Saw FIVE Eunuchs today!

I went downtown to a 2-wheeler dealership to buy a new battery for Erik's 2-wheeler (so I could get one with a warranty). At the shop, I had the opportunity to people-watch while waiting for a Sikh on a motorcycle to bring the battery from the supply shop. My people-watching paid off handsomely as I watched a group of three Eunuchs go from shop to shop collecting their extortion money.
I wanted to take a photo of them, but since there were three, someone was always looking in my direction and I thought they would make a scene if they caught me taking their photo.

I call it extortion because they walk from tea cart, to magazine stall, to proper shop getting money from the owners in exchange for NOT making a scene in front of their establishment. They create scenes by loudly singing & dancing to attract attention, this could escalate to them hiking up their skirts and showing their genitalia, or cursing the shop keeper/shop. It's easier to just throw them a rupee when they march up to the counter, clap their hands once, and put out their hand. And they do this with an air of entitlement.


After the 2-wheeler shop I went to a downtown grocery store and, as luck would have it, there was another Eunuch across the street and I was able to capture her photo.


Then on the way home, passing through Marathalli again, we were stuck in traffic so I watched as this Eunuch went from shop to shop.

From Wikipedia:
The hijra of India
The Ancient Indian Kama Sutra refers to people of a "third sex" (trtyaprakrti), who can be dressed either in men's or in women's clothes and perform fellatio on men. The term has been translated as "eunuchs" (as in Sir Richard Burton's translation of the book), but these persons have also been considered to be the equivalent of the modern hijra of India.
Hijra, a Hindi term traditionally translated into English as "eunuch", actually refers to what modern Westerners would call male-to-female transgender people and effeminate homosexuals (although some of them reportedly identify as belonging to a third sex). Some of them undergo ritual castration, but the majority do not. They usually dress in saris (traditional Indian garb worn by women) and wear heavy make-up. They typically live in the margins of society, face discrimination[9] and earn their living in various ways, e.g., by coming uninvited at weddings, births, new shop openings and other major family events and singing until they are paid or given gifts to go away.[10] The ceremony is supposed to bring good luck and fertility, while the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by many. Other sources of income for the hijra are begging and prostitution. The begging is accompanied by singing and dancing and the hijras usually get the money easily. Some Indian provincial officials have used the assistance of hijras to collect taxes in the same fashion; they knock on the doors of shopkeepers, while dancing and singing, and embarrass them into paying.[11] Recently, hijras have started to found organizations to improve their social condition and fight discrimination. There has even been a wave of hijra entering politics and being elected to high political positions. The American transsexual activist and computer expert Anne Ogborn is an initiated member of the hijra community. She travelled to India and was accepted into the community.