BENGALURU: Transgenders opting to use Namma Metro say that they are regularly made to feel like second class citizens by insensitive co-passengers. The behaviour from commuters ranges from downright insulting behaviour like vacating one’s seat on a train when a transgender sits close by or moving away if the individual happens to stand near one to annoying behaviour like sharing knowing smiles or winks with strangers or laughing.
The insensitive behaviour from commuters remains whether they travel by the regular coach or in the areas earmarked for ladies. Transgender activist Akkai Padmashali, founder of ‘Ondede’ (which means Convergence), told The New Indian Express that insulting behaviour from fellow commuters has become routine now. “I have often experienced it when I travel by the Ladies reserved coaches and so do many in my community.
We will shortly be meeting the top officials of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited and ask them to sensitise the travelling public,” she said. “This has been going on for long and definitely needs to stop,” she added.The mocking intensifies the moment a phone call is received, the activist explained. “We speak in our natural voice and we can hear loud giggles and whispers when the call ends.”
Sana, a transgender, recalls an incident that took place on a train when she and her friend were commuting from Goraguntepalya to Jayanagar recently in a regular coach. “My friend (name withheld on request) has very clear features of a transgender. We were both able to get seats and she occupied a seat opposite mine. The moment she sat down, a woman with her child got up and left the seat and stood nearby. The woman cautioned her child to keep away from my friend,” she said. “It was so downright humiliating and my friend later told me this happens to her very often,” Sana added.
It is not just the passengers, even those manning ticket counters at stations and security staffers too make fun of us, Sana added. However, Padmashali said that Metro staff in general were well behaved.
Another transgender, Anuradha, said that she has often seen people move away from her when she enters a train.Commuter Bhavana Rajesh said, “What they are saying is very true. I travel daily on the Purple Line to work and back home and often see passengers treat them with contempt.”