Those dark alleys are smeared with foul-smelling blood… filled with gaudy lights radiating from huge, flashy billboards that brighten up the night. Carnal desires are fulfilled… Bodies are sold for a few rupees. Millions of women and men are involved in the trade. Sex is cheap; love comes at a great price. Love is a lie. Sex is the only truth.
G.B. Road, Delhi, is flooded with men in the evening. A brief visit reveals the truth behind those skeletal windows… flashing faces of distorted women. The overbearing smell of rancid body fluids, semen and blood mixed with inexpensive perfume wafting through the air. Used and unused latex can be seen soiled in mud in veiled areas… unknown, unloved faces try to hide in the dark alley of reality. Dilapidated walls with naked patchwork of fading paint adorn the brothels. Every window contains women clad in nothing but unabashed melancholy… Brothel. Whore-house. That is what they call this place. The red light district is filled with zombies: emotionless, unthinking, mechanical sex workers confined in a four-by-six room.Nights of revelry and days of melancholy fuse into one another, day after day without respite – where these women live, and where these women die.
Most of the women who work in these so called ‘houses of ill-repute’ do not enter the trade out of choice. They mostly come from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Nepal and are sold for money. These girls are lured into the grandeur of big cities and brought to places like Delhi, Calcutta, and Mumbai in the name of getting a job. The girls are deceived by their masters, who make them work for two or three months as a house maid or manual worker. They are then sold to a ‘naayika’, a senior sex worker, for a heavy sum of money.
As soon as a girl enters this den of vice, the naayika levies a loan on her. For example, if a naayika buys a girl for two lakh rupees, the amount thus paid has to be reimbursed by the girl herself – and that is not the end of her woes, as an additional 10% tax is levied on a monthly basis in the name of subsistence. If she tries to run away, her parents and society reject her and treat her like an outcast. The girl is thus trapped in a barbed labyrinth of troubles wherein she has no choice but to give into the demands of her naayika, ensnared in the house of prostitution.
The brothels follow a chain of command. The naayika functions as the head. Young girls in the trade, as suggested, are hardly given money. The naayika holds the reins of five or six younger girls who not only work for her but also bring in money for pimps, managers, police and various minor characters. Every woman attends to at least 10-20 clients a day, and more than 20,000 condoms are used every month.
HIV and venereal diseases are commonplace. An ailing or infected sex worker is left to fend for herself in her small, dingy, claustrophobic room. She might die out of suffering and ignorance but since she is an invalid, and thus valueless, she is hardly cared for.
The women who work in brothels have hardly known love, they have hardly been loved. All they have been through is unbearable pain.Each breath they take is another’s.
As dusk dawns upon Gaston Bastion Road, a strange heaviness fills my heart. Memories of people known and unknown flash before my eyes… grotesque pictures soak my heart… I see people involved in nothing but duplicity, deceit, treachery, betrayal and infidelity… All they want to do is use another, for gratification and pleasure… But what kind of contentment can one get by hurting another? By doing nothing but inflicting pain?
I feel sore, broken. A sense of profound pain fills my eyes with a cascade of tears. I imagine the world… bereft of love, bereft of emotions. Everywhere around me people hurt each other – lie – lie about their emotions, lie about their feelings, and lie about love… Sex becomes the only means of satisfying a soul. I do not say that sex is not important, but is it the only truth? Is it the only thing that matters? The concept of soul-mates is but a lie!
Love is slowly losing its innocence. It peeps through darkness like a scared, scarred child… apprehensive and timid… afraid to show its face to the world of experience… afraid to be tarnished by the flawed concepts of the world. Isn’t it time we erase the blemishes that scar the face of love?
People are dying all around… Out of hatred, abhorrence, abomination! Isn’t it time we realized the importance of love? Isn’t it time we held that beautiful sensation close to our spirit and tried feeling its life-breath? Love is a lie we tell to console ourselves… but isn’t that lie sweeter than the bitter truths of life?
