Have you ever wondered how these innocent and uneducated village belles's land up as a commercial sex worker in the cities?

I have. Often we have seen in movies and heard that women get sold here in the markets by men who coax them to come to cities with the greed of marriage or jobs.

The following is a true story based on interactions with CSWs from Nehrunagar-Vile Parle West ( A TI Project funded by AVERT Society Maharashtra ).

Once I met a trio - active CSW's. Here it was that I got an answer to my question. What she related goes like this.

A man comes in to village. He looks well off. Spends a lot of money around the place. Word gets around that he has a good job in the city - an eligible bachelor at the looks of it. So many parents - poor, having many daughters of marraigable age, incapable of dowry. For them this match is like a dream come true. The man targets one woman - young and beautiful, the one who has desperate parents. The parents fall for the promises of the man and agree to the marriage. The man willingly spends money on the wedding and takes no dowry.

He brings his new bride with him to the city for a honeymoon as well as a good city life. On landing at the station he asks her to remove the signs of her being a a bride - 'bangles', 'mangalsutra' and the 'sindoor'. On being questioned why - says that she can wear those when at home. Without a moments delay he goes to the flesh market and sell her for a hefty sum to the flesh traders.

Here she gets tortured, beaten and raped. She loses her chastity and her innocence. She loses her freedom. She is a slave to the Sethani who will not leave her till she gets what is due to her for the price she paid her husband who was nothing but a regular pimp, a flesh broker. It is here that she goes through this day in and day out till she starts adjusting with what happened to her. She thinks that anyways she is 'Kharaab' as in spoilt. Her family will not take her back, she has nowhere to go in the city. She decides to remain where she is and even starts changing her mindset so as to enjoy the life that she is leading.

It is here that a woman dies and takes place the birth of a Commercial Sex Worker..

Compiled by
Neelam Dobhal
E-mail: hopemum@vsnl.com

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