“I have been in Sonagachi for 25 years. I rent this room for 114 Rupees a month. This is my home.”
Champa Das has invited me into her home. Champa Das has been a sex worker all her adult life.
Sonagachi is one of Calcutta’s largest red light districts – narrow alleys, lined with small ‘apartments’ and corner stores form a confusing and nightmarish maze. The buildings lean into the street, the roads are crowded, it’s hot. The city seems to want to eat itself. Everyone in our small group is tense. Champa Das’ decision to grant me access to her life has not been taken easily. Sonagachi is one of the very few places in India where women have a higher street profile than men. That’s because most of them are prostitutes. 9000 women, many of them trafficked into the country from Bangladesh or Nepal, work in Sonagachi. 60.000 more sex workers area active across Calcutta.
In overcrowded India things don’t come in small measures. Two and a half million women and children (around 500.000 prostitutes in India are under 16) are working in the country’s sex industry. More than 5 million people are already HIV positive. Governments, both local and national, do little to tackle the increasing risk of a large-scale AIDS epidemic.
Large red light areas like Sonagachi are at the center of a problem that may soon spiral out of control and affect millions of people in Bengal and the neighboring state of Bihar. Sex workers are socially shunned and prostitution is illegal, which makes the women in Sonagachi extremely susceptible to extortion, blackmail, rape or murder by local gangsters, pimps and the police. Along with the government, the media chooses to ignore the enormous scale of the industry.
Champa Das lives in a tiny, 2 by 7 meter corridor-like room. The room is divided into three partitions. The second partition has a real bed and a TV. We sit under the TV. The wall is painted an ugly green. Young men pop their heads through a hole in the opposite wall at regular intervals. There’s no privacy.
Champa Das points to an adjoining cubicle behind her, “I rent that room for 8 Rupees a day, to make some extra money.”
Sex in Sonagachi can be had for as little as 10 Rupees. Champa Das points to her front door. There, another bunk has been set up to make another potential 8 Rupees a day. There is little room for personal belongings. Champa Das is a devout Hindu and small statues of Ganesh line the walls.
“I have to pay extra for the TV.”
Suparna Tat is sitting next to me on the bed. Champa Das sits on the narrow bit of floor next to the bed. Suparna Tat has been a field worker and program coordinator for The Durbar Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) for a year. She has a degree in anthropology. Suparna Tat is conducting an ‘exposure visit’. I am being ‘exposed’ to Sonagachi.
The DMSC, also called Durbar, an organization representing sex workers in India and across the world, was founded in 1992 and receives large donations from the national government and foreign donors to fund AIDS prevention programs. The aim of the organization is to promote reliance, respect and recognition amongst sex workers.
Suparna Tat is a good translator. She sits cross-legged, playing with her mobile phone while talking to Champa Das. In the light of the neon overhead our host’s scars become clearly visible. Champa Das’ arms are lined with old cuts and her face is battered. Suparna Tat has never been a sex worker.
Champa Das remarks, “The lady who owns this building rents out ten rooms like mine. Each woman in each room sublets part of the room to another sex worker. These flyers come for the day, from another part of town. In the evening they go home, some to their families.”
Champa Das curses her landlady.
Suparna Tat does not translate. “It was a dirty word, I cannot translate it.” She laughs uncertainly. “I cannot even say it.”
Half eaten plates of food are stacked on the floor next to unwashed cooking pots. Outside, the alleys team with rats and shady young toughs. Women lean into shadowy doorways, tucking in their saris, scanning the passers-by. Sonagachi is a hard place, forgotten by day, remembered by night by India, by Calcutta, by thousands and thousands of men who come to the area, pay a quarter Dollar for sex and return to their lives, as if nothing had happened. But things are happening. India is top of the global list of quickly rising AIDS statistics.
French writer and activist Dominique LaPierre has been running aid projects in Calcutta for 20 years. The best-selling author of ‘The City Of Joy’ is clearly worried about the sex industry in India.
“We are facing big challenges. Leprosy, and more recently, AIDS, has begun to seep into all levels of Indian society. The sex trade in Mumbai and to an extent in Calcutta is flourishing. These cities have large populations of itinerant workers who all take the diseases they have been infected with back to their villages and families. AIDS is like a time bomb.”
Calcutta is a city crowded with millions of men from the hinterlands of Bihar and West Bengal. Builders, construction workers, rickshaw pullers, even taxi drivers in Calcutta are mostly from out of town.