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A Post Graduate in English Literature from Miranda House, Delhi University. A completely Visual person who likes to dream. Lover of 'Chai' and 'Cheesecake', a fusion of east and west. Can cry at a joke or laugh at the saddest things in life. Admires smiles as well as tears. At times too talkative, at times too quiet. Social yet reserved, in the company of many, yet lonely. My pockets jingle with little blessings of people around me. Among innumerable faces I am just another one trying to find a place in this world
Peta Jinnath Andersen is a freelance and fiction writer. Born in Sydney, Australia, to a Fiji-Indian father and Scottish mother, she’s a bit confused about her background, but loves it all the same. Currently living in the US, she has just had her first child, and is busy studying hard in an effort to learn more about her Indian heritage – including taking Hindi lessons – so she can teach her son about just what it is that makes an NRI special.
on October 25, 2011
at 4:38 am
no words to share what and how i feel at this moment… a sad part of life…
very vivid descriptions which touch deep within… good job with words…
on October 25, 2011
at 7:56 am
Thank you Abu… yes it indeed is a harsh, sad reality.
on October 25, 2011
at 8:57 am
u know what i have a problem with ? not prostitution…i honestly believe that as long as there is a deman, there will be supply…iam fine with it…each person has the right to choose whatever means they feel is right to lead their life…as long as their choice doesnt interfer with anothers choice…i believe this..
so iam fine with prostitution…
what iam not fine with is the common criminal minded individuals who has made this into a business where the prostitutes themselves are just used as a resource for revenue….that is disgusting, cruel, demeaning and worth spite…
i hope people has enough sense to stop being ostriches and make prostitution legal, thereby removing these middle people from existing…put the power in the hands of the sex workers..give them legal rights, protect them, in fact treat that profession as any other profession..
u see, i think its we who made this happen…we are as guilty as the nayika and the pimps and every one involved in it…we take a moral stand and make something natural into something people have to hide or be ashamed off…thereby removing any sort of ways by which they can seek help…we turned our backs…and then we protest…hue and cry over it…
such hipocracy…
people will always have sex…accept it…understand it…prostitution is as sensible as restaurants..
on October 25, 2011
at 9:47 am
Very well written article..Keep it up…
on October 25, 2011
at 11:45 am
TYS: Bravo!!!! Kudos to you for what you have said!
on October 25, 2011
at 4:06 pm
This is sad reality because we use a human beang as a tool for our own need. This also happens in the whole world . I have also read about this sort of trade involving young eastern europian women in UK, but I have seen happy ending in some of this cases, because they have chance to break free. This was possible because, they are still treated like human being and given lots of support and help and also police is not corrupted.
This is not possilbe in india because the whole system is corrupted and there is no way out for those women in these trade ever to escape and even if they do , will our socity accept them ?, I dont think so , and this is a sad truth.
leglising prostitution will not change the the equation for this women because our society does not respect or value human being who does not fit in to cultural norm. Also there is another problem with leaglisation is that it will give NAAYIKA , PIMPS and POLICE more power to exrcise their rules legaly without anything and anybody intrfering.
Vice is trade that’s been around as long as a man has existed . There is no fast and quick solution to the longest existing problem on the face of this planet. This is also worse in india due to economic and corruption and our attitude toward protitutes and vice in genrel.
I agree with certain things that TYS said but legality of vice is not a solution .
ANUKRITI you wrote these article on base of love. Sex is not love . Love can be expressed in sexual way between two individuals who are happy with one and other but this is totaly diffrent from sex that involves in porn or other domain. The sexsual gratification from other means are not same as the one from real relationship. The sexsual act in this case is same as going to the toilet , Where one does his deed and leaves and this is not same as love because these women are treated like toilet. Threfore those individual who pay for sex are not buying love but they are slave to their own need and, that’s the reason this will not be the end for those women woes .
