LHM
By Sanjeev Kumar*
I came into contact with Malti four years ago during my work on rehabilitation of sex workers in the industrial city of Kanpur, India. My team was rebuffed more than four times when we attempted to establish contacts with the women as they believed we were law enforcement officers. But when we gained the confidence of women like Malti, we found out their golden souls and how bitter and hard life could be for women like her.
Malti is a 40 year old female sex worker at Kanpur. She belongs to the bediya community, whose traditional job is public entertainment at festive occasions. The ancestors of this community had migrated to Bhillaur in Kanpur from Rajasthan long ago.
The premature death of her husband was the beginning of troubles in Malti’s life. Harassed by her close relatives she had to leave Bhillaur with her two children, aged five and seven. She reached the city of Kanpur barefoot. She had no money to feed her children. She still hanged on to the hope that the city will somehow sustain her and her children. The hope soared when she met a woman she had known casually. This woman was working in a troupe of traditional dancers and musicians, locally known as Nautanki. The woman went out of her way to help her to give her a shelter and arrange work for her in the Nautanki.
The wages she earned from the Nautanki was not enough to feed her children, so she began borrowing money. As she was young and beautiful, many male colleagues were attracted towards her. They tried to befriend her by providing emotional support and loans. Soon she realized that all those overtures of help were for physical relationships.
Not used to stresses of big city life, being alone and in a highly vulnerable state of mind, she fell for a colleague and developed physical relationships with him. A moral barrier had been crossed and flood gates of a different life opened. For a while she felt guilty but then she began enjoying physical relationship which was no longer confined to one person but several other members of the troupe. She began to enjoy and crave sex with many men, more so because the men offered her good money.
Thus gradually Malti entered the sex trade. Her colleagues in the troupe also convinced her that there was no harm in it as it provided livelihood and emotional support. She started soliciting customers on her own and also associated herself with the network of pimps (who charged 30% commission). The earnings were good and ranged anything from Rs. 50 to 200 per client. This was several years ago. The income was sufficient as an allurement for a woman in her situation to keep in the profession.
Her clients mostly included truck and auto drivers, petty shopkeepers, factory workers and rickshaw pullers. She usually had sex in her own house, and her two growing children became mute witnesses to this. The result was obvious; her daughter is already in the sex trade and is paid quite high, between Rs 1500 to 2000 per day. She hardly supports her mother. Her second daughter is handicapped.
Some of her clients also had group sex with her in other locations. She found this very painful as people indulging in it were sex maniacs. It was also a humiliating experience, which could only be tolerated in a state of emotional numbness, which was needed and achieved only through alcohol and drugs. Using these substances she felt confident, open and also enjoyed the act. So, professional compulsions gradually introduced her to smoking, alcohol and drugs and she became dependent on them.
All these years of her working as a sex worker, neither she nor the clients she entertained were aware of ‘safe sex practices’. What she got and cared for was money and what she lost was her identity and self respect. She was shy and avoided mixing with women outside the community of sex workers. She could never gather enough courage to go to a medical practitioner for common ailments and she could never face society. She became more and more secluded and withdrawn.
Age began to catch up and the number of clients dwindled. She became overly dependent on middlemen who began to pay her less and less. She had to shift her residence to a filthy area of the city, devoid of even basic amenities. The place was full of petty crime and sex trade. There were times when she felt that her own value as a woman had severely degenerated.
When we came into contact with Malti, she was pregnant. Initially she was suspicious of us. She considered us to be government agents, out to nab women of low morals. The kindness, sympathy and understanding and respect shown to her by the team, despite her being in the sex trade, changed her outlook and she began to confide in them. After several sessions of counseling, learning of safe sex practices and medical attention, Malti has now become highly confident and self respecting. She is now aware of the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS. It has not been easy to bring about this transformation. Her most transforming experience was interaction with similarly placed women who had found a new lease of life after working with the team. The women now openly discuss condom use, RTI / STI and HIV / AIDS etc.
Though still continuing in the trade, Malti is now conscious of the need for hygiene and safe sex. She is confident enough to seek help of health service providers, when need arises. She discusses messages related to safe sex with her other friends. While negotiating with clients she insists on condom use. Very often she finds resistance from the clients and even takes risks of losing them to younger sex workers, but she never gives up. She is happy that a condom depot is being established in her area and there is easy accessibility to condoms. As a peer educator volunteer, she has referred dozens of suspected cases of RTI/STI and even minor problems to Government hospitals and counseling centres. Malti gets herself and her daughter checked for sexually transmitted diseases.
Malti is a different woman now. She has regained self-esteem and her identity as a woman. She is aware that being a sex worker does not deprive her of her rights and debar her from doing her duties. She appreciates the efforts of the team in transforming her into a woman with hopes, desires and self-esteem. She feels privileged when somebody visits her house and has discussions with her.
“Till nine months back I was a drug addict and alcoholic. But since I came into contact with people from your organization, I have completely stopped drugs and smoking”, says Malti triumphantly. With no alternative employment in sight as yet, Malti has reconciled to her condition, but hopes to change it one day.
*Sanjeev Kumar is President, Sarvarth, an upcoming NGO. He can be reached at
sanjeev.snarottam@gmail.com
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