The DMSC, which claims to have 60.0000 members, is running a ‘comprehensive health development program centering HIV/AIDS’. That’s what the pamphlet reads that Debashish Chowdury, the organisation’s monitoring officer, presses into my hand as we return to the Union’s offices.
Champa Das has no worries about condoms. “Thanks to the DMSC, we get condoms very cheap, 5 condoms for 2 Rupees. But the clients, at least three quarters of them, won’t use them.”
Komala Das and Rahma Sahni, Champa Das’ neighbors, agree. “ If we force them to use the condom, they will just go next door. There are so many women working here, and in the end, everyone is prepared to work without protection for fear of losing trade.”
In 1999 the DMSC claimed that 90% of clients used condoms. These days the official figure is 65%. Sanjay, a middle-aged pimp who controls a small group of women in Sonagachi, laughs at the statistics, “That would be great. Unfortunately the scale of the trade makes things like this hard to enforce.” It’s hard to verify figures like this independently, but sex workers all over Calcutta tell a different story.
Champa Das receives very little information. “Some sex workers are tested for HIV. If they are positive, they are not told of the results. They live with the disease, not knowing they are infected, because the DMSC is worried that HIV positive women will be ostracized.”
Given the conservatism, the public double standards and secrecy surrounding AIDS/HIV, the epidemic is likely to get much worse. According to DMSC, HIV positive cases in Sonagachi have risen from just 1% in 1992 to 9% today. In Mumbai (formerly Bombay), figures run as high as 70%.
It’s been a long journey to Champa Das. Not only is Sonagachi a prison no one can leave; it is also difficult to get in. The risk to go and talk to sex workers without outside help is considerable. Armed youths make direct contact with women living in the area difficult. The alternative to get access is an organization like Durbar. To see Champa Das involves getting permission to work in Sonagachi by the DMSC in the organisation’s aircon office, then having it abruptly withdrawn by case-workers as soon as we hit the narrow alleys of Sonagachi.
Eventually I am told I am not allowed to talk to anyone other than women directly involved in the organisation’s projects. I have already experienced exactly the same strategy at the hands of another organization purporting to help women in Calcutta. Journalists are regularly invited by aid organizations working in the sex trade, then blocked to see anything but the organization’s own projects. Sonagachi, it transpires, is firmly in the hand of the DMSC.
On a small square, an argument develops amongst the case-workers. The entire community of Sonagachi has the opportunity to witness the stand-off.
Back in the office of the DMSC, money talks.
Debashish Chowdury is standing in front of me, his hand open, demanding 30$ cash from myself and the photographer, for the ‘exposure visit’ we have just experienced. Suparna Tat has bowed out of the picture and disappeared into the air-con part of the building. Today, the DMSC office is almost exclusively staffed by efficient looking young middle-class men like Debashish Chowdury. He apologises again, “I am sorry this document was not shown to you prior to your exposure visit and I must insist you pay.”
The pamphlet, entitled ‘Welcome to Sonagachi’ outlines the DMSC’s objectives (many) and achievements (barely tangible). The document is badly written and carries no contact information. No address, no phone or email contacts, nothing.
In the last paragraphs of the pamphlet, the DMSC states that ‘we have decided to request our esteemed visitors to support our program through token donation. To systematize the process, Durbar (umbrella of sex workers different organizations) decided to put charges on exposure visits.’…..‘The charges fixed for this exposure visit is Rs. 1,000.00 (Rupees One thousand only) per person.’….‘This charge will include only project briefing and visit to a near-by field for a half a day program. This will not include food and travel expenses.’….‘Cars may be rented from our Project for visiting far-off field visits.’
A 1000 Rupees would go a long way with Champa Das. So would the 50 Million Rupees that the UMSC, a subdivision of the DMSC has in the bank, for a rainy day, apparently. Debashish Chowdury shows me some recent press clippings his organization has received. Melinda Gates, the wife of the world’s richest man, has been to Sonagachi. She left 200 Million $US in India to fight AIDS. Will it help in the hand of people who promote a red light area like a zoo? Melinda Gates thinks that India’s pop stars and cricket players will change the nation’s perception on HIV.
Debashish Chowdury is getting agitated by my questions, “You are misunderstanding all this. You cannot make a statement about Sonagachi after only an hour in the field. Many of the women here choose to work in Sonagachi. DMSC is fighting for the legalisation of this work in order to give dignity and independence to India’s sexworkers.”