HARRY
on October 25, 2011
at 4:34 pm
@harry : why do u term sex got for a payment a vice? if both are consenting parties, wheres the harm except in other’s so called moral point of view? The same moral point which i feel is a personal thing and need not, should not be something which is enforced across the board…if ur moral is against sex without love, then dont do it but why do we condone it in another…
my point is if we recognize it as a trade, which is what it is, then it will be between the service provider and the customer…anything else that springs around it will be just additional business based around a trade that is the most ancient in the world…
empowering the sex workers will ensure that the legal system will work for them…right now they are ignored untill the worst has happened to them…
but u r rite…the mind set has to change..we need to recognize it for what it is…but accepting it will be the first step…
by denying it, u drive it underground and then u have no control over it…see it like alcohol during prohibition…see how that went…u make it legal, u make it accessible and visible…u give it a position in society…u r being honest…
of course there need not be love in sex…but where is there a rule that there should be?
on October 25, 2011
at 6:59 pm
The struggle that women face in today’s world is limitless. I must point out that women do endure such circumstances even in modern
on October 25, 2011
at 7:05 pm
The world today has turned from intellectuals to idiocrats. Is it because we have everything we want, that we choose to get away with whatever we like??
The women in today’s era are living in a situation where their dignity is at stake. This factor is also exploited through the media, and other social concerns. Everywhere pervertism is at constant rise when compared to the early eras of livelihood. Why is this happening?, is it that all that we humans know to do is make money, murder and mate? Where is the morality? Show me a Gentleman these days? Am I asking too much?
on October 25, 2011
at 7:58 pm
TYS i agree with you on most point but i am not speaking from moral point of view when I say those things. There are individuals on this planet who will always use the legal system to their advantage . The only way this is true is when this is done with two concenting adults as you say and you and i know, this is not in this cases, because those women are physicaly used as a sex slave and there is nothing concenting about this . If they say no to the punters they get beatings by their pimps. They have not done this out of choice, but they have been forced in to these situation, and that the part I don’t like.
A woman should not be force to do things that she does not want to do but in this cases they are made to do, and that is not transaction my friend that is slavery, and you know this is true in this cases.
We as human being will always take advantage of another, and that’s in our geans, weather we are indian or not. Where there is money involved we will never be civilised when it comes to sex and vice. Like I said it is nothing to do with geography, but this is genral true every where.
What i am saying is if it’s legal you and I will be the first people to ignore it, because we think it’s normal and happy hunky dory but because it is illegal, and down right dirty we are talking about it . I know you are all for personal freedom and liberty and so am I, but you know and I know I am not talking shit.
HARRY
on October 26, 2011
at 2:01 am
@author: as some of the commentators have pointed out, you do have a way with words. You do succeed in capturing the melancholy of an Indian brothel. But I wonder if the picture you paint, fully corresponds to the reality. There are probably many women out there who take it as a trade. And as Harry has pointed out, don’t look for love in a whorehouse.
You talk of exploitation. True, the naiyikas and the pimps do exploit the hapless prostitues. Not the customers, who are mostly poor men living away from their families; all they want is a little gratification. It’s nothing more than having a drink.
If the exploitation has to end, as tys has pointed out, prostitution must be legalised. It will empower the sex-workers. It will give them respectablity. It will better their economic condition. Moreover, they will be able to send their children to good schools ensuring a better future for them. And of course, it will create better health-awareness among them enabling them to take precautions against diseases such as AIDS.
What stops us Indians from doing it is a false sense of morality. It is not even against our culture. Courtesans were an integral part of our society in the past.
Take the example of Kerala. It is one of the few states in the country, which does not have a red-light area. But has this brought down crimes against women? No. On the contrary, it has become one of the unsafest states for women. Almost every day, one hears of a new story of ‘molestation.’
In the west, where prostitution is legal, the sex-workers apparently lead a more dignified life.
I am really surprised that the author is unaware of the change in sexual mores among today’s youth. They look upon sex as nothing but fun and pleasure. One-night stands aren’t uncommon among them. So, where does love come into the picture. We, of the older generation, do find it difficult to accept such a mindset. But that’s the reality today.
