‘Transgenders also deserve respect, dignity’

A theatre play based on the true life of Akkai Padmashali, “Akkai - a woman for a change”, was staged at the Decennial Memorial Hall on Wednesday in continued celebration of International Women’s Day.

The play was jointly organised by Father Muller Charitable Institutions, Women Empowerment Cell and Mangalore University’s Chair in Christianity portrays the essence of a woman who beat all odds to overcome the shackles placed by society.

Head of the Chair in Christianity (MU) Rev Dr Ivan D’Souza, while introducing Akkai, said that Akkai is the founder and head of Ondede Foundation, the organization to facilitate and support sexual minorities.

Akkai works in different fields such as music, literature, youth education, social and political activism, he added.

Director of FMCI Rev Fr Richard Aloysius Coelho in his presidential address opined that if a world had no feminine quality, the world would be mundane.

The atrocities against women or gender-based violence are on the rise and literature shows that 70% of women have been through one ordeal or another. Such actions should be despised and a learned society rather than an awakened society should help mitigate such issues, he said.

We are an evolving society and thus there should be no gender parity but only equality. Males, females or transgenders are part of society and sexual orientation should not be the cause for one's grievance.

Akkai Padmashali said, “The play does not talk about me but of all the Akkais who need to be saved from vulnerable situations. People should awaken themselves and be emboldened to stay free and secular.”

The objective of the play is to create social awareness, seek common grounds in all religions based on human value, respect, dignity. Thus, transgenders also form the mainstream of society and deserve the same respect and dignity as the other genders, she said.

The play evolved through the life of Akkai being thrown out of her home, to the tragic incidents she faced, to her homecoming under the hijra community and being a self-empowered person.

The play was staged in attendance of student representatives and management committee members of FMCI.

The script and direction of the play were orchestrated by Dr Beluru Raghunandan, with actress Nayana Sooda enacting Dr Akkai, and music by Rajguru and Tanuj Aradhya.