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Inside Asia's largest red light district with hundreds of multi-storey brothels home to prostitutes
Inside Asia's largest red light district with hundreds of multi-storey brothels home to prostitutes
Inside Asia's largest red light district with hundreds of multi-storey brothels home to prostitutes - from 72-year-old women who can't bring themselves to leave, to wives fleeing violent husbands
- Roughly 14,000 prostitutes from all over India work in the red light district Sonagachi, in the western city of Kolkata
- Many of the women have been trafficked in, and are forced to work as slaves - but others choose the profession
- Kolkata in West Bengal is nicknamed the City of Joy for its beauty, but life in Sonagachi is anything but joyful
The
pictures of women applying their make-up, waiting in their rooms and
playing with their children offer a rare glimpse into the lives of the
sex workers who ply their trade in Asia's largest red light district.
They
are the residents of Sonagachi, in the western city of Kolkata, an area
swamped with hundreds of multi-storey brothels, housing roughly 14,000
prostitutes from all over India.
It
is thought as many as 1,000 women arrive every year to work in the
brothels, and each of them have their own tale of how they came to live
in the sprawling red light district.
Scroll down for video
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Sex workers: 'Rani' applies lip gloss at her room before attending a customer at the Sonagachi brothel where she works
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Thousands: 'Dipali' poses for a photograph at her room. She and Rani are among 14,000 prostitutes who work in Sonagachi
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Lifetime: Maya Banarjee, 72, dries her
hair after a shower in the Sonagachi brothel. A number of women have
lived their lives here
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Exhausted: A sex worker sleeps in her
small room. Many of the women have been trafficked, and are forced to
work throughout the night
Many
are not there out of choice, trafficked into the profession and forced
to sleep through the day and work tirelessly through the night.
But other women have made a conscious decision to join the trade, the promise of more money being too good to turn down.
While
checking the playlist on her newly bought smartphone, a Sonagachi sex
worker named Baishaki said: 'I used to work as a domestic help where I
earned about £15 per month, whereas now I am earning £170 to £180.
'I have come across people who have taken this profession up as a family tradition.'
Kolkata in West Bengal is nicknamed the City of Joy and is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in India.
But the sprawling streets and nocturnal life of Sonagachi appear to buck the trend.
At weekends the red light district buzzes with customers of all ages from a range of different professions.
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Choice: 'Santoshi' and 'Sikha' spend time at Santoshi's room. Some of the women working here choose this as a career
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Falling down: The ornate railings hint at the wider city's beauty, but the crumbling facades around it suggest extreme poverty
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Hard life:
'Jhumur' waits for customers at the brothel, while 'Baisakhi' who claims
to be 23-year-old, poses for a photo at her room
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Family life: 'Jyoti', 30, feeds lunch
to her three children, who live with her in the brothel - and are by far
not the only children in the area
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Owner: Shankar, a room owner, smokes outside his room. The balance of power is more than likely tipped in his favour
Each sex worker has their own story, with some claiming to have found a better life since arriving in Sonagachi.
Prostitute Bina, 30, said: 'I was married to a drunkard for seven years.
'He used to beat me up every day. I was staying with him for the sake of my daughter.
'I have found love with one of my customers and I am very happy about it.'
Others have used the profession to improve the prospects for future generations.
A
sex worker known as Das was forced into the city by poverty, but once
there, she found a way to ensure things would be different for her own
children.
She told Al Jazeera: 'Both my children have completed their education and are working now
'Would
I have been able to pay for their studies if I had stayed at home?
Society should first look at itself before condemning us… Did anyone
give us a good job? Society has failed people like me.'
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Growing up: Pinki, daughter of a sex worker practices dance steps. Some people go in to prostitution as the family business
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Future: 'Santoshi' at her room. Some
women have saved the money they earned in the brothels to pay for their
children's education
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Together: A sex worker smokes a cigarette while sitting at the balcony of a brothel. The women do have a sex workers union
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Beautiful: The pictures from 1956 and in more recent years show how glamorous 'Sabita', now 70, was during her youth
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Still working: Maya Banarjee, 72,
waits for a client at her room in the Sonagachi brothel. She says she is
now too old, but won't leave
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Generations: Asish, grandson of a sex worker, and Priya, sit in a flat in Sonagachi
But it is not always a route out of poverty - especially as others take advantage of the high wage they earn.
Local businessmen are known to up what would be the normal price of commodities when it comes to the women of Sonagachi.
Others have not been able to leave the place which has become their home.
Maya Banerjee, 72, spent years working as a prostitute but says she is now too old for the sex trade.
Despite no longer being able to work, Maya chooses to remain in the red light district where she has spent most of her life.
She said: 'A simple fish that costs 160 rupees per kilogram everywhere else is sold at 250 rupees per kilogram here.
'This is how their life goes on.'
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Influx: 'Baisakhi' and 'Rima' at the Sonagachi brothel. Between 800 and 1,000 women arrive here to work every year
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Help: 'Barsha', 24, prepares vegetables at her room for 'Kabita', a prostitute turned social worker
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Rest: Rani waits in her room, looking far less glamorous than in the previous pictures
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Crime: 'Barsha', 24, is among the women working in a profession which is technically illegal
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Prevention: Packs of condoms arrive at a brothel, keeping the women safe from sexually transmitted diseases
Several NGOs and government organisations operate in Sonagachi to help prevent the spread of STDs - including AIDs.
Although prostitution is illegal, the trade flourishes and the women who work there are shunned by society.
The sex working community often falls victim to rapes, robberies, and extortion.
Source dailymail
Inside Asia's largest red light district with hundreds of multi-storey brothels home to prostitutes
Reviewed by Ioaness vita
on
Saturday, August 08, 2015
Rating: 5
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