6 transgenders to say 'I do' on V-Day

New Delhi: It won't be official by a long shot but Ali and Janashree are going ahead anyway. On Valentine's Day, at a municipal community centre near Kashmere Gate, about half a dozen transgender women (and the number is growing) will 'marry' their male partners.
Last time, before the Supreme Court order on Section 377, city NGO for LGBT rights, SPACE, had organised a ring-exchange.This time, they're going all the way-there will be a minor baraat, garlands will be exchanged, dhol, and the brides will walk in under a dupatta. There will be about 200 guests from the community.
Ali (26) and Janashree (24) have spent five years together. They met at a party in 2011 and within months, when Ali realised his parents aren't about to accept the relationship, he moved out. They share a flat in Gokulpur where Ali owns and runs a furniture store. Janashree isn't bahu to his family but she is bhabhi to his employees. "I bought myself a suit even before we qualified for this. I hope we can adopt a child later," says Ali.
Couples had to apply for Dil Dhadakne Do. Couples need to have spent some years together and be willing to spend more. For the rest, they go by gut feeling. Anjan Joshi of SPACE quizzes new 'applicants' Deepika (22) and Avdesh Kumar Jadun (23), and like an old-fashion father-in-law, asks Avdesh his intentions. He's a medical representative; she does toli-badhai; they met at college when Deepika, then going by the name of Suraj, found Avdesh digs. His parents kicked up some fuss but finally accepted her.
SPACE has similarly vetted couples, picking ones who have spent some years together and are willing to spend more. Kanika (27) is less confident about her fiance Vikram's support though she admits his agreeing to 'marry' at the do is "a big step". Kanika runs a training centre for SPACE and met Vikram, an architect, in Connaught Place.
"This is about acknowledging their relationship and at the same time, the community demands the government and law accept it too," says Joshi.
As a pre-wedding do, three couples were getting their mehendi done at SPACE's Kashmere Gate centre on Friday. Hijras, he explains are "supposed to be asexual". "That's why people accept their blessings and believe what they say comes true."
Having partners openly and marrying suggests the opposite. "It says they're like any of us," he says. It also interferes with the traditional source of income-blessing newborns and newlyweds-and is, therefore, frowned upon by the older members of the community.
"This goes against the guru-chela structure but with changing time, many of the younger kinnars don't want to sing or dance. They want marriage and families," says Joshi. Janashree, for instance, isn't sure she'll continue with toli-badhai. "I'll see. I may take up modelling."