A Collaboration with Save Indian Trans All India Lives (SITAL)

September 2021 marks the 18th month since the imposition of the very first lockdown due to COVID-19 in India. For marginalized queer/trans persons living on the periphery of survival, it has been an arduous journey. The sudden lockdown created an unprecedented sense of isolation and fear, and within the blood families, problems intensified. But there was no space to talk of this experience that COVID-19 thrust upon the community. Nor is there a record of queer collective experiences within the varied contexts and realities that the community faces. The fear is still lurking around as possibilities of a third wave come to the forefront. One has to live with uncertainty since life presents a strange choice between engaging in livelihood to survive and catching the dreadful infection in efforts to survive and die. Many have lived through this difficult period alone, feeling depressed and suicidal, and continue to do so even now. The lockdown negatively impacted the access to hormones, which then led to many mental health and relationship problems. Lack of livelihood and wages created hunger issues that had not been experienced before. Although used to dealing with scarcity, this period of insecurity was raw and painful. Many realized that there were no preparations when the second wave hit hard and long. Now there is a talk that such pandemics will be a way of life or even the chance of COVID 19 peaking up or recurring.

In this troubling context, with the aid of SITAL (Save Indian Trans AllIndia Lives), a total of 150 ration and medical kits were received by Vikalp and distributed to volunteers in three districts: 25 kits in Jetpur, 75 in Vadodara, and 50 in Chhotaudepur. These kits would further be taken to different areas in different districts for final distribution. Kits in Chhotaudepur were distributed to community members in Kutch, Devgadh Baria, Halol, Panchmahal, Bodeli, Dabhoi, Godhra, Kawant, Pavi Jetpur, and Sankheda. Chhotaudepur district is spread over a distance of approximately 3436 square kilometers, with distances to each of these areas from Chhotaudepur being as far as 612 kilometers till Kutch, 85 kilometers till Halol, 101 kilometers till Panchmahal, 86 kilometers till Godhra, and 56 kilometers till Sankheda.

CU Map
Chota Udaipur-map

Another center of receiving kits was Jetpur. Here, community members from 5 districts were benefited – Junagadh, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Amreli and Dhari. Here too, distances were great. From Jetpur, Jamnagar is 128 kilometers away, and Amreli and Dhari are both 78 kilometers away..

jetpur Map
Jetpur-map

The third center of receiving kits was Vadodara, where the maximum numbers of kits were received. From Vadodara, the following districts were given ration kits to distribute further – Surat, Anand, Nadiad, Kheda, Ranoli, and Ahmedabad. In Ahmedabad, further distribution was done in areas of Surendranagar, Mehsana, Himmatnagar, Bahucharaji, and Mehsana. The distance between Vadodara and Surat is approximately 150 kilometers, and the transportation cost worked out to be ₹3000. Similarly, the distance between Vadodara and Ahmedabad is approximately 112 kilometers, and from Ahmedabad to Surendranagar is 121 kilometers, to Modasa is 100 kilometers, to Himmatnagar is 90 kilometers, and to Bahucharaji is 108 kilometers. The cost of transporting the kits from Vadodara to Ahmedabad, and then from Ahmedabad to these areas totaled to ₹8700.

CU Map
vadodara-map

The context in which we began work deserves some description. As an organization, we mould ourselves according to the needs of the community. Given how far and wide the members were spread over the entire state of Gujarat coupled with their often-clashing working hours meant that the distribution of the ration kits had to be done in accordance with the on-ground guidelines that the community members themselves set. This was around the time when the festival of Eid was around the corner. In the third week of August, another festival – Dashama – was to be celebrated, with people observing fasts and participating in day and night long festivities. This stalled distribution for a while as community members celebrated, and national holidays, such as that of Independence Day (August 15th) and Raksha Bandhan (August 23rd) were observed.

The distribution carried out by us was perhaps non-conventional in some ways – we did not have one specific camp where all beneficiaries could access and collect their ration and medical kit. Our sites were spread out over vast areas, covering many different districts in Gujarat which spanned hundreds of kilometers. We did not predict the kits to be accessed in one day in any district, and that is what happened. Even in Jetpur, where the least number of kits were transported, distribution was spread over many days, sometimes extending to a week.

