A meaningful life more than makes up for the lost days of plenty
MEENU Das' biodata reads drastic cut in income but tremendous advancement in profession. For this former sex worker in Kalighat is now programme assistant in the home for rescued children from prostitution run by NGO Sanlaap. "I love my job but it's difficult to run a house on Rs 1,500. In Kalighat I'd earn that much in a week," she says wistfully.
Then, quickly discarding the yearning look, Meenu at twentysomething winces at the recollection of some of the dirty, decrepit men who were her customers. "This job is so much better. I teach tailoring and handicrafts to the children here. Some say they'd rather go back. But I tell them to learn from my experience," she says.
Meenu's upward mobility is a social comment. Having gone to the police station in Kalighat to report a man who'd come to sell a virgin girl to her, she encountered the world of the written word. "I'd gone because most women in Kalighat rent their space to work. Buying girls is unusual. But they wrote about me; gave me an award." Then, came a job offer. From a factory owner outside Calcutta. "He took me with him and raped me. And said he'd give me a monthly Rs 700 to service him. I ran back to Kalighat where I could earn much more if I wanted to continue being a prostitute."
Till the "goodhearted dada" who'd written about her initially fixed her a job with Sanlaap. "Here, it's a good job but a tough one. Many in the home would rather not have been rescued. Because the money in brothels is much more....But this life is respectable. There's dignity here, I keep reminding them." And herself.