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Inside pics, videos of Kolkata pandal that pays tribute to Sonagachi sex workers
North Kolkata’s Ahiritola Jubak Brinda Durga Puja is a feisty example of how the society can treat sex workers of Sonagachi, one of the oldest red light areas in the city, with respect.
Kolkata has a long tradition of lavishly celebrating Durga Puja, the annual Hindu festival that reveres the goddess Durga. It is the most popular festival in the state of West Bengal, where elaborate stage decorations, known as pandals, draw huge crowds.
During the nine-day festival, thousands of pandals are constructed in almost every neighbourhood in the city of joy. Over the years, they have become a popular display of creativity and grandeur. In 2018, north Kolkata’s Ahiritola Jubak Brinda Durga Puja is one that stood out for its theme, and for 300-feet-long street art dedicated to the rights of sex workers.
The theme, ‘Utsarito Alo’ (streaming light), at the Ahiritola puja is dedicated to sex workers of Sonagachi, one of the oldest red light areas in Kolkata and perhaps Asia’s largest. For a Durga Puja celebration to be auspicious, the idols of goddess Durga, along with goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati and lords Ganesha and Kartikeya, are created with the right mixture of mud from the banks of the Hooghly river, cow dung and cow urine and a handful of punya mati (auspicious soil) from Sonagachi brothels as per the tradition that has been carried on for decades.
But the Ahiritola Jubak Brinda Durga Puja goes one step further. It is a feisty example of how the society can treat women who work as sex workers with respect, instead of disgust.
“We are very happy that these people thought of us. Like Ma Durga, we are also women and part of society. Due to this initiative, we have been able to mix with everyone,” said Kajol Bose, a member of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a sex workers forum.
At the entrance of the Ahiritola Jubak Brinda Durga Puja pandal, the tastefully done graffiti and other installations convey the untold story of the sex workers. The street art vividly represents the journey of a sex worker, beginning with three women peeping from behind a door to a distorted ‘kumkum’ (vermillion) line on a woman’s forehead to signify her tragic life.
The Ahiritola Jubak Brinda puja committee aims to showcase that apart from respect, sex workers deserve working rights, like any other working woman. Committee working president Uttam Saha said: “For ages, our orthodox society has neglected sex workers. As human beings, we fail to realise that they too are someone’s mothers or sisters. They do not deserve torture or hatred.”
“They spend their lives in silence, and face humiliation and rejection. We are hence determined to support the journey of these sex workers with a pledge to ensure basic rights to for them so that they can live with pride and dignity,” another committee member said.
(With inputs from IANS)
