Eunuchs Brightened my Train Ride!

It's 10am and I just missed a SKYPE rendez-vous with a friend (I was supposed to be on by 8am, which would be her 10:30pm). I woke up to the sound of a hammer pounding into the wall - yes, the renovations have started at the flat, golden! As I keep saying, I cannot wait to head out to Gujarat.

I had trouble sleeping last night. The malnourished dogs who hang out in front of our building kept wailing. There are stray cats and dogs all over the streets, which reminds me, I still have to get my rabies vaccine. I wonder how they survive in this excessive heat. Do they even get any water?

Water's such a commodity in this country as a whole, but especially in this city; ironic considering three-quarters of Mumbai is surrounded by water. There's simply too much demand as the population here keeps rising. One of the solutions has been to regulate the water supply. At the building I stay at, for instance, the water supply's cut off between 1pm and 6pm. In some areas, the cut off is even longer. There are six lakes supplying water to the city and they're constantly being monitored, as they sometimes reach below the drawable limit. I've read some of the statistics, it's a pretty frightening picture.

Everyone is rushing to Mumbai, it's become a key political issue in this country. One politician has suggested that Maharashtran work visas be mandatory for everyone working in the city, a strategy he thinks will decrease the influx of people flooding into the city from other Indian states. For Canada, it'd kind of be like only allowing Ontarions to apply for jobs in Toronto. It's a controversial idea and the Bollywood industry has taken a stance against it (as most of the celebrities are not from Maharashtra themselves).

Back to my restless night, I preoccupied my time wondering why women get harassed so much here. In particularly on the packed trains where it's like a free-for-all (I'd compare it to Cancun foam parties, where the male tourists,' note - I'm not saying all male tourists' but many of them, animal instincts come out once they realise any type of groping is permissable, since no one can see what goes on beneath the suds). On second thought, alcohol plays a huge role in the behaviour of men at foam parties. But the Indian men on these trains aren't even intoxicated, so what could it be...

Here are some of my theories:

• Indian women are just too darn irresistable
• Bollywood: Bollywood is huge here and most of the time, the women are portrayed as sex objects or at the very least, eye candy
• Indian serials (soaps): most of the female characters play out the roles of docile, victimised, helpless women; perhaps it makes the guys think victimising women is the norm
• Heat exhaustion: it makes people do crazy things
• Beads of sweat: even with the fans on, it gets extremely hot on the trains so everyone is drenched in sweat, I think this gets their mojo going
• Sexual deprivation

Anyhow, whatever the reasons may be, it's not right. There are two women-only compartments on each regular train, but it's not enough, which is why the "Ladies-Specials" trains are finally being introduced (trains reserved just for women). It's nice to see the government seriously doing something about the harrassment issue, but the fact that it has to get to this point where men and women can't even commute together, paints an ugly picture for gender equality in this country.

The highlight of my last train ride was watching three extremely tall eunuchs (or hijras' as their known here), dressed in bright, colourful saris and the reddest of lipsticks, hop on to the train. They spoke loudly in their deep voices, cracked jokes amongst themselves, and simply oozed of power. The entire vibe in my train section fell flat, it's like you could feel the testosterone level go down; it was the men's turn to feel intimidated. The eunuchs bothered one male passenger to the next, asking them for money, looking them up and down, telling them whether they were hot or not. They acknowledged me by saying, "Hello English-madam," (strange as I hadn't uttered a word and do look completely Indian) but otherwise left me alone. They teased the guy sitting next to me for looking like Shah Rukh Khan, and another for looking like Ranbir Kapoor. They got off at the next stop, but not before shouting out that the guys should all watch the film 'Dostana' (meaning 'Friendship,' a hit film starring Abishek Bachan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra that is saturated with gay sexual innuendos) and get busy! For the next couple of minutes, most of the guys were still looking down at the floor out of sheer embarrassment. It's as if the eunuchs had walked away with their manhood. It's funny how quickly the tables can turn.