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Society
Life
of Sex Workers in India
When I read in the international section of the newspaper a couple of
days after Mr. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize for literature, he had
explicitly thanked the prostitutes who had kept him company during his
lonely spells.
Being the judgmental Indian, I
automatically classified him into a set of people who had chosen to be
open without bearing a thought to his image and personal integrity
taking a beating (I wonder if that happened at all with celebrities
anyway). At the same time I was curious about these mysterious women who
were socially unacceptable, yet evoking interest of the commoners for
different reasons.
They were especially brought to the limelight after India was identified
as one of the foremost countries where the incidences of AIDS were
increasing in India and numerous contributions started pouring in with
Bill gates contribution being the most highly publicized one.
I realized that I had subconsciously started looking for information on
them. I had caught glimpses of women on T V and magazines who were
dressed garishly with makeup that made them look older than their actual
ages peering out from dirty corridors in buildings. I read gory articles
about teenage girls abducted against their will or sold by their poverty
stricken parents who felt that they would be assured of a better life by
working as domestic help in the future employers’ houses. However when
they landed in Mumbai’s Falkland road and resisted the new profession,
they were imprisoned without food and water, beaten badly, privacy
invaded by inserting a stick smeared with chilli powder and then
repeatedly raping her. This account was more than enough to awaken the
spirit in a dead person.
This was just one instance of how they were initiated into the trade. I
was curious about what next. After they had accepted the profession and
were swept into days and nights of working. Did their life become the
cloistered world of survival among peers? Were they happy at any point
later or did each day pass with misery? What about their health aspects,
how educated were they about the life threatening disease that they were
exposed to by the minute and whether they took charge of their life at
any time or were they dependant on social workers and others to force
them to take action.
My questions were answered when I chanced on a documentary and some
articles. This documentary had some protagonists each from different
parts of India. For a change this documentary did not have faceless
people talking shyly with their faces blurred digitally. The story
covered the day to day events in their lives. Some events were amusing;
heart rendering and others were downright serious.
The woman who expressed herself the best was Shabana. She had a very
likeable character and hailed from a district in Maharashtra in India.
She had agreed to do the documentary only if it would not be broadcast
on national TV but shown to a select audience and this was announced by
the narrator at the beginning of the screening. I imagined a shy,
distressed and battered woman. Surprise surprise! She happened to be a
very mature woman, with a great sense of humor and having a good set of
values and discipline herself. She started off by saying you people dote
such a lot of Bollywood film stars but in my opinion they also move
around with men dance, sing, get wet in the rain and seduce them, and
lead lifestyles that does not necessarily come under the socially
acceptable mode how is it different in any way from what were are doing
except that we charge for the services. In a way she had made her point.
Later on she explained her routine in which every day in the morning,
she along with her cronies started moving towards the fields, where she
kept bed sheets and condoms on trees. Surprised when the narrator asked
her as to why she was doing this to which she replied that this was the
place that she frequents with ‘customers’. I realized that the word
customers were used for the men who were serviced. Later in the evening,
when she markets herself to the customers this was the place where she
normally would bring them and as generally they were unprepared, it was
wise to stock all these items on trees she explained.
Next she was also exclaiming about how some customers felt that they
didn’t want to wear condoms and in fact she persuaded him to do so. She
won in persuading some but she did mention as how some other women don’t
really insist on it as they feel that they could not afford to loose out
on the money (around Rs 50) in case they refused. Survival was rampant
here too.
The other woman whom life was shared was elderly who was earlier in the
profession. She had been abandoned by her husband, and she joined the
trade to support herself and her mother-in- law. When she was being
interviewed, she showed no signs of being ashamed or embarrassed. She
showed her snapshot when she was in her prime and added that she was an
excellent dancer and a small time actress. She had lot of people who
claimed her attention but later on a particular man became more
possessive of her and she stopped entertaining others. They aged
together and the love and mutual respect that they have for each other
was obvious. Even now the man appeared boldly in front of the camera
where in the sunset of their lives too they are together; though they
don’t live together they have a good companionship going and a fantastic
relationship through the years. Though earlier treating ignoring her,
the man’s family has accepted her in time. The man said “Nobody can say
that she is not a normal women as she is always surrounded by children
and she loves them and prepares their favorite food for them and they
call her dadi”.
Now Shabana and the elderly women participated in a rally along with
other sex workers to bring awareness about AIDS. Shabana in a press
conference told a story about how she was constantly harassed by the
people of her village to leave her house/village and when she went to
the police station to lodge a complaint, the men there also used abusive
language.
There is now a demand being made by the Indian prostitutes to legalize
the profession. They claim that some very important things will be set
right. By giving a license first of all the money will be reaching the
right hands. Secondly, a tab can also be kept on the health issues, like
in the South East Asia where it is legalized, every two weeks the sex
worker is tested for AIDS and she carried a certificate regarding her
health. There can be easy and constant monitoring with respect to many
issues. Unfortunately a hypocrite attitude has prevented any regulation.
The first thing that I felt was that we should start accepting people as
they are. They are no different in their dreams, emotional quotient,
relationships, fears etc compared to a normal woman. Also the world can
be complete and total when it included people who need not have led
normal experiences. Our changed attitude to this section of society can
mark a beginning to realization and making important changes in the
minutest way possible.
– Rashmi Bharadwaj
June 8, 2003
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