Myself Mona Ahmed

Dayanita Singh
Scalo, Zurich - Berlin - New York , 2001
ISBN 3-908247-46-2

MONA AHMED, a 61-year old eunuch, lives in a graveyard in Old Delhi. The Indian photographer Dayanita Singh has documented Mona's life for more than thirteen years, creating a moving visual biography of an extraordinary life. In numerous e-mail letters to the publisher of Scalo, Mona Ahmed describes her life and worldview in her own words. Together, the images and letters tell the dramatic story of Mona's life: her early years as a boy, her life in the eunuch community, her friendship with Dayanita Singh, how she adopted and lost her daughter Ayesha, and her life in the graveyard. We encounter a unique individual – who has transcended the limitations of both mainstream Indian society and the secretive, tight-knit world of the eunuchs. This powerful book enables us to see Indian society from its margins, and is a testimony to the deep friendship between Dayanita Singh and Mona Ahmed. Most of all, it conveys the passion, warmth, and wisdom of a truly exceptional human being who has managed to leave behind the prison of sex and gender.

„If God came in front of me, I would ask him, why did you make me like this. Why did you make me born, if you had to make me born as the third sex? And if you did make me the third sex, why did you not ensure respect in society for us? We are not like men trying to be women, we are the third sex. You in the West will not understand because in your world everyone thinks of only man and woman.”