Indeed, the DMSC has been organizing festivals in Calcutta, where sex workers cook and dance for the local community. In the eyes of the average Indian, that’s a fun day out freak show.
Mahla Singh, one of the organisation’s founders, states, ”It is rarely acknowledged that for most sex workers, entering the sex industry is not a result of coercion or an act of desperation but a rational choice.”
I spoke to scores of sex workers in brothels across Calcutta. The only sex workers I met who’d made a rational choice of sorts where the high class girls in the city’s discos who charge up to 1000$ a night. It’s a long way from a posh Park Street night-spot to Sonagachi. The vast majority of sexworkers in India were sold into the business. The DMSC is cultivating the image of the ‘happy hooker’, a vapid hope raised with donors in order to attract large funds from abroad.
Indrani Sinha, director of Sanlaap, another organization purporting to help sex workers, disagrees with the DMSC’s philosophy. “Most women are coerced into this trade. I don’t think legalisation is the solution. We hear of women being trafficked into Calcutta’s red light districts every day. I wouldn’t even call prostitution work in this country.”
To celebrate its 12-year anniversary, the DMSC recently produced a fashion show. Debashish Chowdury is reluctant to show me the press clipping. After some heckling he hands me the Bengal-language reports. Sex workers turned into catwalk models for just one day. The clothes sold, the women went back to work. The monitoring officer has understood that it’s not a story a western audience might take to.
I refuse to pay. “With all due respect, I cannot pay this fee, which is squarely aimed at the media and trivializes the terrible circumstances out in the street. Prostitutes appear to have few rights in Calcutta, despite the best efforts of organizations like Durbar.”
Debashish Chowdury asks me to put my point of view in writing (I am doing so now), “The director is the child of a sex worker you know. WE don’t use the word prostitute. It’s derogatory. We believe sex workers should be allowed to work legally.”
He knows as well as I do that this is not going to happen anytime soon in a society where women have little independence and many are regularly abused, disadvantaged, starved and sold, beaten and killed by their male superiors, partners or family members. I am talking about ordinary women. Women like Champa Das are right at the bottom of a human pyramid so gigantic it almost defies definition. In other red light areas around the city, like Kalighat, thousands of young Nepali and Bengali girls work out of small hovels. In train stations all over Calcutta, in alleys and in the streets, more than a hundred thousand children eke out a living, sliding in and out of sex abuse situations every day.
Debashish Chowdury and I have come to an impasse, when our argument is helped along by a young voice behind me. “Mr. Chowdury is right of course. We need to give the women respectability. Only then can they be independent. You must not misrepresent this area as a place of misery.”
Gazi Nazrul Islam Faisal is project manager of a Marie Stopes HIV Prevention Project in Bangladesh. Gazi Nazrul Islam Faisal is on a fact-finding mission and does not have to pay for ‘exposure visits’. Gazi Nazrul Islam Faisal is a man. So are his two colleagues who have come over from Bangladesh. Except for photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat, all present in the room are men. We are talking about what women, who have no power over their bodies and lives, who are not free by any definition of the word, want. Debashish Chowdury wants my money. I want to go back to Champa Das and hear something real. My fixer tells me a gang of men has been following us and it is time to get into a taxi and leave the area.
“We have problems with landlords, the police and local goondas (gangsters). We try to help each other and it’s really tough. But we only go to the NGO as a last resort.”
As I leave Champa Das, she smiles in the door to her room, “Tell people about what it is like to live here, what you saw and what you heard.”
The fight for the women of Sonagachi continues. So does the trade of new girls to the area. Despite periodic denials by the DMSC, it’s a thriving business. No one has yet suggested to go after the clients, the pimps or the police. Perhaps in ten years time, the women of Sonagachi will have wrested control from the male-dominated society whose iron grip they feel every time they turn a trick. Perhaps, in a better future, the sex workers will be controlled by organizations like the DMSC and happy young Indian women will flock into the world’s oldest profession with new-found rights and enthusiasm. Perhaps. In the meantime, if I need to hire a car, I know where to go. Do they provide female drivers?
Published in the Irish Independent.
Postscript:
I am receiving a lot of comments for this story. Some of them can be read below. Some readers unfortunately send very abusive emails, generally aiming their torrents of anger at the sex workers. Also, many readers comment only to brag about their sexual escapades in India or inquire about how to access the sex trade in Kolkata. Most of these mails are deleted.
