Sonagachi: The Ironical Tree of Gold

Considered one of the largest red-light areas of Asia, Sonagachi houses 15000-16000 sex workers in several multi-storied brothels. Located in North Kolkata, the neighbourhood was once rumoured to be the residence of a notorious dacoit known as Sanaullah. It is said that on his death, his mother is said to have heard a voice, who said “Mother, don’t cry. I have become a Gazi”. This is how the legend of Sona Gazi started which eventually turned into what is known as Sonagachi today.

Figure 1 Sonagachi: The Wait for a Client; Image Source – The Wire

The word Sonagachi in Bengali literally translates to the ‘Tree of Gold’. One might think that a neighbourhood with Sonagachi as its name must have some sort of heavenly touch to it; however, the reality is far from it.

Every year thousands of girls are brought into this neighbourhood which seals their fate as sex workers and binds their destiny to this place forever. Every one of them has the same story – either they have been trafficked there in the hope of having a respectable life or they were sold by their husbands and other relatives who would have the chance of making money by performing the heinous act. There are some cases where the girl or the woman chooses this voluntarily when they do not have any other means of sustaining themselves.

Although the profession is looked down on and is illegal in India, the government of Bengal and other political parties have never attempted to interfere in the matters of Sonagachi. NGOs working in the area say that the government has accepted Sonagachi as a part of life and society. It may be due to the history of communism in the state and sensitivity towards the marginalised. However, for years the neighbourhood and its residents have been scrutinised and ridiculed by the ‘respectable’ members of the society; members who indulge in the services offered by sex workers at night but mock them during the day. The reality of this statement becomes evident when the City of Joy starts gearing up for Durga Pujo and the lanes of Kumartuli (a neighbourhood in Kolkata which is known for pottery and sculpture making) are alive with the hustle of making idols of the goddess.

Traditionally, four things are considered extremely important for sculpting the idol of Goddess Durga. These are mud from the banks of River Ganga, cow dung, urine of a cow, and soil taken from the courtyard of brothels which is known as ‘Nishiddho Pallis’ (restricted areas). The soil is considered sacred because it is believed that when a person visits a brothel, they leave all their virtue and piety at the doorstep as they enter the world of desires and sin. The soil at the doorstep of brothels becomes sacred and blessed as it imbibes the virtue of hundreds of people who visit such areas. Earlier, it was a ritual where a priest would come to the doorstep of a sex worker and beg for the sacred soil which would then be incorporated into the idol. Today, however, the person who makes the idol or the murtikar performs this ritual months before the Pujo starts.

It is interesting to note that without either of the four elements mentioned above, the idol of Goddess Durga is considered to be incomplete and a Vaishya or a prostitute is considered to be one of the navkanyas or nine classes of women who are to be worshipped during the Pujo (mentioned in the Vedas). Nevertheless, the irony lies in the fact that the sex workers have never been allowed inside the pandals of Durga Pujo or anywhere near the idol.

After years and years of being subdued by the so-called respectable members of the society, residents of Sonagachi have taken matters into their hands and local NGOs like the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee have empowered them to do so. In 1992, an initiative was undertaken to unionise the sex workers and form a collective that would fight for their rights. The committee has been campaigning for the rights of sex workers since the 1990s and has also helped in creating awareness about STDs. With support from Durbar and the collective, the sex workers started refusing to have sex without condoms.

Slowly, a change has come into the lives of the sex workers where they see prostitution as their job and not as a thing for self-pity. Sex for them is just a means of earning a livelihood like any other job, and not something to be scorned. This realisation and self-empowerment have helped them in setting boundaries where customers are no longer allowed to be violent or perform acts that are not comfortable for the sex workers.

A pinnacle of self-actualisation was seen when the sex workers of Sonagachi refused to give soil to murtikars, an act considered to be a rebellion by the so-called pillars of society. It has been a few years since the residents have been refusing to give soil for Durga Pujo and have started a new trend by organizing the puja themselves. Since 2017, the sex workers have started making their own pandals and organizing Durga Pujo solely for the residents of Sonagachi.

Despite all the positive changes that have started in the community, there is still a long way to go. While some sex workers in Sonagachi have broken free from the shackles of pimps and started businesses on their own terms, there is still a large percentage of workers who get tortured by their owners daily. They are asked to serve 10-15 clients per day but are allowed to receive only 50 per cent of their earnings. The situation became grim during the lockdowns of the pandemic where most of the workers had to return to their villages or look for other means of sustenance. Several movies and documentaries have been made on sex workers of Sonagachi, in an attempt to understand their plight and daily struggle – ‘Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids’ won the Oscar for the best documentary award in 2005.

The instances of rape and abuse have reduced drastically over the years but like everywhere else in the world, Sonagachi is still suffering from it. Here, however, the situation of victims becomes direr as generally fewer actions are taken considering the occupation of the workers.

There are several other hurdles that the residents of Sonagachi come across every day, issues that we might not be able to understand because we have not been through them. We, as a society, have failed in our duties towards the community in every possible way and it has been powerfully captured in a dialogue of a recently released Bollywood movie:

‘Humare darwaze pe koi bhi aaye, hum kisi ko bhi hikaarat se nahi dekhte. Hum na mazhab puchte hai na jaat. Jab hum kisi se ye bhed-bhav nahi karte, toh humse ye bhed-bhav kyun? Hum hi aapke samaj se bahar kyun?’

•      Gangubai Kathiawadi
  

It loosely translates to – ‘we don’t differentiate in our clients, not even on the basis of religion or caste. When we don’t discriminate, then why are we treated like this, why are we considered outcasts of society?

This a powerful statement, something to ponder and reflect on where we have gone wrong…….

Figure 2 Usual scene in the neighbourhood during the day; Image Source - The Wire