Aravanis return youth to family after parent’s plea

VELLORE: It was rather an unusual complaint received at a police station here the other day. The complainant, a farmhand from Tirukovilur in Villupuram district, wanted his ‘son’ Kumaravelu who he alleged had joined a group of aravanis in Vellore to be rescued.

While the police summoned the members of the Vellore district Aravanis Welfare Association (VAWA) to ascertain the facts and in the process found out that the 23-year-old Kumaravelu in fact wanted to be with aravanis as he had recognised himself to be one.

According to Ganga, president of VAWA, Kumaravelu who had completed schooling came to Vellore in search of a job two months ago. Kumaravelu had approached some of the aravanis of Vellore and had expressed his desire to join them. Subsequently he was christened as Amudha and accepted as a member of the association, Ganga said.

Amudha (Kumaravelu) had also taken part in a training programme for aravanis in computer applications recently. Notwithstanding the police complaint, relatives and family members of Kumaravelu approached the aravanis association a few days ago and demanded that their boy be sent with them as his marriage was fixed.

“After a lot of counselling, we tried to reason out with the relatives urging them to understand the individual desire and the right to choose one’s own way of life,” Ganga noted.

When the family insisted on taking the boy, the association conceded. “Though Amudha expressed fear that the parents would not respect his feelings, we had to give a chance for the parents to realise their social responsibility,” Ganga said. This episode has opened a debate on whether an individual has right to choose life much against the parental concern? Whether Aravanis have the right to extend protection to newcomers? Whether parents have right to expect too much from their wards? Social activist Malliga Chandran said that a lot of awareness was needed to accept transgenders in the social set up if not in the family fold.