A persistent worry plaguing us was the weather predictions being made during this time for almost all of the districts covered in our distribution. Gujarat was to expect heavy rainfall, and with the experience of flooding of our office in the past, we were wary and cautious. We took all measures possible in our office space, shifting all our electrical equipment on the upper floor. We then proceeded to stack all the 75 ration kits we received in our office on the ground floor. We identified community members who wished to volunteer the overseeing of distribution in each area, and prepared forms for them to get filled from the beneficiaries so as to maintain a record. The initial round of distributions was started in Jetpur. This was followed by distribution in Vadodara, in Vikalp’s office premises. We first distributed some kits to volunteers who reached our office from other districts. These volunteers then proceeded to transport the kits to these districts, sometimes in their own vehicles, sometimes rented ones, for distribution to the beneficiaries. It is significant to note that when such programmes are organized for the community members, they enthusiastically step up to be volunteer their time and labour for each other. Encouraging grassroots leadership is a strategy that Vikalp has used since its inception, and it was satisfying to see community members taking charge and coordinating such an important programme.

Outside Vadodara, there were other hurdles to overcome. One of our volunteers overseeing the distribution from Jetpur also works full time, and was only available to manage the ration distribution when he was able to take a leave from work. He also had to travel from his workplace in Palitana, to Bhavnagar, from where he finally travelled to Jetpur to the distribution site. This distance totalled to around 200 kilometres, and so distribution here had to be carefully planned and implemented so as to ensure resource and time efficiency for the volunteer, as well as the beneficiaries.

At the places of distribution, we made sure to get the beneficiaries to sign on a sheet to acknowledge that they had received a ration and medical kit from us. We took pictures of the distribution with as many people as were comfortable being photographed. Coming together to engage in this process also enabled us to talk with the people of the community about other services owed to them by the state. We had conversations about facilitating the process of name and gender change for them under the new Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, as well as the creation of new identity cards and updating the existing ones (for e.g. Aadhar Card, PAN Card, Voter ID, etc). Through this process, we were also able to identify many new persons who belong to the community. We were also able to talk about the importance of vaccination for community members, and urged people to register themselves for the shot. In this regard, one trans man from Vikalp even penned an award-winning poem on the importance of vaccines. The poem and its translation are given below:

જરૂરી છે રસી

જીવતા માણસને ફરીથી મન ભરીને જીવવા માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
ફરીથી પહેલાની જેમ એકબીજા સાથે રેહવા માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
રોજ બરોજની જરૂરી જરૂરિયાતવાળી વાતો કરવા માટે જરૂરી છે રસી .
આપણા તહેવારો આપણી સંસ્કૃતિ ને માણવા માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
શિક્ષણરૂપી બગીચામાં ખીલી પડેલા ફૂલો મૂરઝાય ના જાય
એ માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
લોકડાઉન નામના ભયાનક પિંજરામાં ઘરમાં પુરાયેલા પ્રેમીઓ માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
સુખમાં સાથ અને દુઃખમાં સાંત્વના માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
રોજ બરોજની જરૂરિયાતોને પૂરી કરતા લોકો માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
સૂની પડેલી પ્રકૃતિને ફરીથી ખીલવવા માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
અહીં ન વર્ણવી શકાય એટલા કારણો માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.
જીવતા માણસને ફરીથી મનભરી ને જીવવા માટે જરૂરી છે રસી.

-કિરણ ટોળીયા

Vaccine is important


For a living being to live to their heart’s content, vaccine is necessary.
To be able to live with each other again like we did before, vaccine is necessary.
To talk about the necessities of everyday life, vaccine is necessary.
To be able to celebrate our festivals, our culture, vaccine is necessary.
In the garden of education, to prevent the blooming flowers from wilting, vaccine is necessary.
For the lovers trapped at home in the cage named lockdown, vaccine is necessary.
To share in the happiness, and be consoled in the sadness, vaccine is necessary.
For those carrying out activities of daily necessities, vaccine is necessary.
To help the now barren nature bloom again, vaccine is necessary.
For reasons that cannot be described here, vaccine is necessary.
For a living being to live to their heart’s content, vaccine is necessary.

– Kiran Toliya