What is responsible for the plight of sex-workers is the hypocritical attitude of the society? We look down upon them as evil women. They are no different from other women – with the same desires, aspirations and hopes. Treat them as we treat other women. Accept them. And their condition will certainly improve. It is said that the late malayalam film director, John Abraham, once embraced a prostitute during the day in full view of the public. When a small crowd gathered around, he told her, ‘I do this as an act of penance for all those men who seek solace from you at night and spit upon you with contempt during the day.’
on October 26, 2011
at 5:54 am
a friend of my mother , Ms.Sari, had done a report on sex trafficking …she stayed there with them, the book is called ‘ Scarlet Daughters’ …its not sensationalized, rather its almost statistic..
on October 26, 2011
at 6:34 am
@TYS
I agree that people will always have sex and that prostitution is a reality. I went to G.B. Road myself and the picture that I came across was quite complicated. Most of the women who are a part of the trade do not enter it out of choice. They are indirectly lured into it for a few rupees. Trapped in the web of nayikas, customers and middlemen, these women lead a life of nothing but misery.
It is we who form the social fabric. I am just asking people to be a little more responsible. Yes, I agree the peoblem lies with the criminal minded people who act as the in-betweens.
We had asked a sex-worker, “Are you here by choice? Are you okay with what you are doing?” Her answer was, “If we do not do it, what will happen to your safety? These men will gobble you and other women.”
on October 26, 2011
at 6:35 am
@Hari Narayana
Thank u sir!
on October 26, 2011
at 6:41 am
@Anoop Mathai Mathew
Very thought-provoking thoughts…
I think you have put across some really hard-hitting questions that we should and need to ponder over. We need to rethink reality. To try and understand itin its true essence.
on October 26, 2011
at 6:52 am
@Harry
I agree on most of the points you have said. I believe every living creature deserves love. When we can love animals, don’t these women too deserve affection. I am not asking for romantic love alone. Love of parents, friends, family, lover… These women are forever deprived. I agree sex and love are entirely different concepts, but these women too desire love and happiness. Are they asking for too much? Sex is only a means of satisfaction. But were we born to indulge in this and forget the basic ingredient that brings life to society? Why should love be seen as a crime? It has become a lie because sex is cheap and easily available. People do not think about love. Isn’t it time we set aside hatred and give love a chance?
on October 26, 2011
at 7:06 am
@Joseph James…
I paint the picture from the perspective of a woman. For men satisfying there sexual/carnal needs might be as simple and easy as having a drink. The women who are involved might/might not be interested. Most of the sex-workers I came across were unwilling. They do not do it out of choice, but because they do not have a choice. I have been to the place and whatever I have written is my experience based on the stories these women had to tell.
I know sex is very common among youngsters. I am myself surrounded by people who have no issues with one-night stands. But don’t you think love is losing its place/position. And why is it? Just because everything is easily available. So easily available that we have lost their value.
I loved the last paragraph of your comment. Very well said sir!
on October 27, 2011
at 1:52 pm
Sad that parents who should be hunting for their daughters end up rejecting them when they come back.
on October 29, 2011
at 5:24 pm
Profound!
on November 2, 2011
at 6:11 am
nice blog, you have good heart and nice thoughts.
on November 30, 2011
at 4:09 pm
thanx anukriti u hv fully described it. u hv written good article about gb road which is a real red light area .some people know that it not a safe place. it is full of many diesease & pilps . but here, girls are helpless. they can’t anything behalf sold their bodies .
on December 8, 2011
at 6:21 pm
This is the worst piece of literature I have ever read in my life. The emotions expressed are over done and fake. Seems like the writer sat with a dictionary, thesaurus and copy pasted millions of content from the Internet already written abt GB road. I feel disgusted reading this. Not the topic, but the choice of words used by the writer
on December 9, 2011
at 4:33 am
@Prashant
I think every individual has a different style of writing… Which may or may not appeal others. Whatever I wrote was a real experience, something I saw and felt. I am sure people must have written a lot about GB Road but I write and express myself the way I did… It might be full of emotions but that is how I am. Every individual is different and I do appreciate criticism…it helps one improve and write better. Thank you
on December 9, 2011
at 12:32 pm
very nice article,giving very appropriate insights about the life of these prostitutes.very well written,and u have made a very good judgement about the whole issue,it shows ur emotional sensitivity towards their miseries.
on December 9, 2011
at 8:35 pm
I would love to hang out with Sunny Leone…. so what does that mean???
on December 10, 2011
at 8:56 am
great story
on December 13, 2011
at 11:31 am
Thanks for writing about G.B Road.
some thoughts which come to my mind are:
1.Are all women Trafficked who attend at G.B Road?