But due to the continuing flood of these disturbing confessions, I have now decided to run just one chilling comment from a Sonagachi client on this page. There is nothing typically Indian about this missive – abusive, criminal sexual predators exist all over the world. This comment illustrates the terrible abuse sex workers face.
I had a pleasent exprience of sex in sonagachi with anupriya she has been associated in this line at the age of 8years when her mother forced her to work as a prostitute. her ugly face was in tolerable but for in her lust i bang her for more than one hours at the rate of 125 as per the rate it would be only 25 rupees,but her crying face compailed me to give her 100 rupees. her house would not be more than 3meters per side still she managed to survive in that room.
i met with her mother and enquired about her life when she told me that she had been in sonagachi since 1983.she was verry helpless and recless when she was forced to be fucked by 3 person at a time. may she get more and more customers in future. call her in XXXXXXXXX (phone number removed).
For those readers who continue to contribute constructive messages and criticism, the comments remain open .
changing sonagachi like areas into a peaceful place is a slow process and it requires political and public help .please politicians and police wake up from your seat
sonagachi like areas in india should be removed closely because most sex workers are poor ,if we can provide employment and self empowerment ,sonagachi and kamathipura like areas will not be a red light area.this problems need regular media attention so that whole country can help on this issue,i also thinks women trafficking is on high in india and our goverment is not doing anything and we call india a fast developing nation .it’s real shame that we are not doing anything the future is in danger
i hav so much sampathy with them.
It is very very very shameful. Actually these women don’t want to be prostitute but for each reason in society they have to earn and they is no any other way in this country. Government should think and give them a chance to earn.
Listen,we should legalise prostitution in our country.That way we could save these girls from rapes and molestations by the police and local goons at least.As for the problem of disease goes,the girls out there should unite and not let customers from have sex without protection.Prostitution is one of the earliest and ancient trades and no amount of ethics will prevent it.So we should try to improve the conditions these girls live in.
A documentary named “Born into Brothels” is a unique movie showing the true life of the workers at Sonagachi.Just 10 min before I ended up with the documentary but still not able to end up with the tears that what a cruel life these “workers” and their children have to live on.Here the concern is not to speak only but to work for these people so that atleast their children are able to live a respectable and life of dignity when their mothers is selling their mind and soul at the minimum cost of 10 rupees only. Moreover, your this article has made me think quite a lot that who is responsible for their situation and how we can help for the betterment of these sisters and brothers.i don’t belong to kolkata and i am a college guy.If you can send me the address or any telephone number of any of the NGO working for these people,it wil be a great thanks of you..please
our country is having 121 crores of people as per present census 2011,out of that 110 crores might be related to any type of illigal activities. In kolkata where a police sergent can be killed by their own office staff on a crowded street in the day time, what remedies can be sought from the police personnel, when police deptt is filled up with this type of fellow.where should general people go? for remedy. at present no bengali people lives in kolkata as well as west bengal without fear of any type of assult/mis behave from mischiefs if he does not have any direct contact with the political parties. each and every fellow mainly rickshow pullar/taxi driver/auto driver/labourers /pull car drivers throw slungs either others or to their friends without bother of the prestige of other general passengers/comuters at the area of any crowded rail way station and nearby ,bus stand and nearby area in west bengal. This type of nuisance are created by the said men (only looks) in front of the west bengal police. so nothing can be expected from the present police personnel.
At the presnt condition who is to bell the cat except the political persons.police are liable to protect the general public as per fundamental rights of the human beings,but they are being utilised otherwise violating the INDIAN CONSTITUTION. I cordially request to the political person to come and extend their hands to the downtroden people of the society without any scheme (like Dr, Bidhan Chandra Roy)to escalete their livelyhood, only then the number of brothel area/as well as the numbers of pros will be lower.
Dear Tom,
Your article is one of the few ones that I have come across on the net that tries to take an objective and balanced view on one of the major plights that affects our society. In lieu of other so called more important and “global” topics, the plight of sex workers is mostly ignored. The few articles that do appear are significantly polarized in their opinions in one direction or the other. I have been born in Calcutta and I can admit that Sonagachi and its sex workers are now viewed as just another facet of the city without getting much of real media attention. We must accept the fact that prostitution has been a part of our society for eons and just shoving it under the carpet will make matters worse. Rather than those who berate and crusade against prostitutes would actually make much more of a difference if they instead ensured that the sex workers are provided all the basic amenities that other professions get. Steps taken in those direction will probably help them to be free of the dangers of touts, politicians , goons etc. I am just a 21 year old guy just out of college and issues such as these have been at best a topic of mild discussion for me and my friends. Your article made me think about this quite a lot. I hope you keep enlightening people with such relevant and thought provoking articles.
