In the brothels of Sonagachi and Matiya, there is real life, and pain, beneath the makeup

For the last twenty years, she has been getting ready in a small room in Sonagachi every day to greet customers. What seems like a regular job now, wasn’t easy back then, when she unknowingly arrived in Asia’s biggest red light area. Since the early days in school, she always had dreamed of being a school teacher. But that was a forbidden dream in a conservative family in a rural setting. Girls having a professional world was unfathomable. So, she shared her dream with a friend, who showing her a glimmer of hope escorted her to the infamous Sovabazar area, where she was introduced to a man. That’s when her life took a bad turn. Now, two decades on, she knows there is no way to step out of this world.

Often trafficked by family members, many girls enter this world without any idea they were sold for a hefty price. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

Like her, hundreds of girls have been duped and sold in these dark alleys over the decades. Thanks to the intervention of NGOs like Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) who has been actively working with the sex workers in the area and elsewhere in the state, trafficking is on the fall.

The glossy make-up, colourful lights and scented room-fresheners, might keep it under wraps, but the music still has to be turned up to drown the wailing sound for the children. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

One of the many ‘Babus’ coming to her door daily took a special interest in her. Promising her a different future and a fresh start, he vowed to marry her. Taking permission from her ‘Mashi’ to take her to movies, they eloped to Bihar. Tying a knot with her Babu, she hoped to turn a new leaf. Soon, she conceived her child and was happy. However, that happiness didn’t last for long. She got to know that her man was already married twice and has been involved with several other women. Torture followed and she started fearing for the life of her unborn child. Not knowing where to go, she returned again to Sonagachi.

Sonagachi is not the only quarter of the state where sex workers live. In nearby Bow Bazar, around 400 to 500 women are engaged in this profession, and around 900 more are in Bashirhat’s Matiya area. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

Such are the tales for most women living in the oldest part of the 300-year-old city by the banks of Hooghly. Here around 15,000 sex workers earn their daily bread balancing their life between running the household and paying rent and negotiating with touts. Here, a personal and professional life jostles for space in a 10-by-10 room with a bed, stacked with condoms beneath the mattress, and household essentials below the bed.

Thanks to the intervention of NGOs like Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) who has been actively working with the sex workers in the area and elsewhere in the state, trafficking is on the fall. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

For the children of sex workers growing up in the area, and elsewhere, it is never easy to come to terms with the profession of their mothers. While most slip into depression and denounce their mothers, others refuse to stay in touch once they are eligible enough to stand on their own feet. However, there are a few who understand the enumerable sacrifices these women go through daily, all to support and raise their kids.

For most women over 50, it is a struggle to support themselves. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

Sonagachi is not the only quarter of the state where sex workers live. In nearby Bow Bazar, around 400 to 500 women are engaged in this profession, and around 900 more are in Bashirhat’s Matiya area.

For a 29-year-old residing in Bow Bazar, a request to her newlywed husband turned into a nightmare. Hailing from a small village in Medinipur, she had never seen Kolkata. After the wedding, she had only one request: to see Howrah Bridge, Victoria Memorial and the dazzling lights during the city’s famous Durga Puja.

The lives of these women, caught between apathy, stigma and motherhood, stuck in dingy rooms and lost in the narrow lanes of Kolkata, are as real as it can be. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

One fateful Vijay Dashami day, when she left her home with her husband, she had no idea, like the goddess, it was a day for her ‘visharjan’. After a tour around the glittering lights, and treat of egg rolls, her husband brought her to his friend’s house. Next day, he left to do some ‘important work’ and never returned.

Duped by own husbands and lovers, women here fear when someone again professes love. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

After two days at the stranger’s house, she landed in Sonagachi. Now, after seven years of living here, her only companion is a big teddy bear, gifted by one of her customers. Many who are ‘blown away’ by her beauty comes bearing gifts and flowers, also with the promise of marriage and life outside the brothel. But having learnt her lesson once, she now doesn’t get allured with such false promises.

Here, a personal and professional life jostles for space in a 10-by-10 room with a bed, stacked with condoms beneath the mattress, and household essentials below the bed. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

For another woman living in Bashirhat’s Matiya area, the saddest day wasn’t when she landed in this profession to support her children after her husband died. After being kicked out from her husband’s home, when she returned to her father’s home, he too wasn’t ready to give her refuge. Raising two children with no education, no support from both her families, she was willing to grab whatever opportunity she had as a 20-year-old back in the day. Little did she know, her father’s friend was not a saviour but a dalal, to whom she was sold for a hefty price.

Located in the oldest part of the 300-year-old city by the banks of Hooghly, women here have arrived from various part of the states and even from outside. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

After completing the education of her son and daughter when finally it was time to get her girl married, she had to agree to a verbal agreement. “No more contact whatsoever with my child. That was the condition of her in-laws. I agreed hoping she’ll have a better future than me,” laments the 42-year-old. Wiping her tears, with a half-smile she says, “I have a granddaughter now, she is four. But I haven’t seen her, I haven’t met my daughter for six years now.” Caressing a neighbour’s grandkid, she says, “I have just one wish before I die, I just want to hug my child and her baby.”

For the children of sex workers growing up in the area, and elsewhere, it is never easy to come to terms with the profession of their mothers. (Express photo by Shashi Ghosh)

The lives of these women, caught between apathy, stigma and motherhood, stuck in dingy rooms and lost in the narrow lanes of Kolkata, are as real as it can be. The glossy make-up, colourful lights and scented room-fresheners, might keep it under wraps, but the music still has to be turned up to drown the wailing sound for the children.