Chapter-III

ARUNDHATI ROY’S THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS

We now live in a world that submits our bodies to the 'medical gaze' from the moment we
are born or even before we are born. Of fact, identifying genital differences at birth is
something that all human civilizations do, but what that difference entails varies from
culture to culture and over time. That initial proclamation sets off a chain of events
including our cultural views about the relationship between our physical bodies and how
they are socially classified, what social categories are available to be assigned to or identify
with, and what is and is not within the purview of science. We are all allocated to a social
category-gender-based on our physical appearance, which is supported by medical
research and bolstered by cultural views about gender and what our bodies imply. That's
something we've all gone through.

To be 'transgender,' one must feel compelled to move beyond the limitations imposed by
the un-chosen starting point from which one is thrust into the world. Nobody has the option
of choosing their own body. It's something over which we have no control. The potential
to influence what your body signifies to yourself and others is where the agency comes in.
Trans identities and behaviors are one of the most pressing issues in today's culture. They
are those who, rather than being a part of our world since the dawn of time, have lived in
isolation, deprived of identity and fundamental rights. Being a transgender person is not
something that a person can control; it is as much a blessing from God as itis for the other
two genders. As it is claimed, when a boy is born, he is regarded Shiva, and when a girl is
born, she is considered Parvati; similarly, when a transsexual is born, he is
Ardhanareshwar, a combination of Shiva and Parvati. They are divine creations of God,
just like everyone else. Belonging to third gender or having a gender-queer identity is a
natural part of being human. As defined by Susan Stryker in Transgender History:

“Gender identity: Each person has a subjective sense of fit with a particular gender
category; this is one’s gender identity. For most people, there is a sense of congruence
between the category one has been assigned to and trained in, and what one considers
oneself to be. Transgender people demonstrate that this is not always the case-that is
possible to form a sense of oneself as not like other members of the gender one has been

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assigned to, or to think of one as properly belonging to another gender category”. (13)
Transgenders are called upon by many names as eunuchs, chakka, hijra, aravani etc and are
taken as untouchables in the present scenario. While the Hijra community is still adored by
the general public and honoured at religious and spiritual rites, they arefrequently subjected
to abuse and discrimination. Community-based violence and hate crimes are frequent.
Hijras' lives are often physically, mentally, and emotionally damaged by experiences of
shame, disgrace, and terrible violence in whatever section of thecountry where they live.
In today's world, the hijra community's ambiguous gender, as well as its class dimension,
has a significant impact on matters that the upper class takes for granted, such as access to
education, employment, and medical treatment. Hijras face discrimination as a
marginalized social group, with gender violence and other human rights violations. The
LGBTQ community in India is an example of a subaltern identity that has persevered
through many leaps and bounds, but now finds itself on the outside of societal territory.
They exist outside of conventional society but are 'normalised,' that is, they are existent in
a large number of places; recognition of their existence is inevitable, yet their existence and
existential rights go undetected and unaccountable. “The voice of dissent present in queer
literature breaks the structural social hegemony. As it disintegrates, the religious and the
state’s control over sexuality withers away. However, queer literature does not present a
ready- made solution to the problems faced by these sexual subalterns but it becomes their
space to thrive and celebrate their identities”. (Chakraborty, 386).

Several thinkers have written about the world's queer structure. From decades to decades,
writers have publicly discussed their existence, their historical antecedents, their culture,
and how important they are in the mainstream world. Their existence has been cherished
since the beginning of time, and it is now their turn to live freely. Indian writers too have
gathered the courage to talk up strongly about the rights and the ill-treatment of the LGBTQ
community. Arundhati Roy is one of the writers who has addressed this important issue in
society. She is one of India's finest writers, speaking candidly about important challenges
in the Indian mainstream. The topics she addresses in her works have been ingrained in
our culture for a long time and are rarely discussed; instead, she addresses current
challenges that need to be addressed. She was born in the Indian state of Meghalaya on
November 24, 1961. Rajib Roy, her father, was a Bengali Hindu, and Mary Roy, her
mother, was a Syrian Christian. Arundhati Roy has her own viewpoint on

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society, and her novels have effectively established her in the academic sector. She received
the Sahitya Akademi Award in January 2006. As an Indian English writer, she delves
deeply into modern social and political topics, as seen by a slew of articles, interviews, and
books. "Much of my non-fiction writing is an argument, but fiction is where you create a
universe through which you invite a reader to walk. It is much more complex. For me, it is
the most satisfying thing. When I write fiction, I feel like I amusing all my skills, it
delights me the most," Roy told PTI in an interview.

Roy's debut novel, The God of Small Things, was widely acclaimed when it was published
in 1997. The semiautobiographical novel deviated from the standard plots and breezy style
seen in most best-sellers. Roy's work, written in lyrical language about SouthAsian themes
and characters in a time-traveling story, became the best-selling novel by a non-expatriate
Indian author and received the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1998. In 2017, The Ministry
of Utmost Happiness, was published. The piece combines a huge ensemble of people,
including a transgender lady and a Kashmiri resistance fighter, to portray contemporary
India, blending personal experiences with current themes. Roy's prose swerves drunkenly
from the self-consciously lovely to the borderline absurd. Her aesthetic can be irritating,
yet the confusion, the upheaval, is an artistic choice that fits hervision. Roy's family has
always been a part of the precariat, or individuals who live on the outside of society. Roy's
response to her critics has always been love. She does not despise India; rather, she delights
in its diversity. She is loyal to her vision of India, and unlike many 'patriots,' she holds her
India to the greatest standards. She also makes us think about what we're doing to ourselves
as a society. Her heart, not her talent, is what makes her indispensable, a writer we need
because of her ability and determination to irritate those who want nothing more than to
gain power. “There is something childish about Roy. She has a heightened capacity for
wonder”— quote from one of the Booker Prize judges.

Arundhati Roy's novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017) is set in India. The
transgender topic is mostly depicted in this work through the transgender protagonist
Anjum, a Hijra. The first and most important subject that Roy tackled through herprincipal
character Anjum is transsexual identity. When she writes in the first few words of the novel,
Roy hits her hard with reality “She didn’t turn to see which small boy had thrown a stone
at her, didn’t crane her neck to read the insults scratched into her bark.

