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Walking the streets in “Pyaar Ka Mohalla”

- My frst and an inspiring rendezvous with Delhi’s inamous G. B.

Road- By Shiv D Sharma

Delhi is a city of old charms that speak of its royal medieval history at

every nook and corner. Whether or not Delhi is the “greenest” capital city

in the world as Ms. Sheila Dikshit claimed two years back, boasting of her

massive plantation drive, it sure is a pleasure to walk on its streets during

pleasant rainy weather well, unless there are open potholes and mucky

puddles all over! and not to forget the never"ending construction work#$. %

en&oy rains &ust as much. 'owever, % tasted a completely di(erent )avour

of city*s rains this %ndependence Day as % was out at the infamous +. .

-oad, city*s largest red"light* district, attending /at"/alrav*, a yearly

celebration of freedom on +. . -oad also called by them as Pyar a

Mohalla$ organi0ed by /at"/atha, an organi0ation that “works to create a

replicable model to empower women forced into se1"work and their

children to build a life based on their dreams.”

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 2he +arstin astion +. .$ -oad, located in the heart of the city, connects

3&meri +ate to 4ahori +ate, running parallel to railway lines from 5ew

Delhi -ailway Station. 6n the stretch stand 78 dilapidated multi"storey

buildings, which house hardware shops on their ground )oor" constituting3sia*s largest hardware market, and close to 9:: brothel houses on the

)oors above in several of these buildings. +. . -oad brothels estimate

over 9::: se1"workers, living in those ramshackle buildings in miserable

conditions! the area reeks of ;lth.

3s a man, a feminist and having born and brought up in Delhi, % have

always wanted to understand the ugly realities of se1"work at +. . -oad

which seemed to me a world of its own, yet % never dared to venture out

to see the place. 3s soon as % received the invite for /at"/alrav and having

decided to attend it, %

buried myself into

research on the place.

More than information

and facts, % found

myself reading

shocking blog posts

about the conditions

there and &arring

stories written about fucking a whore either in a disgusting celebratory

tone by “daring and brave” men and young boys of the city, or out of fear

from their bold adventure turned to an unpleasant e1perience well, some

of them got robbed or se1ually violated$.

Since it was %ndependence Day, the shops were closed and streets were

empty. 2he carnival was being organi0ed at a small pandal, with various

stalls and a stage for performances. Some of the stalls were selling

 &ewellery such as earrings, and other smaller items such as rakhis made

by Didis that*s how /at"katha members and volunteers address the se1"

workers$ from +. . -oad. We started rallying across the street with dhol-

wallahs, shouting slogans like “Didi neeche aao, 30adi ka &ashn manao” as

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a call to all the Didis to &oin the celebration. 2hey refused to come down

from their brothel houses and &oin the precession, merely re)ecting the

fear of visibility, internali0ation of their status as outcasts and oppression

by their Malis that they live with. <rom young girls to aged women, theylive a life of constant public shaming and disgrace even by their own

family who abandons them out of the fear of public humiliation due to

their association

with a se1"

worker. 6ne of 

the Didis, Mala

name changed$,

a striking middle"

aged woman,

who we got a

chance to talk to

at the =andal later said while recounting her struggles,

 “My husband died long time and % had no choice. % was forced into this

business of se1"work$. % live here now, but my sons live in other parts of 

Delhi. % would visit them sometimes, which in itself was a huge ;ght. Malik

would hit me for going away, and at home, sons would abuse me for being

in such a shameful profession. ut now they understand better. % still visit

them occasionally.”

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 2he precession concluded at the =andal, which was a followed by a series

of performances and speeches there. 2he volunteers tried to engage with

a handful of Didis associated with /at"/atha who were present there, but

most of them shied away. 'owever, Mala was happy to sing a song to the

audience in angla, and a say a few words thanking everyone and /at"

/atha members. %, alongwith a few other friends, spotted her talking to

people as we were leaving, and thought of striking a conversation.

When asked why don*t she go and live with them, and free herself from

the profession, she said, “% can*t do that because of the way things work

here possibly a reference to the control of their masters$. 3lso, my sons

earn minimal! they are poor and have their own families to tend to. %n

such a case, % do not want to be an additional burden on them. 2hey don*t

understand my position and how % landed up in this work, but % have to

understand their situation as a mother.” What followed in the rest of the

conversation with her was further humbling to see her deeper

understanding of life and the positive attitude with which she lives despite

her harsh struggles. She described how her life has changed after she

connected with /at"/atha that she feels much more con;dent in walking

the streets without any shame. 'aving attended /at"/alrav previous yearas well she feels a lot more comfortable in chatting generally with people

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around. She also had earrings and rakhis made by her available at the

stalls. 2he skills"building that she underwent with /at"/atha has

empowered her to have a voice and ;ght against oppression by her maliks

in whatever way possible. She feels a sense of purpose to her life now anddreams of breaking out of this viscous circle of se1"work very soon as she

now believes in her ability to earn a living for herself. She also encourages

her other sisters, as she calls them, at + -oad to take a plunge out of 

their fears and be a part of /at"/atha. +eetan&ali, one of the founders, told

how Didis relate to them like family. “Whenever we come here for visits

and we are leaving late in the evening, one or the other Didi will shout at

us from the balcony to keep safe and scold us for getting so late.” /at"

katha works to ful;l their basic aspirations such as arts and crafts,

dancing, tailoring, weaving, and basic education to empower them to be

independent and stronger both inside and outside the brothels. 2he

groups looks to build over the basic functions of se1"education>awareness,

and healthcare.

3mong the people attending the event, there was a group of students

from 2each <or %ndia*, accompanied by their teacher. % was amused to see

the respectful understanding of se1"work that the kids already had. 2hey

were curiously asking

several ?uestions on lives

of the Didis, about /at"

/atha and their work, and

the volunteers patiently

answered to all of their

?ueries with much

simplicity. While % was

contemplating through the day on the signi;cance of freedom struggle

and the meaning of independence in contemporary times, % found this

“a0adi ka &ashn” &u1taposed to my thoughts. @ven after decades of 

independence only a fraction of se1"workers have voter identity cards,

and even among those who have it, very few come out to vote. 2hey were

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not able to open bank accounts, get ration cards and 3adhar cards and

other government documents because of the disgraceful “+. . -oad”

address on the voter cards! this socio"geographic identity that has further

stripped away their dignity. 2he @lection Aommission recently decided toreplace the address with Swami Shraddhanand Marg " the roadBs oCcial

name since 9EE. 2hough the Didis did not come down and participate in

the rally with us, it was heart"warming to notice the smile on their faces.

 2he rally also symbolised a larger public message asking for a change of 

attitude towards se1"workers and demonstration of support for the cause.

=erhaps it is truly the liberation from within that is a much needed ;rst

step in the ;ght for basic human rights of se1"workers, and the prevention

of forced se1"work. Se1"work, otherwise, will continue to be stigmatised

and +. . -oad will remain as a metaphor for the ignominious. %t is only

e(orts like this that can translate its identity truly into a “pyar ka

mohalla”.

!he author is an engineer-turned-"ueer rights advo#ate. $e is an

engineering graduate% who ater spending what he sees as su&#ient time

in the #orporate world% turned to study 'i(eral )rts with *oung +ndia

,ellowship. $e identifes as a eminist% and is #urrently woring ull-time

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with entre or tudies in Gender and e/uality at )shoa 0niversity%

(eing one o the ounding team mem(ers o the entre. $e eeps a

 passion or musi# and sings western (allads to his pleasure.