Meet My Friend Reema

One of the most fascinating things about Pakistan is that even though it's an "Islamic Republic" and supposedly a very strict, fundamentalist religious state, there are still cross-dressers. Cross-dressers who walk around openly and beg people for money. They're called hijras and they knock on people's doors, go around to local business, and beg on the street collecting money. I first learned about hijras in a Religion & Gender class I took in college, which was fascinating on so many levels. They talked about it as an Indian thing, but as we all know, India and Pakistan share a lot of these cultural tidbits. I can't remember if they're bad luck and people are paying them to keep them away, or if they're good luck and people are paying them to acquire some kind of good luck for themselves. Reema is a beggar that came by the house the first time when I was in Pakistan. She's the first hijra I ever met. Ammi answered the door and then came back into the house to get some money for her, and when I heard there was a hijra at the door, I went out to see for myself. I asked Reema if I could take her picture and she said yes. 

After I left Pakistan, she would come by and ask about me even after I left, asking why her Bhajhi (meaning sister, which she called me) wasn't sending her jeans from Amreeka. My mother-in-law just laughed and said that Bhajhi (me) didn't know her sizes! And she replied that at the least, I should be sending her shampoo and nail polish! When Ammi came to visit us in America, I had this picture framed and had Ammi take it back for Reema. Last year, when I visited Karachi again, she came around begging again and let me take her picture again, too.