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When people called her names - clown without a circus, queen without a palace - she let
the hurt blow through her branches like a breeze and used the music of her rustling leaves
as balm to ease her pain.” (3)

To comprehend transgender persons in relation to race, struggle, triumph, body, dream,

narrative, identity, and imagery, questions about gender have been addressed and
examined. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness depicts transgender people's success in
forming their own community outside of heteronormative society but also wielding
influence as social insiders. Through the transgender protagonist Anjum, who wishes to
escape heteronormative society and the hierarchical structure and go towards the potential
of liberty in the House of Dreams.

The novel depicts transgender people's constructive desire to push beyond normative
bounds. While expressing concern about the impact of other forms of non-binary gender
expression on hijras' unique identity, the novel is sympathetic to the fact that this shift is
part of a larger negotiation of social space, rather than a comment on the category's
redundancy. Anjum, the novel's main hijra character, must work in a bluntly violent and
identity-suppressing environment encouraged by right-wing Hindutva ideologies;
ultimately, she succeeds in rejecting her reduction to a symbol of Hinduism and founding
her own community of marginalized people, but the broader category of 'hijra' as a socially-
condoned grouping remains a question mark.

The book begins with an image of a marble grave and its surroundings on the cover page.
The dedication of the book, "to, the unconsoled," sets the tone for the book's subject matter:
to comfort individuals whose stories have been "buried under years of silence"and
overlooked by the "pages of the hegemony's history," a history committed to the periphery.
She has proven herself to be an outstanding historiographer and a clever tale teller by
rewriting history through the voices of victims. Anjum is described as "living in a
graveyard like a tree" in the first few words of the novel (3), Anjum has been likened as a
tree. A natural growth could be represented by the tree. It might also represent her
desire to live in the face of overwhelming odds, transporting her between the poles. She
defies the odds. The vultures that hovered in the tree's upper limbs. The poisoning of the
vulture serves as a metaphor for how India's society has been poisoned by a history of
corrupt politicians, religious hatreds, and rivers of blood, death, and rejected justice.

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Living an abandoned existence in a graveyard may appear to be an abstract occurrence to
the living, but Roy has attempted to depict the postcolonial civilizations' dead end through
graveyards. As we progress, we discover that she is referred to by various names. Majnu,
Romeo, Anjum: a history is imposed on her by several names, but she is unconcerned: "It
doesn't matter." I'm Romi and Juli, Laila and Majnu, and I'm all of them. And why not
Mujna? I'm Anjuman, and whomever thinks my name is Anjum is wrong. I'm a gathering,
a mehfil.” It's a world of everyone and nobody, everything and nothing." (4)

As the narrative progresses, it becomes clear that Anjum has evolved into a true mehfil
for all. In the second chapter, we meet Anjum in Khwabgah, a transgender-only resort that
serves as a safe haven. The readers are exposed to one of the novel's subject-matter - the
territory of the transgender - during the first four chapters.

The story begins in the 1950s, when Jahanara Begum, a Delhi housewife who has desired
day and night from last six years, after three daughters, for a boy baby, goes into birth,
and the midwife informs her that her wish has been granted. She is the mother of a son.
That was the happiest night of her life. After getting the news of her being pregnant, she
and her husband had decided that if a boy is born, they’ll name him Aftab. Thus, the boy is
named as decided. Next day Jahanara unswaddles Aftab “she explored his tiny body- eyes
nose head neck armpits finger toes- with sated, unhurried delight. That was when she
discovered, nestling underneath his boy- parts, a small, unformed, but undoubtedly girl-
part.” (7) She was devastated when she realized this. Her nerves were completely gone. She
couldn't believe her eyes and her feelings. Everything she had been certain of beganto
make sense to her there, in the abyss, spinning through the darkness. This is the first stage
of the novel where readers are introduced with the gender structure of our society.
“In Urdu, the only language she knew, all things, not just livings but all things- carpets,
clothes, books, pens, musical instruments- had a gender. Everything was either masculine
or feminine, man or woman. Everything except her baby. Yes of course she knew there was
a word for those like him- Hijra. Two words actually, Hijra and Kinnar”. (8) Theonly
question she had in her mind that “Was it possible to live outside language?” (8) Hijras are
a divisive and small subculture in Indian society, and their presence challenges fundamental
conceptions of sex or gender. They must be acknowledged as having a place on the gender
spectrum in society with all the rights and liberties.

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This question, whether it's possible to exist outside the control of language, outside of the
confined categories, the binaries that don't work for many of us, recurs throughout the book,
rising louder and louder as the book delves deeper into the Kashmir conflict. This phrase
encapsulates how tough it is for a third-gender person to survive in a heteronormative
culture. The world's cruel truth, of which she was scared, is Aftab's mother's anxiety and
fear of non-acceptance. Rather of accepting the truth, she found it much easier to believe
the falsehood. She was adamant about not accepting her son's hermaphroditic nature.
Jahanara decides not to inform anyone, even her husband, about this. She attempts to
console herself by believing that God will show pity on her child,and she prays at every
shrine she visits, pleading with Almighty to show mercy, whichshe knows he will.