Dear Bean, thanks, glad the story was of some help. Tom
Dear Tom.
Thanks for sharing this helpful report. Apparently i am making a graphic novel for my humanities class. My topic is child prostitution in india.
since child prostitution is closely related to the normal prostitution, I read your article and it gave me some great information.
Hope this issue can be solved as soon as possible. thank you.
mamta mashi-shld seriously think about the rally-“CHALO SONAGACHI”-“PATH TO THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN”
why waste time and harrass people by blocking roads in the heart of the city.??
call mamta mashi to organiza a rally in sonagachi for a change….:))
i also want to enjoy life
USE CONDOM
BINDASS BOOOL
Hi Tom,Ur article is really good. I must admit ur venture. I m from the City of Joy, currently in Kolkata. Being human, its our responsibility to Help others, but the corruptness doesnt allow us. Even if we try to Help people by spreading awareness, Thousand will rise against us. ( As they are involved in it – MONEY THRIVING ACT -)
Hope People should come forward in this Move. KEpp it up.
@ Engr. Parimal Shah, does this look to you like a matrimonial site? contact Bharatmatrimony & shaadi.com for your life partner requirements.
@ Samar, who do you think is the government? It is us. If you go through the reader’s comment, you can see how aggressive Indians are wrt the problem.
This statement from Mr. Tom is shocking but true,
“The increasing influence of globalization and widespread access to pornography on the Internet have made India a more dangerous country, with a quickly growing population of male sexual predators. No doubt, pornography and the Internet have a place in every society, but given the terrible treatment of women in India and the lack of dialogue about sex, the technology-driven future of India´s sexual health looks grim indeed.”
I know places in my city they call the red light area. I hear news of women rescued from trafficking. Poverty, underdevelopment, Illiteracy and unemployment are the primary causes. Young women belonging to poor families are lured in, with a promise of marriage, better livelihood and job. India might have improve its literacy levels compared to what it was in the last decade, the Indian families still continue to be ridiculously orthodox and predominantly, worshiping and relishing the male supremacy, PREFERRING A MALE CHILD OVER THE DAUGHTER for obvious reasons of dowry, son being regarded as heir to paternal property, legacy etc. What we need, is improvement in the status of women, attitudinal change among the masses, with the way they look upon and understand women, apart from proper education, development and employment opportunities.
Dear Tom, I truly appreciate your effort. I find the article interesting. I could relate as I was a part of a similar seminar on women trafficking. I stand for the cause against trafficking. I am a teacher by profession and I make sure I provide the strength and skills to my girl students and for the boys, some lessons in attitude and good behavior. I request you kindly remove irrelevant comments.
I wants Life partner( From Bangladesh)And live Calcutta.With job.
Many thanks, Sen, for your positive feedback, I will try to track down the film you mention.
Whatever Mr. V. K. Sharma has pointed a very fault decision…….here….people dont get to undergo education like you Mr. Sharma….during their childhood as such they have to keep prostitution as an option….earning money is not easy…but it is easy to say…do this and do that…..some people are compelled into prostitution….not for satisfaction…..WHEN ALL THE MEANS OF EARNING ENDS…THEN PEOPLE ARE LEFT WITH PROSTITUTION.
Dear Tom,
I loved going through your article. That was some great reporting. Incidentally, i am writing a piece on sex-workers and was trying to find some information when i came upon this article. If it interests you, there is a documentary called “Tale of the Night Fairies” by Shohini Ghosh. It deals with the workers of Shonagachi. Thought it might interest you…well…that is if you haven’t watched it yet.
it should be banned forcibly in india as it is total immoral.there are other means too for livelihood.
I first found out about the prositution in india when our church had undercover pastors come to calcutta posing as customers and praying for the women . We made a campain over the next years and so far we pledged 69 million . TO help with the after care once these women are rescued and brought to the aftercare facilitys . I want to help i live in the us i am willing to take some people in to my home to get them out of the situation . how can i help?