2.If yes, where is ITPA and Police which lives on G.B road?
3 If No, is it also not a trade govered by demand and supply?
4.Is there any data on number of FSW at GB Road are there forefully?
5.Kothas are independent or controlled? is is new era slavery?
6.This is oldest profession in world why its not dead like many tangawallas or cobblers or snakecharmers.
7.Traditionally many communities are in sex trade like kanjars,nuts, raj nuts, saranias, singlikars, sahukars, devdasis etc. Crisis response teams are near them and many of them give a good fight to any strong one.
8. sex between consenting adults how bad it is?
9. we have doctors,engineers,teachers,peons etc…. all are in different professions why not writer think it as a profession?
signing off for now.Article looks very biased.
Thanks but too Rabindranath Tagore type english “common views not for common people”.
on December 23, 2011
at 4:37 pm
anukriti …
you are wrong they aren’t like that kind of women as you have written over here and as u thought u can’t such imagine and accept till u ll not go over there i have an experience of there they are so gentle and honest of their work and behavior was almost quite well as i wasn’t accepting but the problem is that only its India and nothing..
on January 9, 2012
at 3:55 pm
SORRY
I DONT KNOW THAT U HAVE VISITED OR NOT, BUT I KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THEM. BECAUSE I HAVE FELT THERE EMOTIONS. I KNOW THERE STORY HOW THEY ARE DRAGGED INTO THIS PROFESSION (PROSTITUTION)
I JUST WANNA SHARE THIS THOUGHT THAT HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO, WE USED TO SELL JUST THE ANIMALS, BUT NOW WE ARE MAKING MONEY OUT OF THE HUMANS TOO. HUMAN TRAFFICKING HAS BEEN ON ITS PEAK IN TODAYS SO CALLED “EDUCATED” WORLD.
WHERE THE HELL ARE WE HEADING TO.. IN ONE PLACE, WE ARE TALKING ,ABOUT 10 TO 12 % INDUSTRIAL GROWTH, IUPLIFTING INDIAN LIFESTYLE, ETC..
BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, WE ARE NEGLECTING ON OF THE MAJOR ISSUES THIS SOCIETY IS FACING. AND THIS PROFESSION IS NOT LIMIT TO JUST GB ROAD, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF SUCH SCHOOL GIRLS IN HUNDREDS OF SUCH PLACES, WHO ARE A PART OF IT, ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF JUST A FEW PIECE OF PAPER (MONEY) OR SEX..
WHO IS BEHIND ALL THIS?
ARE WE?
I JUST KNOW ONE THING THAT WE ARE THE ONE WHO ENCOURAGES THIS PROFESSION TO GROW, BY PAYING HUGE AMOUNT TO SUCH IDIOTIC THINGS (SEX)
….!!!!!
on January 13, 2012
at 8:43 am
hats off A.sharma u make d reality visible< in a purified glass, me 20 old , in k.r mangalam school and,
i feel shame coz me olso went there once but not for sex…, with a friend, me new to dat place and my friend usally go there.., while siting a girl ask me chal na , it was so embersd fo me and on the other hand my frnd wass busy in his project.., i ak her y u cme here nd she repled apni kushi se kon atta hai< me jst look @ her n randomly she ask me teri gf nai h qa ……. she make me dead answer of her endless question ………… hatss off for u
on January 16, 2012
at 3:20 pm
Hi,
Thanks for writing about such a topic, I guess we can only wish that no one goes through the trauma what these workers went through.. but i guess world will never be perfect… !!