Jahanara Begum began visiting Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed's dargah. She would spend hours
in the dargah listening to Sarmad Shaheed's story and praying to Allah to heal his son. The
human body is a very intimate object that has now evolved into a societal construct. Aftab,
who eventually becomes Anjum, is also alienated by this social construct because the
society in which he lives determines all conventions, including those governing one's body.
(Vargese & Pius, 2019). Jahanara thought with time her son’s body would change but year
after year passed nothing changed. The mystery stayed hidden for the firstseveral
years of Aftab's life. She kept him near and was extremely protective of him until the girl
portion healed. Aftab began attending school at the age of five and was an above- average
learner. Everyone knew he had a musical talent when he was a child. His parents decide to
entrust him to Ustad Hameed Khan, a gifted young musician who specialized in Hindustani
classical music. Aftab had a natural talent for singing, and at the age of nine, he could
perform Chaiti and Thumri with the dexterity and poise of a Lucknow courtesan.People in
the neighborhood were initially amused, but they soon began taunting and snickering at
Aftab. “He’s a She. He’s not a He or a She. He’s a He and a She. She-He, He-She Hee!
Hee! Hee!” (10)

The sentence alone encapsulates the issue that a person who has a different identification
than that of a 'he' or a 'she' faces. They are mocked, bullied, and humiliated on a regular
basis, despite the fact that they are as normal as any other human being. In ancient times,
the presence of the third gender was revered, but today it is regarded as a social disgrace.
They are denied their identities and basic rights, and rather than being treated as equals,

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their identity is called into doubt in every aspect of their life. Their identity is on the line,
or they will live with a beheaded individuality. They are the world's most miserable species,
with no experience, and hence are the assassins of deep lowliness, always fearful of being
insulted. Gender identification refers to an individual’s identity as a male or female based
on the extent of womanly or manly qualities in an adult who corresponds to the traditional
view of society. In a piece of article, “Let Us to Live: Social Exclusion of Hijra
Community”, Hijras have been referred by Sibsankar Mal as “an umbrella term to signify
individuals who defy rigid, binary gender constructions and who express or present a
breaking and blurring of culturally prevalent stereotypically gender roles.”

When the taunting got too much to handle, Aftab dropped out of both his music and high
school classes. The Eunuchs do not conform to societal expectations. They are robbed of
their social rights since they do not fit into this gender culture. They exist in a male body,
but with female emotions. They still have an identity dilemma in this stereotyped
environment, centred on the stereotypical male-female connection. They are robbed of
psychological, economic, and political freedom across society. They constantly have a
craving for their name and a space for themselves when they survive in the cliché.
Jahanara's hope had all but vanished by that point. There were no signs of recovery on the
horizon. With a succession of ingenious reasons, she had managed to put off his
circumcision for several years. But it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to come
up with something new and credible, so she decided to do what she needed to do. She
summoned the bravery to tell her husband, breaking down and sobbing with pain as well
as relief at having someone with whom to share her nightmare. Mulaqat Ali, Aftab’s
father was a hakim (doctor) and was very fond of poetry.

For the first time in his life, he had no acceptable couplet for the occasion when he
learned about his son. It took him some time to recover from his initial shock. He then
chastised his wife for not telling him the truth earlier. He was certain that their son's
problem could be solved with a simple medical remedy. He did every possible thing, took
him to doctors, took medical help, but nothing changed. Dr. Nabi, known for straight-
talking man of precise and short temper, after examining Aftab said, “Aftab, he said, was
a rare example of a Hermaphrodite, with both male and female characteristics… While
treatment would surely help, there would be Hijra tendencies that were unlikely to ever
go away”. (17) Mulaqat began cutting back on his expenses and saved money for the

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procedure because it would be costly. Mulaqat used to tell him stories about warriors and
courageous monarchs in order to foster so-called macho behavior and suppress his female
tendencies, while also discouraging him from listening to Chaiti and Thumri music.
Listening to these chivalric stories, rather than being influenced by the heroic characters,
he was much influenced by the woman of the story. He desired to be like them.

When Aftab saw a tall, slim-hipped woman wearing bright lipstick, gold high heels, and a
shining, green satin salwar kamiz buying bangles in real life, it was the first time she felt
like a woman. This was for Aftab's first meeting with a lady, when he realized he wanted
to be one. This woman was special to him, someone he could look up to. No ordinary
woman would have been allowed to sashay down Shahjahanabad’s streets dressed like that.
Ordinary women, with the exception of their hands and feet, donned burqas or at least
covered their heads and every other part of their bodies. The lady Aftab pursued would
decorate herself and walked the way she did because she wasn't a woman. Aftab aspired to
just be like her in some way, shape, or form. He intended to flaunt a bead bracelet and
fingers with painted nails. All of her hobbies and preferences demonstrate that Aftab's
female role was not merely an afterthought. He followed the tall speaking woman and
learned her name as well as the location where he lived. Bombay Silk was hername, and
Aftab learned about seven other women named Bulbul, Razia, Heera, Baby, Nimmo, Mary,
and Gudiya who were similar to her. After learned their haveli was called Khwabgah-
House of Dreams.

Regardless of the reprimand and punishment that awaited him, Aftab began to visit this
location more frequently. “It was the only place in his world where he felt the air made way
for him” (19). Roy emphasizes the subject of how tough it is to survive for persons who do
not fit into any of the gender categories. They are crushed, humiliated, and find it difficult
to live in every aspect of their lives. Judith Butler is the most well-known thinkerwho has
looked at sexual and gender identity as a social act. “To what extent,” she asks, “do
regulatory practices of gender formation and division constitute identity, the internal
coherence of the subject, indeed, the self- identical status of the person?” (Gender Trouble
16). Roy depicted the polarization of gender and race in the identity of hijras in Indian
society, who are considered as inferior, untouchable, and outcast. Our culture needs to
educate itself about their suffering, issues, and mistreatment today. They have the right to
exist and take part in society in general. They should have freedom to express.

