Negotiating Normalcy: Me Hijra, Me Celebrity
Baran Farooqi
MAIN HIJRA…MAIN LAXMI! by Surekha Bankar Vani Prakashan, New Delhi, , 176 pp., 175
October 2019, volume 43, No 10

While queer theory and practice is a new field of study in India, the form of autobiography, biography, and memoir has come up as a powerful tool for LGBTQIA+ authors. Apart from Tripathi’s Main Hijra… Main Laxmi!, there are books like The Truth About Me by A Revathi, A Gift of Goddess Lakshmi by Manobi Bandhopadhyay, the first transgender principal of a college and Red Lipstick: The Men in My Life by Laxminarayan Tripathi and Pooja Pandey. Much like the Dalit autobiographies, these books by LGBTQIA+ individuals offer us for the very first time, a glimpse into the lives of those who live on the fringes of the society.

Main Hijra… Main Laxmi!  is the autobiography of one of the most famous hijra figures in India, Laxminarayan Tripathi. Laxmi has been in the public eye for quite a while, being part of reality TV shows like Bigg Boss and Sach ka Saamna. She also participates in news debates on LGBTQIA+ issues. She is an activist and performer working towards the sexual health and well being of the hijra community in India. The title of the autobiography makes one think about the assertion of identity through the word ‘hijra’, coming before the name of the individual. However, one finds the assertion to be more prominently present in the title rather than the narration. The book turns out to be more the story of an individual’s struggle with identity and relationships than the celebration of ‘hijrahood’. The narrative seems to be obsessing over the selfhood and accomplishments of someone who happens to be a hijra.

The book has actually been written in Marathi by Vaishali Rode who, in her introduction notes how Laxmi narrated the events to her, and she would write them down only after she returned home. This makes the authenticity of the narration questionable. One also wonders about the loss that would have taken place between the narration and the writing down of it all by Rode. Undeniably, Rode’s version of the story must have crept into the narrative, unknown even to Rode herself. While narrating the events of her life, Laxmi is often hesitant (as per the introduction by Rode), to plunge straight into the recall. Once again, one is left wondering how much of the life story has been manipulated while telling it. This remark of Rode’s dilutes the transparency, which is otherwise regarded as an indispensable part of autobiographies.

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