on January 19, 2012
at 10:47 pm
Great article (specially the title )… sure the life of prostitutes is hell….. shame that the govt. dont do much about this …..
on January 26, 2012
at 3:04 pm
u can show…thats good..but wt u try to do 4 them……v cnt stop it ,its inc day by day….just the education is that aware all for right /wrong…..only a ??????? v do
on January 29, 2012
at 12:09 pm
What a marvellous article didnt u think that we can do something about it just writing an article upon it there is nothing gonna happen we are just ….
on February 2, 2012
at 7:42 am
Is there any solution for sorting out this major problem so that i can also help you out in this
on February 2, 2012
at 10:16 am
Prostitution is a problem not the prostitutes. better word to use “Female Sex Workers”.
Good to write and know about FSWs but any examples of their social inclusion????
on February 12, 2012
at 10:14 am
very vivid descriptions which touch deep within… good job with words
on February 17, 2012
at 10:22 am
TODAY I GOT TO KNOW THE FACT KE EVEN I WAS DOING VERY WRONG……THAKS TO YOUR INTELLACT WCH HAVE SHOWN ME A ROAD TO HUMANITY……………SORRY GOD COZ ONCE IN A LIFE I TOO HV BECAME YOUR CULPRIT….SORRY
on February 20, 2012
at 4:07 am
After reading this, i feel like hell, why Govt. didn’t shut down such things. I am feeling very sad about those innocent girls, who are living in hell..i think its time to fight, we have do to something…..Very good work Anukriti.
on February 22, 2012
at 7:37 am
reflection of grief and true picture of social ill..what remedy can ..neither u know nor we but to see and feel the pain SHE bears ..nice work anukriti
on February 24, 2012
at 2:09 pm
I agree that people will always have sex and that prostitution is a reality.I agree on most of the points you have said. I believe every living creature deserves love. Prostitution is a problem not the prostitutes. better word to use “Female Sex Workers”.sex between consenting adults how bad it is?shame that the govt. dont do much about this …..
on February 26, 2012
at 8:13 pm
Hi Anukriti, i have read your article, and that is really very touchy. but we can’t do anything to stop these as they are already spread all over india.
on March 9, 2012
at 2:43 pm
@ author: I think you have done quite a research on this topic online and after accumulating all sensitive and emotional points from other related articles you have managed to put forth an enlightening article.
I don’t understand what were you doing alone in GB Road which I fear is a forbidden area for civilized and well behaved people. You ll mostly find 2 kinds of people there, one who sells sex and the other who buys it at an affordable price.
on March 10, 2012
at 10:41 pm
reminds me of my obligations towards humanity.insightful and well described.
on March 28, 2012
at 9:29 pm
amaging no words to say and to define.
on March 29, 2012
at 8:57 pm
sad part of life…gud article…Good words are worth much, and cost little.. words are a form of action, capable of influencing change..keep it up…
on April 7, 2012
at 9:34 am
well written…prostitution is not a crime,but shame on those who see woman only as the source of satisfying the sexual needs.Everyone has emotions,everyone needs love,care,affection…..I think our Government should take right steps.fooling the girls by saying that they will get the job,and forcing them to the bed of sex is the biggest crime.If humanity is left in someone,he will surely ponder on this.
on April 7, 2012
at 11:43 am
governments heads are only reflections of our aspirations.for things to change i feel there is a need to sensitize people.but these articles only come up in papers once only when common wealth like mega events are organised diverting money in pvt
on April 8, 2012
at 4:49 pm
Thanks for writing this article…. Well written.. I had tears in my eyes…. I really someday will come when this vicious circle will be broken….. It is so painful to know that their lives are worse than hell…. This article puts good light on a part of reality, a reality which , on one hand, is usually not even thought about by people around the world and on the other hand , is lived by these unfortunate girls which are brought to these places by insensitive beings … I hate it but its the truth of life….. The only question arises is……WHY????????
on April 21, 2012
at 5:21 am
Well done job. So nice described. At least Young guys will definetly learn from it.
Thanks