on a lazy afternoon in July when a 15-year-old boy with a pretty face and a sari draped somewhat awkwardly around him walked into a police station in Chhota Udepur, a small town about 60 kms. east of Baroda, the state capital. Before the bewildered police officers and his father, who accompanied the boy, Mohamed Hanif Vora broke down uncontrollably and, through incoherent words and bouts of sobs, narrated the story of his gruesome transformation at the forcible hands of a cult of eunuchs who had befriended him in Baroda. Though not without holes, the lad's recital, which led to several arrests and prosecutions, furnished an account of a macabre castration ceremony and opened a rare window on the ways in which eunuchs renew their ranks.<p>The son of a poor labourer named Musabhai Vora, Mohamed ran away from home after a family quarrel one day early this year and drifted to the nearby capital. After a few days of wandering, he landed a job as errand boy for a cinema house - a source of entertainment that was to become his daily diversion until a more real-life melodrama intruded. His short stint running errands soon gave way to a second job as a water carrier, though in the alien city he continued to haunt the late-night movies. One night, as Mohamed told it, as he was returning from one such late show he was waylaid by a man who demanded sexual favours. The frightened boy, however, was saved by two eunuchs who happened along and chased away the sodomist.<p>One of the rescuers, named Anu Masi alias Anup Kumar alias Noor Mohamed Malik, offered shelter for the night to the runaway and took him to "her" (eunuchs customarily adopt feminine names and attire) hut near the railway station. Next day, Anu Masi and her cultmate, Sarla Kanwar (alias Raghunath Krishnanath Shirke) took Mohamed to a crowded quarter in another part of the city with the promise of a better job. Here the boy was introduced to a sizeable congregation of eunuchs who shared lodging in an akhada, or commune for the castrated. The communal nayak (leader), one Kanta Kanwar alias Kantilal Ranchodbhai Patel, then asked her disciples to strip the foundling and dress him in women's clothes, after which Mohamed was sent out with the others on begging rounds.<p>From the outset, the boy was forced to conduct himself in standard eunuch style - walking seductively, dishing out abusive language and greeting with the patented hand-clap performed with a twist of the body and a lubricious slap of palms. According to what he told the police, Mohamed feared he had no resort but to follow them, suspecting that any attempt at flight would mean death. After a few days of initiation, he was removed once more, this time to a hideout owned by a senior eunuch, Lilade Sitade Pawaiyya (alias Atmaram Thakore), where he was locked up for three fearful days. Then, on the fateful night of April 8 - which on the Hindu calendar is the auspicious day of Chaitra Punima, or the full moon of the last month - the eunuch "surgeon" Hirabhai Masaji Thakore, 65, and the community priest, Shankar Budhaji Thakore, 48, were summoned by the nayak.<p>All the while, said Mohamed, he remained in solitary confinement, sweating in the grip of anxiety. He was put through a "purification" ceremony, and as the arranged hour neared he was made to lie on the floor with Shankar covering his mouth and hands and Kanta Kanwar, the nayak, spread-eagling his legs. Hirabhai, wielding a sharp dagger, then moved in and performed the critical chop with one swift slash. To mask the boy's screams, a cassette recorder was played at full volume.<p>Mohamed passed out and remained unconscious for the next two days. After a month-long treatment at Hirabhai's den, the teenager, now a eunuch renamed Jyoti Kanwar (most of the local eunuchs style themselves thus after Hansmukh Kanwar, a 19th -century eunuch prince of Baroda's ruling Gaekwar family under the Maratha confederacy), was sent back to the akhada. Kanta Kanwar assigned him/her a regular begging beat and, before he was set loose with his companions, warned, in Mohamed's words to police, that he would be "burnt alive" if he so much as whispered a word about his mutation. As he tells it, Mohamed a.k.a. Jyoti Kanwar then went about his duties and in a few days raked in for his "guru" as much as Rs. 5,000 (US$425), a princely sum for his country and station.