Sathi, a janana hijra whom I had known from the very first day I set foot in Hridoypur, used to live on the rooftop of a building next to a mosque. Because of the location of Sathi's house, I would often drop by at Sathi's before heading off to the house of Meghna, the guru in Hridoypur. Sathi was not only one of the oldest members of the hijra group in Hridoypur, but also one of Meghna's favourites. One morning I turned up at Meghna's as planned in order to travel with their celas to a part of town known as Sweepers Colony to observe a badhai. However, on arrival, I realized that Mousumi, one of Meghna's celas with whom I was supposed to be going, had already set off to the other side of the river to distribute cloves. Long bata, or distribution of cloves, is what hijras do to invite other hijras to their homes, especially when arbitration is to take place. While Mousumi went to invite Alo, a veteran emasculated hijra, another cela of Meghna went to the house of Jomuna, the guru of Meghna, to bring them to the house. After a while, I found out that Sathi, who was to be one of my guides to Sweepers Colony, had been excommunicated from the hijra group in Hridoypur because of their undergoing emasculation the night before and a sudden arbitration had been called to settle the matter. When I asked Meghna, they angrily told me that although they had asked Sathi to become murad (to take the vow to undergo emasculation) when another cela of Meghna was emasculated two months ago, Sathi had declined—only to later spontaneously have it done without Meghna's consent. While Meghna was exceedingly angry at Sathi's sudden infraction of this communitarian rule, they also expressed anxiety about what could have happened to Sathi in the absence of the support and care of other hijras during the process. Although Sathi, the arbitrators later decided, would be kicked out of the hijra group, the injunction was later lifted after Sathi paid a massive don of 20,000 taka (roughly US$235). What exactly is it that Sathi did that drew the wrath of the guru and led to their initial excommunication? Why is it that a hijra has to get the consent of the guru to opt for emasculation?