The Head Hijra of the Khwabgah, Ustad Kulsoom Bi is a powerful member of the transgender community in Delhi. She is in charge of managing the business (many of the Hijras at the Khwabgah are sex workers) and the day-to-day maintenance of the house. She is proud to be a Hijra, and often reminds her mentees that Hijras have been an important part of Indian society for a very long historical period, citing an exhibition at the Red Fort as an example, for it contains in an audio recording the sound of a court eunuch laughing. When Anjum wants to force Zainab to present as a little boy because she believes it is safer during the current political climate, Ustad Kulsoom Bi is extremely opposed to the idea. She reminds Anjum that the core principle of the Khwabgah, and of any Hijra, is consent. There are rumors spread that Hijras kidnap and castrate male children, she reminds Anjum, and they all have a responsibility to dispel that superstition. Her firmness on the matter is what first inspires Anjum to move out of the Khwabgah and into the graveyard.
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Ustad Kulsoom Bi Character Timeline in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
The timeline below shows where the character Ustad Kulsoom Bi appears in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...they let him in. Aftab is fascinated by the house and its residents, mostly Hijras. Kulsoom Bi is the head of the house, and Aftab befriends Nimmo, a Hijra who “would have...
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...short hair back and weaving it into a braid of extensions. On Anjum’s 18th birthday, Kulsoom Bi throws her a party, and, that night, she dreams that she is “a new bride...
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...of the New India—a nuclear power and an emerging destination for international finance.” An aging Ustad Kulsoom Bi sees the benefits of including members like this in the Khwabgah, and Saeeda is neck-to-neck...
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Ustad Kulsoom Bi does not like what Anjum has done with Zainab, and calls an emergency meeting. She...
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Anjum’s attention returns to the meeting, where Ustad Kulsoom Bi continues to speak proudly of the legacy of Hijras in India. She reminds the other...
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...she will do as she pleases with her, threatening to leave the Khwabgah with Zainab. Ustad Kulsoom Bi responds that the Anjum can go wherever she wants, but the child will stay in...
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...her a cell phone, which she doesn’t use. Eventually, Saeeda brings Zainab a few times, Ustad Kulsoom Bi visits and gives Anjum an allowance from the Khwabgah, and even Saqib comes once a...
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...Even the police, “whose rules [are] as irrational as Anjum’s” sometimes bring bodies to Jannat. Ustad Kulsoom Bi eventually is buried in Anjum’s graveyard, along with many other Delhi Hijras. (This is how...
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