Dr Narthaki Nataraj, one of Tamil Nadu’s most accomplished performing artistes, has been selected by the state government to be a part of its State Development and Policy Council (SDPC). A Padma Shri awardee and a Kalaimamani recipient, Dr Narthaki’s presence in the committee comes with great hope, not just for the performing artistes' community but also for persons belonging to the LGBTQI+ community.
Born in Madurai, Narthaki found her passion for dance very young. Her story of becoming a classical dance artiste as a trans woman is part of Tamil Nadu class 11 textbook. She is also credited with the coinage of the Tamil word ‘Thirunangai’, and was instrumental in inspiring the Tamil Nadu government, then headed by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, into adopting this word as the official term used to represent trans women.
TNM reached out to the eminent Bharatanatyam dancer to discuss her role in the Council and her plans for the future. Excerpts below.
The scope as a member of the Council is not yet realised completely, because only recently we had our first official meeting with Chief Minister MK Stalin. We conveyed our gratitude for his belief in us and we assured him of our constant support in assisting Tamil Nadu to overcome the pandemic. For now, with our main focus being the pandemic, I have been given the department of hygiene and social welfare. I don’t think the council has had a member from the arts community before. But now that I am a part of it, I won’t just be representing the arts community but also the transgender community. That’s the added bonus, and as someone who would give important suggestions for the long-term development policies for the state, this is a very big victory for us.
The present DMK government comes in the tradition of honouring trans persons and their requests; their recent announcement on including trans women under the free-of-charge government bus commute is example enough. So I’m confident of my voice being heard. Right now, our main agenda is to increase awareness of the pandemic in the community.
One definitely is health, because it is a big crisis right now. Elderly trans women may need other health-related assistance apart from just COVID-19. Their financial background may not help them in accessing such health resources. This needs to be addressed. The second, of course, is job opportunities. People from the trans community, since they don’t majorly live under the traditional family set-up, live a very simplistic life. They don't have greed to save up money for the next generation. They live in the moment and enjoy the present. Therefore this selfless attitude is very, very natural in them, and this has to be put to use. Right now, we see one or two trans persons in the police force or in software jobs but their presence in all fields is not normalised.
We have to give them more job opportunities and make sure that they are there in every field of work, depending on their qualities and qualifications and not out of tokenistic attitudes. We should create those opportunities where trans people get to apply with their credentials and qualifications.
Reservation is important, yes, but like I said earlier, it should not come out of pity. It is important, as Ambedkar already advocated, that only through reservation can they be normalised in the society. It is important that we have reservation for queer people, especially trans people.
Justice Anand Venkatesh went through multiple sessions with psychiatrists and queer people to understand the LGBTQI+ community in such detail and has come up with such a very moving note saying ignorance is not any reason for us to reject people. This shows his greatness, that he is willing to learn, to understand, willing to engage in conversations with an open, non judgmental mind and to change his opinions about the community. And he has also given suggestions to the government that an understanding and awareness about the community should be part of the school syllabus. This has been something that people have been talking about for a very long time, but when it comes from a High Court Judge, it is indeed something great.
That being said, trans people's visibility is something that is normalised in the society when compared to other identities in the LGBTQI+ umbrella. These are not new identities but the awareness about it in the society is very less. Therefore, Judge Anand Venkatesan’s point on including this in the school syllabus is absolutely commendable and welcomed.
I am here not only as a representative of elitist art forms such as Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music but also of folk art forms. This is because of my background of having been born in Madurai and having lived most of my life in Madurai and Thanjavur. I have a good understanding of folk art forms. With the pandemic, several folk artistes have lost their opportunity to perform. Unlike Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music, they don’t get the opportunity to take their performances online. Only recently, the government increased the monthly financial aid under the indigent artist pension scheme from Rs 2000 to Rs 3000. Around 6,600 elderly folk artistes all over Tamil Nadu are expected to benefit from this scheme.This is quite a good start but I hope as a representative of the arts, we can bring in more performance opportunities for them, perhaps even enable them to become teachers online, especially to students overseas.