A wedding with an unusual guest list

The opportunity was provided by the secretary of Orissa Patita Uddhar Samiti, a voluntary organisation working with sex workers of the State when she invited the sex workers to attend the marriage ceremony of her brother-in-law.

Ecstatic at the prospect, Champa, a 25-year old sex worker of the red-light area, said she felt as if she was no longer an alien but a part ofthe society. The new-found social acceptability prompted her to say that she would give her child a different life, away from the red-light area. And the heartening note was not just the inclusion of the sex workers in the ceremony but the way they were received by the other guests who welcomed them in their midst with open arms.

Such occasions would definitely go a long way in bridging the gap between the society and the unfortunate victims of social circumstances. It was perhaps the first time that the sex workers had decided to take a day off from their routine business.