The first six months in a year are crucial for trans folk artists in Madurai district. During this period, villages organise local festivals and temples host cultural events. But during the lockdowns, the restrictions on large public gatherings have severely impacted the roughly 500 trans women artists in Tamil Nadu.
Among them is Magie, and her two-room home in Vilangudi town, less than 10 kilometres from Madurai city, is a meeting place and shelter for other trans women. Magie is among few trans women in the district who perform the traditional kummi paatu songs to mark the sprouting of seeds after sowing. During the 10-day Mulaipari festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu in July every year, this song is a prayer- offering to the village goddesses for rain, soil fertility and a good harvest.
Her friends and co-workers all dance to these songs. It has for long been a source of income for them. But with the pandemic-lockdowns, the festival was not held in July 2020 and didn’t take place this month either (See In Madurai: the trauma of trans folk artists). And their other regular source of income – collecting money from shops – in and around Madurai or even in Bengaluru, also came to a near-standstill. With it, their roughly Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000 monthly income dropped to nearly nothing during the lockdowns.