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Finally, Aftab became a permanent resident of Khwabgah. The doors seemed like a
paradise to him. This was the day she became ANJUM for Aftab. Aftab's transition into
Anjum was portrayed as a portal into another universe. She resided with other ladies, a
mixed community of hermaphrodites that included men who were anti-surgery, Hindus,
and Muslims. The conflict between the normal world, Duniya, and Hijra's setting was
depicted subtly. Anjum realized that the Hijra were a select group of citizens endowed with
the power to curse and bless. The problem was that the relatively few people who wielded
this power were consigned to the periphery of society. Aftab's transformationinto Anjum
began as a type of self-transcendence. Anjum also spoke up about the plightof Hijras, and
Khwabgah was the home of people like her. It was a position that allowed them to be free
of their physical bodies. The life inside the Khwabgah was much different and friendly than
outside. Apart from the war going in the outside world, there was a war inside them which
they try to overcome on daily basis. As a careful observer of human nature, Roy points out
that happiness is entirely a sensation of inner realization. The occupants of the Khwabgah
pretended to be happy, but they only pretended to be happy. This fake happiness appeared
to provide an escape from the dreariness and decadence of the actual world. The novelist
uses Khwabgah as a vehicle to voice her dissatisfactionwith the harsh facts of life.
Ordinary people encounter exterior challenges, but the inmates of the Khwabgah face
internal problems as well. Roy not only refers to the unchangeable truths and machinations
of ordinary realities regulated by laws and regulations, but he openly mocks them. “The
riot is inside us. The war is inside us. Indo- Pak is inside us. It will never settle down. It
can’t”. (23)

The term "settle down" suggests that transgender persons would never be able to recover
from their terrible experiences and social humiliation. However, near the end of the novel,
Anjum disproves this assumption. According to Vickroy (2014), different people have
different reactions to trauma. She not only recovers to some extent, but also serves as a
source of assistance and refuge for other people in need. She was never satisfied with her
life in Khwabgah and yearned to return to Duniya. This was a war of non-acceptance,
rejection, and unequal treatment, among other things. “Now, she wanted to return to the
Duniya and live like an ordinary person. She wanted to be a mother, to wake up on her own
home, dress Zainab in a school uniform and send her off to school with her books and tiffin
box. The question was, were ambitions such as these, on the part of someone like herself,
reasonable or unreasonable?” (30). Anjum's vacillating attitude about her life

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(whether she lives in Khwabgah or Duniya) reveals her fragmented psyche in the face of
catastrophic incidents or experiences. When she was residing in Khwabgah, she came upon
a tiny child on the mosque's stairs one day. She named her Zainab and carried her to the
Khwabgah. She wanted to treat Zainab as if she were her own child. She aspired to be a
mother, in fact. However, Roy raises the question of whether she might accomplish her
aspirations in this particular social setting. Society would never recognize her as a mother
raising her own child in the same way that other women do. Those who break free from the
restrictions of society will be humiliated. Family ties were severed the day Anjum entered
Khwabgah. They would occasionally cross paths on the street and exchange glances, but
never greetings.

Over the years, Anjum became Delhi’s most famous Hijra. “Once she became a permanent
resident of Khwabgah, Anjum was finally able to dress in the clothes she longed to wear
– the sequined, gossamer kurtas and pleated Patiala salwars, sharara…”
(26) The genuine, biological women in the neighbourhood, even those who didn't wear full
burqas, appeared foggy and dispersed as a result of these looks and her constant adherence
to an exaggerated, ridiculous form of feminity. When she walked, she learned to exaggerate
the swing in her hips and communicate with the distinctive Hijra clap,which sounded
like a gunshot and could represent anything. Only another Hijra could decipher what the
exact clap at that specific moment signified. The Hijras have been seen as second-class
citizens by the heteronormative world. They are treated as though they lack identity,
ambition, or respect, and are only treated as an object, if that. Anjum, on theother hand,
was unique. She had known her worth since she was a child. Anjum felt much more
confident in her own physique after meeting Kulsoom Bi, the head of Khwabgah. Ustad
Kulsoom Bi says to Anjum, “Hijras were chosen people, beloved of the Almighty. The
word Hijra, she said, meant a Body in which a Holy Soul lives”. (27) Anjum felt as ifa fog
had lifted from her blood, allowing her to think properly for the first time.

Roy depicted the polarization of gender and race in the identity of hijras in Indian society,
who are considered as inferior, untouchable, and outcast. Woodward wrote, “The world
was ordered by gender divisions with gender giving meaning to social divisions” (2003,
pg. 109). The social divisions of class, ethnicity, handicap, and sexuality are all linked to
gender. For reasons of sexuality, the Hijra community is divided and segregated insociety.
In India, they are treated and discriminated against as the third gender, and the world's
new word for hijra is transgender. In the outer world, her manly voice “frightened

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 other people” (28) and even members of the Government “...like everyone else, they feared
being cursed by a Hijra.” (67). People rejected her for superficial reasons, such as alack of
information or myths, and Anjum had to battle against gender rankings and accepted norms
in order to be a part of the anti-apartheid opposition. She set her emotional impulses free
and spent thirty years in the Khwabgah.

She came upon a little girl on the Jama Masjid's stairwell one day. The girl looked like a
mouse since it was so small and had large, scared eyes. She was 3 years old and dressed
in a soiled white hijab with a green salwar kameez. Anjum stayed on the steps with her
for hours, asking passers-by if they knew anyone who was missing a child, but no one
responded. She eventually welcomed her into her duniya. Anjum gave her the name Zainab,
and she quickly became everyone's favorite after receiving a lot of affection from everyone.
She adjusted quickly to her new life, showing that she wasn't really attached to her prior
one. She started calling Anjum 'Mummy' after a few weeks. Love absorbed Zainab as sand
absorbs the sea. Anjum displayed all of the maternal affection and lovethat a mother has
for her kid. Anjum began to construct a simpler, happier life for herself in order to please
Zainab. As a result of the rewrite, Anjum became a simpler, happier person.

The troubles of hermaphrodites outnumber the issues of ordinary people since the latteris
subjected to external conflicts while the former is subjected to interior warfare of various
kinds. Khwabgah is a miniature of the civilized and normal human world, which is the
macrocosm for the novelist. Roy, as a detached observer, exposes the sorrow of captives'
identities while simultaneously revealing their links to royal pride. Ustad Kulsoom Bi appears
to guard against the waning regal dignity that allowed many past kings to navigate their
complicated ties with relative ease. “We are the Hijras of Shahjahanabad. Our rulers trusted
us enough to put their wives and mothers in our care. Once we roamed freely in their private
quarters, the zenana, of the Red Fort. They are all gone now, those mighty emperors and their
queens. But we are still here. Think about thatand ask yourselves why that should be”. (49)
Kulsoom Bi defended the Khwabgah's historical value, although she warned her people against
abandoning its traditions. She reaffirms that such a system exists and should not be dismissed.
Through this narrative we are introduced to the plight of an entire community. For
LGBTQ people, the tension between their physical needs and society's demands for "socially
constructed" is a typical experience.

