ABSTRACT
Muli's effeminate behavior appeared in many of the episodes of his life history. The frustration of Muli's life was that he wanted his customers to treat him as their friend, rather than the pimp who supplied them with prostitutes. Muli saw himself as a deviant in his own culture; but far from claiming that all Bauris act and think as he did, he contrasted other life styles with his own without condemning or praising either. Faced with perpetual poverty and frequent starvation, Muli quite understandably overstated the amounts of food and gifts of cloth that his family supplied, and the expenses they met, at feasts and ceremonies. The details and the manner of telling the stories reflect Muli's distinctive style, but the environment of extreme poverty, social stigma, economic exploitation, and discrimination against untouchables is a reality shared by all Bauris of Muli's community and most Bauris elsewhere.
