A school in Kolkata is making a huge difference to the social setup
I was standing right in the centre of Kolkata’s infamous red light area located in Kali Ghat, watching with fascination the people around me. Many young women with red lipstick and kohl, clad in short tight sarees and almost non-existent blouses, were smiling at all the passersby. Occasionally, they would look in my direction too. Coming from Saudi Arabia, wearing a hijab, perhaps I looked a bit out of place.
Kali Ghat was nothing fancy like Chandramukhi’s Calcutta kotha in the Indian film Devdas. This place was frequented by the lower class. But Kali Ghat had a good reputation. Aids here was no higher than five per cent and the prostitutes here worked independently without pimps. Their rates were reasonable: Rupees 50 to 200.
It was my first visit to a red light area. I was here to see Sanlap, a children’s school situated in the heart of the locality. It is said, 70 per cent of its students are prostitute children. Sanlap is run by an activist named Bela Roy. While waiting for her, I committed a cardinal sin — I took out my video camera and started taking pictures. Immediately I was accosted by two middle-aged women who wore flowers in their hair but their tongue spat out cactus. In Bengali they screamed so ferociously that I felt myself trembling with fear. Foto kaino tulley? (Why did you take photographs?) Before I could answer, luckily Bela Roy appeared, “She’s with me,” she said and immediately, the two madams started purring like a cat. “Don’t take pictures here, unless they ask you to,” Bela whispered to me, “Many girls who work here tell their families they work in offices.”
Having lived in Kali Ghat since childhood, Bela was deeply moved by the plight of prostitutes. Educated herself only through 9th grade, Bela decided to open a school for the prostitute children. Initially there was a lot of resistance from anti-social elements. “My office used to be attacked by criminals every 10 days who wanted me to quit, but I refused and today many appreciate my work and protect my office.”
Sanlap is situated in the heart of the red light area. Walking towards the school, I could see prostitutes and their customers. It looked like a one big family. Old men playing cards with women who sat looking carefree and smoking. The atmosphere was filled with laughter. It was hard to imagine that this was a sinister place. There were some young men doing house work. They were the ‘babus’ or fancy boys. The half husbands of prostitutes who looked after the house and children while the women worked.
Just then voices of small children could be heard. Sanlap was in full view. A one-room school. Young students, mostly girls, were standing reciting a hymn. The older children were seated on mats on the floor outside. They were taught reading, writing, maths, etc. You could tell these were not everyday schoolgoing children. They looked starved for love, shy, with low self-esteem. They all carried their mother’s last name.
Sanlap’s timings, it is believed, also cater to suit the working mothers. Children get here at 5pm and are sent home by 10pm. “We feed the children here and send them home to sleep,” Bela said. “We try not to expose them to their mother’s profession. The mother’s are also happy.
It’s like a free babysitting service with food.”
Every child that I spoke to said she wanted to be a doctor. Except one, 16-year-old Shaptami, who had just finished 9th grade in Sanlap was adamant. She wanted to adopt her mother’s profession. “I want my mother to stop working. She is sick. I’ve two young sisters, who will support us?”
Bela Roy used all her experience to convince Shaptami to at least study for one more year. “Then you can work for a call centre and make money. I will help you find a job there.
“That is the reward of my work. When a prostitute’s daughter leaves this place for a job or a marriage and never returns to this profession or this area. And there are many who are married into decent families and hold good jobs.”
But Bela Roy sometimes gets tired, “I’m alone in my struggle. I do not get any financial aid. Every day is a struggle. I could do so much more, if people gave me a helping hand. But till they do so, I have to continue, trying to make a difference. If I can educate only one child and save her from prostitution, my cause will be served.”
I was standing right in the centre of Kolkata’s infamous red light area located in Kali Ghat, watching with fascination the people around me. Many young women with red lipstick and kohl, clad in short tight sarees and almost non-existent blouses, were smiling at all the passersby. Occasionally, they would look in my direction too. Coming from Saudi Arabia, wearing a hijab, perhaps I looked a bit out of place.
Sanlap is situated in the heart of the red light area. Walking towards the school, I could see prostitutes and their customers. It looked like a one big family. Old men playing cards with women who sat looking carefree and smoking. The atmosphere was filled with laughter. It was hard to imagine that this was a sinister place. There were some young men doing house work. They were the ‘babus’ or fancy boys. The half husbands of prostitutes who looked after the house and children while the women worked.