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There were ups and downs as generations shifted inside the Khwabgah, but she was content
in her own duniya. Khwabgah has had a large influx of new residents. Ustad Kulsoom Bi
later opted to delegate her tasks to someone else because she was ill. Despite her lack of
seniority, Saaeda, a new addition to the Khwabgah family, was in a tight race with Anjum
for the position of Ustad of Khwabgah. Anjum is represented by Roy as a self-sufficient
woman who understands what is right and wrong for her. Despite all of her trials and
tribulations, she has never let herself down. She was a person with aspirations and dreams.
Through Anjum/story, Roy gave voice to a socially marginalized communityand revealed
their mental anguish with significant psychological insights. Readers are introduced to the
myriad inequities and types of violence that plague the city in which Anjum lives through
Anjum's eyes. Roy questions not only the idea of a gender binary, but also other artificial
kinds of societal division, such as ethnicity and religion, by investigating the manner in
which Anjum navigates gender identification and portrays hertrans identity in a positive
and nuanced light.
Anjum is caught up in a slaughter of Hindu pilgrims and subsequent government reprisals
against Muslims while visiting a Gujarati shrine, and she retreats to the graveyard, at least
temporarily discarding her brilliantly colored attire for a more masculine Pathan outfit.
Trauma is what first drives Anjum out of the Khwabgah and into the cemetery. Anjum
and a friend are caught up in the infamous Gujarat riots of 2002 while on a trip to a Muslim
shrine in North India. Anjum's outlook on life has been shattered by this horrible encounter.
She appeared to have matured and become more reserved. Everyone else in the
Khwabgah tried to cheer her up and help her forget about the horrific scenes from the brawl.
Anjum's own experience during the riots was so traumatic (her friend died) thatshe
refuses to speak about it, opting instead to forego her hijra finery in favour of unisex
clothing in drab, penitential colours. The novel's broad growth, on the other hand, is
signalled by her immurement.

Roy has deliberately talked about the existence of Hijras, since ancient times. As through
the character of Ustad Kulsoom Bi, she gives a narrative of how the third genders,
transgenders, have always been a part of gender versification. Hijras are the world's
indisputable truth. They were and are just as significant as anyone. As Ustad Kulsoom Bi
mentions “… That is our ancestry, our history, our story. We were never commoners, you
see, we were members of the staff of the Royal Palace” (51). This statement justifies the
fact that their presence, their existence has always been there. Later on, she adds up “To

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be present in history, even as nothing more than a chuckle, was a universe away from being
absent from it, from being written out of it altogether”. (51). Roy shifts the attention to the
challenges that these folks confront in their daily lives as a result of this. Their identities are
seized and erased from the world map. They are treated as if they don't exist, and as if they
constitute a social stigma.

What did ordinary people in the duniya know about what it required to live a Hijra life?
What knowledge did they have of the rules, discipline, and sacrifices? Not only by the
world, but even by their own families, they are interrogated and humiliated at every turn of
their lives. They experience rejection and non-acceptance from heteronormative culture.
They have to beg at traffic lights to make ends meet, and many have to resort to prostitution.
Ustad Kulsoom Bi recalls a moment when she, too, had to deal with a similarsituation. “beg
for alms at traffic lights” (53). But, unlike others, she does not let herself fall apart; instead,
she gradually rebuilds herself. The Khwabgah was a location where unique individuals,
blessed people, came to achieve their aspirations that they couldn't realise in the outside
world. Holy souls that had been trapped in inappropriate bodies were freed in the
Khwabgah. This was a haven that Roy had created for them, where they were shown love,
respect, and most importantly, where they could be genuine to themselves.

She could no longer stay in Khwabgah after the horrible Gujrat incident, so she moved
out and begins living in a cemetery. Anjum entered another universe after only a ten- minute
tempo ride from the Khwabgah. She had to overcome numerous obstacles and challenges
in order to live there, but neither compassion nor harshness could persuade Anjum to return
to her old life at the Khwabgah. The waves of grief and anxiety took years to recede. The
cemetery became a haven; a place of expected, reassuring sorrow— devastating, but
dependable. She moved in with Zakir Mian, who became a constant but undemanding
friend. Squatters were severely barred from dwelling in the graveyard, according to a
warning posted on Anjum's front door by municipality officials every now and again.
Anjum's response encapsulates the declining status of transgender people in society. She
told them “She wasn’t living in the graveyard; she was dying in it” (67) This demonstrates
that persons of the third gender are not even given a home. They don't havea roof over
their heads, and she was left alone in the graveyard, where she was continually disturbed
and messed with. Despite all of the abuse and brutality directed at

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Anjum, she always emerges stronger. She denies ever leaving that spot, instead continuing
to create rooms and spaces for those who had no other place to go. Gradually, the
graveyard's Jannat Guest House, built by Anjum, became a hub for Hijras who had fallen
out of, or been expelled from, the closely regulated grid of Hijra Gharanas. Anjum never
questioned about the caste, creed, or gender of the people. She felt the sorrow and pain of
being rejected by everyone, and she realized how hopeless it is to be without a name. As a
result, she greeted everyone who came to her guest house warmly and made them feel at
ease. Nobody was in charge in her guest house; everyone was their own boss. It was
everyone's residence. From the ruins of human-caused calamity, the cemetery rises as a city
of hope, a utopia where "the unconsoled," to whom Roy devotes the work, might begin
anew.

