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The soul is not for all to see thE dark world of sex trade subsists on the fringes of society, never crisscrossing, always aligned. The author spent years in Delhi’s GB Road to understand the unforgiving lives of marginalised women for what it really is, stripped of dignity, and with no means to retrace their steps in the dour alley. The only sliver of
Beyond their crass soliciting and overt mannerisms, these women are real; with real fears, longing for a meaningful relationship and a desire to live in “society”. Soofi quotes from Hasan Manto’s The Black Salwar to depict the despairing truth: “Whenever she saw a carriage that had been propelled by an engine and then left to advance on its own, Sultana was reminded of her life … she would stop somewhere, at a place of which she knew nothing”. When the brothel owner, talks of a filthier world outside GB Road — “how much worse it would be if there were no red-light areas” — one can only concur. The recent proposal to amend the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act to criminalise clients of sex workers may be myopic. It’s very well for hypocrites to sneer at the choices these women make with utter disregard to their desperate circumstances. Their life as social pariahs is tougher than most imagine. Who, but for a desperate woman would want such a life? It’s simplistic to confuse compulsion with choice.
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relief comes either through death or if by some stroke of luck and endless struggle, a woman becomes a kotha malik — her first attempt at an “independent existence". Only then can she not worry about getting old. Children of sex workers lose innocence early, wishing their ‘amma’ would do some other work. But then they know it is right because “women need money for their families and have to provide for food", but wrong because the “child suffers for the work his mother does”. The irony is not lost when they are made to believe the area is safe due to constant police vigil. Though the inhabitants of kotha no. 300 offer Soofi vignettes of their seedy lives as he partakes of their meals and shares their space, the whole truth is elusive. Not everything, even in their trade, is for public consumption. Soofi’s drawn to various facets of Delhi and has authored alternatives guidebooks to the city. His commitment to as-is portrayal, and his efforts, are remarkable. He has succeeded in lending a voice to all players of the trade, giving a peek into their sordid world with little hope.
