The YouTube video titled: “bangalore sex workers in majestick” shows how hijras or female prostitutes catch customers.
They sit, stand, stroll somewhere on the street and send secret signs and gestures to let customers know that they are waiting for a contact. For them it is risky. Policemen can catch them and interrogate, sometimes abuse them. This video shows an example of prostitutes’ activity in large cities. The hijras of the north, varied significantly from those of the east, west south and central India.
The names that they were referred by also varied according to region. For instance, those in the north were called hijras; Tamil Nadu ‘aravanis’ or the more derogatory, pottai; Karnataka ‘kinnaras’ or the debasing ‘chakka’ and the natives of Andhra Pradesh, kojja.