As she informs her companion, a Dalit (formerly known as an untouchable) named

Saddam Hussain, “Once you have fallen off the edge like all of us have […] you will
never stop falling. And as you fall you will hold on to other falling people […] This
place where we live where we have made our home, is the place of falling people. Aree,
even we aren’t real. We don’t really exist”. (84) The term 'falling people' is significant
in this context: it might refer to transgender persons, illegitimate offspring, and anybody
else who is shunned by society. 'Hold on,' in this context, means that those who have
been marginalized by society should assist those who are in a similar circumstance.
'Hold on' can also relate to Anjum's coping method for dealing with her painful events,
since she has an optimistic outlook on life, which is why she has become a source of
assistance or shelter for another unhappy human being. Anjum's disappointment for her
entire community can be seen in these sentences. Their aspirations and desires are
crushed, and they are driven to believe that their existence is pointless.

Saddam, a new inhabitant, arrived at the guest home after some time. Anjum didn't know
much about him, but he liked him a lot. Anjum and Saddam established a new business
soon after he moved in. This company idea came about as a result of an incident. Anwar
Bhai, who maintained a brothel on GB Road, once brought the body of Rubina, one of his
girls, to the cemetery. He was distraught and upset because he couldn't find a bathhouse to
wash Rubina's body, a cemetery to bury her in, or an imam to pray for her. He sought

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assistance from Anjum. Anjum and Saddat buried Rubina in their own cemetery,
conducting all the necessary procedures and prayers. Within a week, Jannat Guest House
was transformed into a funeral home. The one explicit requirement was that JannatFuneral
Services would only bury people who had been rejected by the world's graveyards and
imams. “Tell me, you people, when you die, where do they bury you? Who bathes the
bodies? Who says the prayers?” (80). This question highlights the situation of persons who
are marginalized because of their gender. They are denied the space, respect, and identity
they desire throughout their lives, and they are not even granted pity after death. Even death,
like their lives, is deafeningly quiet.

As the novel moves forward, Kashmir riots has been described with intricate detail by
Roy. Through diverse characters, she emphasized that not just transgender people, but
also women in many sections of India, are marginalized. S. Tilottama, like Anjum, is a
figure whose origins are unknown. In contrast to Anjum's story, which focuses on a
transgender's internal issues, Tilo's existence reveals a world of outward struggle. The
terrible life of Kashmiri people is intricately represented via Tilo's life. In a world of war
carnage, the novel unravels Tilottama's drifting life story. Anjum and Tilottama are polar
opposites, and their natures and deeds are mutually exclusive. Anjum, for example,
communicates her delight and anguish externally, but Tilotama's quiet destabilizes people.
While Anjum is a good mother figure for Zainab, Tilottama suppresses all of Zainab's
feminine instincts. Anjum and Tilo are depicted as strong women with contrasting
personalities and moods. The two characters represent the diametrically opposed worlds
of homosexuality and heterosexuality. They depict inner and exterior world conflicts, as
well as the problem of dealing with life in flux. Each depicts existential dialectics through
internal and external struggle. The story of Tilottama and three men, Musa Yewsi, Nagraj
Hariharan, and Biplab Das Gupta, is the second thread of the plot. She is admired and adored
by the three men. Tilotama is a former architect who is now an activist. Tilo's mother,
Maryam Ipe, was a teacher and an aristocratic Syrian Christian. She was awoman who was
aware of her own power and battled adversity to carve out a niche for herself. Despite the
fact that Tilo was her child, she did not publicly admit it for personal reasons. She spoke to
her as a daughter who had been adopted. According to newspaper reports, she was the
daughter of a coolie woman and was adopted from Mount Carmel orphanage by Maryam
Ipe. “She was jet- black baby, like a little piece of coal and as small as my palm, so I
called her Tilottama which meant ‘sesame seed’ in Sanskrit” (240).

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In a world of war carnage, the story unravels Tilottama’s wandering life story. Her search
for Musa, a Kashmiri activist, lands her in problem. She has witnessed the military leaders'
inhumane treatment of citizens. She becomes a victim of it, and they shave her head in the
name of interrogation. It's a remark about how the government uses and defends its gender
policies. Her outlandish and daring lifestyle blurs the line between her public and private
lives. Her presence in the imaginary universe calls into question such preconceptions about
men and women's roles in the public and private spheres. A man is regarded to be in
command of the open spaces of creation, whereas a female is in authority of the domestic
domain of reproduction. Tilottama defies tightly defined preconceptions about sexuality
and parenting when she chooses to have her pregnancy medically terminated because she
believes she would be a bad mother. Her social and political identity emerged as she broke
free from the shackles of family life and moved from the private to the public arena as an
activist.

Anjum’s life gets entangled with Tilottama’s when a newborn is discovered one day at an
observatory in Delhi's Jantar Mandir, where a number of activists have gathered. Anjum
falls in love with the child, and when she vanishes, he hunts her down to the woman who
kidnapped her. As the novel unravels, Anjum finds out that this baby was kidnapped by
Tilo. Musa and Tilo are reunited after the loss of Musa's wife Arifa and their daughter, Miss
Jebeen, as the story progresses. Musa joins the Kashmiri separatist movement, which seeks
to separate the Muslim-majority territory from the majority of Hindus in the nation. Musa
and his companion Gulrez attract the attention of Indian bureaucrats, especially Major
Amrik Singh, a notorious torturer. Tilo sees the murder of Gulrez, despite Musa's escape.
Tilo marries Naga for protection and security after her release. Sherealizes she is pregnant
(by Musa) just after the wedding, but decides to go for abortion because she worries that
she’ll prove to be a good mother because of her own relationwith her mother. She is also
devastated by her experiences in Kashmir, and after 14 years of marriage, she divorces
Naga, no longer able to face the double life she is living. She spends four years following
the divorce in an apartment she rents from Dasgupta, who discovers an array of papers in
her rooms relating with Kashmir and Tilo's excursions there throughout the years after she
leaves. Tilo's reasons for leaving her flat are the point at which her story and Anjum's
collide. A series of protests erupt at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi sometime in the 2010s
(Roy's fictionalized narrative is based on the 2011 anti-corruption and land acquisition
protests). Anjum, Saddam Hussain, and a handful of

70
their friends have gone to Jantar Mantar to witness the demonstrations firsthand when they
learn that an abandoned infant has been discovered among the crowd. Anjum tries to take
control of the little girl herself, but the child is whisked away by a mystery woman named
Tilo. Tilo takes the infant (whom she names Miss Jebeen the Second) on the spur of the
moment, believing that the child will benefit her in some way “turn the tide”. (219) She
immediately agrees to leave her flat, fearing police involvement, until Saddam Hussain
leaves her a card with the address of Anjum's graveyard house, Jannat Guest House and
Funeral Parlor. Tilo, accompanied by the infant, enters the graveyard and gradually begins
to heal from the horror of her experiences in Kashmir.