Sir,
I’m an Indian Army Soldier working for Nation to cleanup terrorism. I’m volunteer to work with you as NGO. Please give a chance to me.
Hi Tom,Dianna,metalgirl,David n all oders..
Sonagachi is not the only place where liberaization of sex workers is a bare minimum.There are other places in India also facing the same problems.What we need in India is a strong Government Law or an equally forceful public-private partnership to enforce a better living standard for all the lust-quenching self sacrificed women out there.Cmmon sex is a physical activity which is done in private only.Its also a form of work.Then why the hell is such a fuss about it??
Y cant they be treated as equals.
My first gf was a sex worker.She died in a car accident.I love these women.from heart..
What are the local police doing about all of this.
David
sir please stopped all these problems related to calcutta.sir everyone want a clean city.do something special sir.
if there is no way to survive then what the girls are doing?so it’s the duty of every citizen of india to give as much as help they can do for them.i don’t know how to help, but i want to.
Hi Tom.
Just days ago I happened upon the documentary about Sonagachi: “Born Into Brothels” It is weighing on me. Since, I’ve been trying to find out more. You are accredited for your honesty. From what I have witnessed, it’s far, and in between, on these internet sites, of the portrayal of this area in India. I don’t know how I can help, but I want to. You have my email. Even if it’s just a donation, please let me know what I can do. Thank you for your time.
HI Dianna,
Thanks for your comment.
Could not agree more. Incidentally, I also get scores of emails from Indian readers reporting where to find the best girls and what they cost. Or they ask me for advice how to operate in Sonagachi as a client. It´s all a bit sad. The plight of Indian prostitutes is indeed barely reported, not least because India is so sexually repressed and the discussion is largely taboo, and because far too much energy is spent on projecting India`s successes while completely ignoring the country`s inability to provide even the most basic services to the majority of its citizens.
The increasing influence of globalization and widespread access to pornography on the Internet have made India a more dangerous country, with a quickly growing population of male sexual predators. No doubt, pornography and the Internet have a place in every society, but given the terrible treatment of women in India and the lack of dialogue about sex, the technology-driven future of India´s sexual health looks grim indeed.
You can’t legalize drugging little children’s Coca-Colas, kidnapping them, and then having them systematically raped while THEY have to pay others for it financially, or pay for it with their lives because they contract HIV/AIDS!!! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
Tom,
Fantastic reporting not to mention you are very brave. I’m working with an NGO to help survivors of human trafficking and slavery in Kolkata now. It’s horrible what is going on here and grossly underreported. I read an article by a woman named Laura Ingral I think just before yours and her blog boards turned into a where to find the best girls in Sonagachi. 200 posts of it. Had to everything in my power to keep from vomiting right then and there.
These women are slaves, stolen from their homes and villages, or are now second and third generation red light. The way these women are treated is an abomination, a blight on humanity. Thanks for truthfully shedding light.
Best wishes.
yes it must be legalise for stop the corruption or issue licencense for it. It is ancient times when things r started and pramoted by biritish soldiers also. Good thing if legalise in one part of india then impliment in all over india.
The article on Sonagachi was awesome , unbeleavable but true . Fortunate enough to find it .
Thanks to the writer for an indeapth analysis of the misery of this trade and about the grewsome
state of HIV in India .
Thanks , Kalyan Roy , Mumbai , India
I am ram here i would to like help to sex workers so please send me details how to help for them if any one know details pls send with contact details to rrc_ramesh@rediffmail.com
Sambhunath Tiadi, it does not sound like you need to start a sex worker business in Orissa, since you already enjoy sex services on BK Paul Avenue. I cannnot imagine someone less suitable to get involved in finding solutions for Indian sex workers. If there were a price for such a position, you would surely get it.
Lord Jesus & Mother Mary Foundation is a registered trust, not a christian organization. Mr. Sambhunath Tiadi is a branded Hindu Brahman and have started this foundation after voluntarily retiring from government of India from Kolkata. I have gone many times to BK Paul Avenue and also enjoyed sex. I have no negative remarks on it. Jesus is like Mahatma Gandhi and Mary is also a lady. To know the real truth and activities of christian missionaries, I have formed it. Intention of the foundation is to eradicate poverty by suggesting government on economic reformations policies.
i am in favor of sex. all the sex workers are good,but problems creators are……..who…you all guess
I want to start a sex worker business in orissa also. Can any body help me?
VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM-
a piece of statistics…..out of the 700 odd rupees that is the starting rate for a decent place, the girl gets 25 odd rupees. Please work out the labour needed to buy a dress!!!
(this was for the benefit of the people who are talking about the economic plusses of legalising prostitution)
I should point out that I can not vouch as to the genuineness of the comments on this page. This is a free expression forum. I delete obscene and offensive comments, especially in connection with Sonagachi. All other comments are published, even if I personally disagree with them. I am in no way promoting announcements by Christian groups claiming to aid or wanting to aid the sex workers of India. Hundreds of Christian NGOS operate in Kolkata, many allegedly looking after the most vulnerable in society. In my experience, many of these groups are in fact profit-orientated and exploit India´s vast pool of unfortunates.
Generally all the ladies are shy in nature, and we the male dominated people have misguided them to accept the profession of prostitution. Now It has been grasped to the entire world. I am very much interested to form an all India sex workers Organization or to support that organisation, if some try to form it. Further it is informed that legalization of sex workers will control rape,molestation and murder in a great extent.I am always ready to help legally and financially. After taking voluntary retirement from Government of India, I have also established a registered Trust under Trust Act-1888 in the name of “Lord Jesus & Mother Mary Foundation”. I am the president cum Managing Trustee of the Foundation. Our foundation is always ready to extend its cooperation as and when required.
ANY ONE CAN FREELY TALK WITH ME DIRECTLY IN MY MOBILE NO.09777816178 AS AND WHEN NECESSARY. I AM ALWAYS FOR YOUR SERVICE.
SAMBHUNATH TIADI
ADVOCATE/LAWYER
President cum Managing Trustee
Lord Jesus & Mother Mary Foundation
HIG-221(K5),Kalinga Vihar BDA Colony,Po-Patrapada,
Bhubaneswar-751019(Orissa)India
Mobile-91 9777816178
Office: (0674)2475043
I have a good vast experiences on Sonagachi known as BK Paul Avenue. I strongly support the sex workers of Sonagachi, and also interested to pressurize to legalize the sex workers by issuing license to them like the country of Austria,Australia and many other countries. Sex is a human instinct, and consequent upon physical growth,one learn it from other who is experienced in sexual relationship. It is quite personal.
Enjoy the life by using all means provided by the nature but don’t make it painful for any body.
There is nothing wrong in earning money by selling ones body,when that is having a market demand,and the seller wants to sell his/her body to earn money.But what is painful,is that a lion share of the cost that the client pays for the same goes to the agencies like pimps,landlords,local leaders,NGO members, Police and so on.
Though the body of opposite sex is a desired object for anybody,it may be thought of,why sexworkers are normally women,though gigolos ( male prostitute)also exist,but they are numbered.
Let there be a fare and free market for sex,guided by a rational consumer behaviour.
i think ,at the age of 15 or above every girl and boy want to sex.those girls who has already boyfriend sex with each other and similar condition with boys who has girlfriend.but who has not girlfriend or boyfriend where he or she will go?boys have one option to go red light area like sonagachi.it is not wrong to go sonagachi for boys ,it’s my personal point of view only.
It is realy samful that the repoduction system of nature has become the way of livlihood of some female. I understand, it is only because few people grab all the opportunity of leaving. I will be the happiest man if I can do some thing for the sex workers of sonagachi.
In fact I had never visited the place but it is my dream to visit the place, study the life style and way of earnings of the sex workers who are compel to leave there and sale her self for fulfil their basic needs.
hai everybody i want to do work with u
i can give all information about the area & there human beings.i m also related with the NGO’s.u can contact with me in any clarification.
Dear Akash Sir,
I want to work with you. I want a healthy,knowledgeable social for that reason i can do anything. Please give me a chance to work with any NGO’s.
a damn good article!
i came to read it as i searched for articles on sonagachi to get an overview/insight before i write a HIV/AIDS centric proposal for my NGO in Delhi (i work as a propsal writer in it).
Though i belong from Kolkata, i never visited that place bcause of obvious reasons.
write to me, i would appreciate! 🙂
Dear Deabratrata Patrl,
My article provides a portrait of the area at the particular time I visited. What exactly has changed for the thousands of sex workers in the area?
Tom
Dear sir, A lot of changes has been ain andcome to the Sonagachi. Just visit ag.ait and experience it