Evening people

The evening people of India are biological males who choose to live a life in which they dress and otherwise comport themselves in a way intermediate between the ways that typical men and women dress and act. This is similar to a Western definition of transgender and androgyny. Evening people are not considered either men or women, but a distinct third gender, i.e. partly male and partly female. The term evening or 'dawn' signifies their neutral or intermediate status (as between day and night).

"A Lotus of Another Color" (ed. Rakesh Ratti, ISBN 1-55583-171-0} gave a general impression of the perception of evening people::If you were to wander around a city in India after the sun had gone down and the oppressive heat of July had abated somewhat, you might encounter pairs of guys wandering the streets, sipping juice in juice bars, or drinking tea in the shops of various chai wallahs. They might be holding hands as they walked from place to place. They might dress in somewhat androgynous-looking clothing—something a little too ornamental or too colorful for somebody who wanted to be known as a sober business and a good family man to wear. There is probably an element of "plausible deniability" in their behavior if they are indeed evening people and not old friends seeing each other after months or years of separation—enough to escape unwanted negative attention— but many people would look at them and say to themselves, "I think I know what may be going on between those two people."

ee also

*Hijra (South Asia)
*List of transgender-related topics