The graveyard contains some of the most important aporia offered in The Ministry of
Utmost Happiness, and its value cannot be overstated because the text begins and finishes
here. It is a space where the unconsoled, the destitute, those bearing wounds, and those
alienated from society meet, and it is named Jannat Guest House by Anjum. These
marginalized people, on the other hand, are portrayed as survivors of a dismal and helpless
system, rather than as victims. The cemetery is a place where everyone and everything
can be found. It's a Noah's ark for the injured, where they can seek refuge regardless of
caste, creed, race, gender, human or animal. Meanwhile, Jannat Guest House has grown
into a thriving company and community hub. Zainab (now a seamstress)is a frequent visitor
who finally becomes engaged to and marries Saddam, who hasdecided to put his search
for vengeance on hold in the knowledge that other Dalits are continuing the battle. When
Imam Ziauddin, Anjum, and the rest of Jannat's new family symbolically "bury" Tilo's
mother's ashes, as well as a shirt they bought in honour of Saddam's father, he and Tilo
get even more closure. The group eventually buries a letter from Miss Jebeen the Second's
birthmother, a Maoist freedom warrior who fell pregnant as a result of rape and was killed
in action.

When Anjum went to the cemetery, she established a sort of community for other people
who, like her, had been shunned and humiliated by society. Other characters in the story,
such as Tilo and Revathy's daughter, sought refuge in the graveyard as the story continued.
Anjum has evaluated her way of surviving in the face of her life's social and situational
hardship in this way. By settling in the graveyard and changing it into a shelterand a funeral
service, she discovered a new way of thinking and being. Anjum is positioned by Roy as
more than just a survivor (rather than a "victim"), but as someone

71
who is part of a tradition with its own mythology (the positive kind of mythology) that
has been passed down by validating mentors. Roy develops characters who demonstrate
the need for a better understanding of gay people and their different orientations, which
society often overlooks. She emphasizes how they are denied space yet manage to create
their own, frequently fighting fights inside broader national political conflicts out of
necessity but also for the benefit of future, potentially spaceless humans.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness' queer protagonists rearrange space in ways that are real
to them but unsettling to others. Because they view things differently, queer people build
their own reality. In The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, the characters have discovered the
power of creativeness. To be queer is to see your life as political, to envisage a future that
does not yet exist, and to be daring enough to create it every day.

Many others, including Anjum, who was born as Aftab, have struggled to make a living
throughout their lives. They are not only neglected since they are not of a specific gender,
but they are also attacked and mocked for their presence. When Anjum's father Mulaqat
Ali realized there was nothing he could do to help her, he and his wife Jahanara Begum
decided to send her away to Khwabgah, a particular place for persons like her. People's
restrictive ideas make life even more difficult for people like Anjum. Anjum had spenther
life away from her family and had built a new home for herself, completely isolated from
the outside world. Hijras, or persons who, despite being naturally male, believe they are
feminine and dress and act like women, are a long-established subculture in India. They
have undoubtedly faced discrimination, but as a "third sex," they are gradually creeping
closer to acceptability. Due to societal dread, Aftab's identity as a third gender isconcealed
by his own mother from the moment he is born. His physical body is the key reason for
this. The discovery of an incomplete girl –part beneath his body parts fills his mother with
dread, and she hides it from her own spouse. His mother is traumatized after examining his
physique since she clearly understands that in Urdu, the only language she knew,
everything (life or non-living) has a gender. However, in the instance of her infant, there is
no other way to describe the gender of her child than with the word 'Hijra.' Anjum is utilised
as the voice of thirdness, demonstrating that this has never been about desiring to be or
become a woman, and that becoming transwomen will not be the preferred or complete
form that a hijra identity strives for.

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They (third gender) disguise their identify at times due to the sufferings of societal
discourse. They frequently try to avoid all forms of desire. Their humiliation in public
knows no bounds. These people hide themselves or submit their life to the whims of
others in an attempt to alleviate the agony caused by social stratification. In everytraditional
society, discussing sexuality is considered forbidden. As a result, the issue of transgender
people is seldom discussed in public, keeping them hidden behind closed doors. In her
paper A Study on Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Sushree Smita Raj
writes about Indian society: “India is never a utopia for the trans genders. The homophobic
society never treated them as complete human beings. Theylost their identity and remain
silent. Roy exposed the small world of transgender with bigger complications in desperate
need of help” (4) Because the subject is forbidden, their hardships are kept hidden.
Furthermore, it is critical for us to understand that being transgender is not always a
biological fact. Many transgender people adopt the conduct of the third gender
psychologically. The notion that being transgender or acting transgender is sometimes a
psychological rather than a physical reality is not understood or accepted by society. Even
though they were born as males, some people assume the appearance ofa female. This is
an individual's right to make their own decisions, which our society doesnot recognise. In
the novel, Roy depicts this occurrence through the character Razia “She was a man who
liked to dress in women’s cloths” (22) Razia is a man who chose to be a part of the
transgender society because she desired to be a woman in a man's body. Telling the truth
about gender complexity in any conservative society is tough since it is a serious decision
that people rarely embrace.

Anjum's metamorphosis from "the land of dreams" to "paradise" was a response to a fear
that her species' survival in the cosmos was in jeopardy. The graves added to Anjum's
suffering as a transgender in the world, a state of nothingness and non-existence. She
attempted to overcome her fear of death by referring to the graveyard as a paradise. She
attempted to disturb and shatter the barrier between the living and the dead, the state of
being and non-existence, in order to transcend the ambiguous state of her life. Arundhati
Roy used Anjum as a symbol for many people who have struggled to make a living
throughout their lives. They are not only ignored because they are not of a specific gender,
but they are also attacked and insulted for their presence. The restrictive views of Indian
society make life even more difficult for people like Anjum. She lives her life away from
her home and builds a new home for herself, completely isolated from the rest of the world.

73
Arundhati Roy used Anjum as a symbol for many people who have struggled to make a
living throughout their lives. They are not only ignored because they are not of a specific
gender, but they are also attacked and insulted for their presence. The restrictive views of
Indian society make life even more difficult for people like Anjum. She lives her life
away from her home and builds a new home for herself, completely isolated from the rest
of the world. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is primarily subjective, focusing on
characters who are going through an internal battle. Anjum's transgender 'battle with
herself,' a form of personal struggle with all the ramifications of open internal violence and
a predicament she shares with the other eunuchs at the Khwabgah, exemplifies this. This is
the "within us" fight, according to Nimmo. We are in the midst of a riot. Indo-Pak is a part
of us. It'll never be the same again. It isn't possible."(23) Roy's research is frequently
characterised by self-doubt or post-traumatic individualization. If Roy's work has
developed a fundamental preoccupation, it is an aesthetic of disaster and a deep sense of
the personal implications of that catastrophe. The conceptions of gender, class, and caste
create a perception of discrimination among different categories of people in India, which
is a multiracial and cosmopolitan society.

Gender identity has an impact on hijras' lives; they do not receive proper gender
recognition, work, housing, or health-care facilities. They are subjected to such severe
discrimination and inequality that they believe they are second-class citizens. According
to Nanda (1999) in Neither Man nor Woman, “although cross-gender behaviour in
childhood is a prominent theme in hijra narratives, this behaviour is not necessarily
connected to a clear feminine gender identity” (p. 115). Through the two primary characters
of Anjum and Tilo, challenges heteropatriarchal definitions of sex and gender. Both
characters oppose patriarchy and struggle to reclaim and reaffirm their identities in response
to the dominant perception of gender and sexual difference.

In this story, there are a large number of characters who reflect the oppression they
experience because of their caste, gender, or religion. The 'hijra,' Anjum, is a depiction of
transgender people's isolation in traditional Indian society. The rejection she received from
her family drove her to seek refuge in the "Khwabgah" (45), and later, in the
graveyard, which she converted into a guest home. Dayachand, a Dalit who disguises
himself as Saddam Hussein in order to obtain a low-level job, is brought to the guest home.
As a lower caste Hindu, he stood powerless and helpless as a mob of people

74
publicly killed his father on suspicions of slaughtering a cow. S. Tilotama is a character
who is based on Roy. The Syrian architect Cristian finds herself in Kashmir with Musa
Yeswi, who took up weapons after the military forbade him from having a simple family
life. At the Jannat Guest House in the cemetery, these characters come together to weave
together the loose ends of many turbulent situations. All of these personalities are subjected
to power's exploitation. Because of their caste, race, gender, religion, or socio- cultural
status, they are subjected to institutionalized oppression, which pushes them to the
margins. Finally, power is subverted as a result of this repression, invalidating the
continuous power ranking.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness depicts various categories of oppressed people, but one
of the novel's main themes is the agony of a transgender person. They live in seclusion as
a result of societal categorization and classification since society does not recognize them
as a common human being. They are seen as 'outsiders' by both men and women, andthey
have no place in this patriarchal society's cultural connection. Similarly, the dominant and
ruling forces have placed restrictions on them. They are marginalised both because of their
gender and because of the way they talk. They don't identify as either masculine or female.
As a result, they are not permitted in public spaces.

Roy has attempted to re-locate their identity and illustrate their situation of marginalisation
in her work. Their repression could not be included in this range because their sufferings
and loss of identity have a lengthy history dating back to the dawn of mankind. Anjum is
living in a graveyard with her forefathers, who were once conquered subjects and are now
living among the ruins of their culture, a culture that is no longer pure but has been mingled
with western culture. The true debate is whether to accept the current culture with all of
its hybridity or to reclaim the forefathers' lost civilization. In the seemingly endless
postcolonial loop, the struggle for identity has always been the central focus. In such a
period of strife and uncertainty, one must remain true to one's culture and not allow it to be
submerged. With the binary antagonism of 'others' and 'self,' state and its subjects,' this
novel explores several elements of Indian society (Ganguly, 2017). Anjum is marginalised
as a result of her third gender characteristics, which reflect
society's overall attitude toward people of the third gender. Because the common
constituents of society differ from her traits, her life in the graveyard represents society's
dispossessed of the 'otherized' people.

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Roy's profound concern for the underprivileged forced her to express her feelings about
society's treatment of the underprivileged. The reader experiences the sociocultural
marginalization inherent in Anjum's circumstance as a Hijra, the love inferred in
motherhood, the despair after surviving religious atrocities, the remorse of survivor or the
wish to die through Anjum's eyes, which later manifested in her going to live or, in Anjum's
words, "to die" in a graveyard, lying beside the graves of her blood relatives.

Roy depicts transgender people's struggle against heteronormativity in three ways: the Hijras'
desire to build their own community outside of heteronormative society, Anjum's desire to
leave heteronormative society and later the hierarchical system in the House of Dreams to
free herself from repressive power, and Anjum's desire to initiate new relations in the
graveyard and bring down the estrangement among Hijras in the place called “paradise”.
Roy's novel articulates Indian society through a critical presentation of the country's
religious, social, racial, and gender-related marginalities, all of which witnessthe country's
disintegration. She has depicted this marginalization via the lenses of 'Duniya versus Jannat,
consideration vs contempt, revolution versus progress, and so on.'

Instead of accepting her marginalization as a Hijra, Anjum, a doubly colonized transgender

figure who is socially and culturally shunned, made up a choice and lived to tell the tale by
turning a graveyard into a paradise. Despite the fact that her identity remained a mystery until
the end of the story, she was able to resurrect the dead ethnocide of her predecessors and
reclaim her own identity.

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