From Kamathipura to NYC

Kamathipura   Mumbai's oldest and Asia's second largest red-light district was her childhood home and playground. Loud  bawdy music, women garishly dressed, lewd comments..all were

part of Shweta  Katti’s life till recently. She was born out of wedlock; her mother did marry but her step-father abused her sexually when she was just 11and, she was taunted relentlessly for being dark-skinned. Despite all these adversities Shweta  attended a Marathi medium school till Class 7, did her matriculation from Chikitsak Samuha Shirodkar Hish School and then joined SNDT College. Contending with her father’s alcoholism, the constant fights at home,low self-esteem, this gutsy 18-year-old conquered her demons and also earned a place in the prestigious Bard College in New York to pursue Psychology with a $ 50,000 scholarship.

Shortly before she left for the US, Shweta spoke candidly about her life and her dreams….

What are your earliest memories as a young child ?

What do you think ? How should be a child’s childhood who is a dark girl from a lower caste and who had spent 17years in a red light district? My childhood was far from normal -- I was mature

for my age. Never felt the joy of playing with someone as a child. I always hated myself for being dark because my school friends called me cow dung, black bamboo , kaali and all the other names. My step -father who abused me said “your heart is as dark as your skin color, no one will marry you.”  And I always believed him maybe this is the truth because I got the same response from everyone. I did not have many friends; I liked to be alone and daydream about my bright future. I always blamed myself for whatever used to happen in my family. I always thought, “Why was I born?” I am lucky to have my wonderful mother, who was always there for me no matter what.

It must have been a trying experience ---living in the Red Light area?

Growing up in red light area was not easy but today whatever I am it is  because I grew up in red light area. There were times when men asked me if I want to sleep with them: the first time a man, in his late 40s, asked if I wanted to have sex with him and that was embarrassing. I cried but  did not tell anyone because I knew people would blame no one but me.I also had life changing experiences.

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What spurred you to complete your studies?

 One day my mother beat me up because I was watching movie instead of  studying. She got pissed off and started hitting me. I cried the whole day. Radha,  a sex worker, who lived in the  brothel said “Why don’t you want to study? You know why am I here? I did not go to school, had an affair with a village guy,my family found out and they decided to sell me because I could be bad for the family and they would also get some money. You have the opportunity to study, take  advantage of the situation and just get out of this place and help girls like me to get out of here.” That’s how I was inspired.

My mother is a factory worker, she never got time to get me ready for my school, so the sex workers used to get me ready for my school.  That was fun you know but the worst part was when I heard them screaming and sometimes I could see sex workers having sex with men. My father used to get drunk every day and used to beat us up --I always had bad feeling when I used to walk back home after school about what would happen tonight at our home.

You have mentioned that you suffered lack of confidence and esteem---

  how did you overcome these hurdles?

I joined Kranti an organization which empowers  girls from red light area to become an agent of social change. Kranti has played important role in my life. I had therapy (counseling) for a year and half that’s how I could overcome my traumas. At Kranti  there is no discrimination : everyone is equal and everyone gets the  same attention. Kranti believes that girls from the red light district are not weak because of their background but they are strong because they have faced so much.

 What kind of leadership programmes did you participate in?

I took a year-long break  after completing 12^th standard during which time I travelled to different places. My first trip was to Nepal; I travelled on my own and it was a great experience. I learnt a lot about myself and about how society functions. In Nepal, I worked with girls from a small village. They had no idea what’s going on in the world but they were curious about many things. They had questions like “why do we have to get marry once we are 16 or 17?” Why do boys get more opportunities then us?” They taught me so much. It was not a rehabilitation project; I was doing workshops on gender and sexuality.  I  also went to Himachal Pradesh and Patna for leadership training.

How did the Bard Scholarship happen?

 Studying abroad was my silly childhood dream which I never thought would come true. I told Kranti staffs that I want to study abroad and from then I started working on my English. And that’s when I decided to take a gap year. During this year I met an alumni of Bard College,I applied  and got in.

As I said, I had therapy for almost 15 months and it really changed me. I want to know more about it. In the red light district people do not have mental health care but they are the once who need it the most. I thought if I studied psychology then I could start my own therapy center for free in the place where I grew up.

Despite having gone through traumatic experiences, you speak quite  candidly about  life and sex---- have these experiences  helped you overcome your fears?

Talking about sex is taboo in Indian society and that is  the main cause of all the problems. Sex is a basic need for human beings and I do not see any problems in it. When I started talking about sex, I could see where the problem is. It is not in the sex but the way people think about sex.

                                                      Saira & Sheetal….                                                

Saira (and her sister Sumaiya) are originally from Hyderabad but have been in Mumbai for nearly seven years. Saira’s mother was trafficked to Mumbai from Chennai at the age of nine and was forced to do sex work for several years before she married one of her customers and moved to Hyderabad. Her four children were born in Hyderabad, but after her husband became an alcoholic, unable to support the family, their mother moved back to Mumbai as a sex worker. Saira is very close to her mom and very passionate about sex workers’ rights.

Saira is not currently in formal education because she has been to school for five years – in five different languages. She is now preparing for the 5th standard Hindi exam through National Institute of Open Schooling. Through therapy, Saira recently recalled a suppressed memory of being raped by her biological father at age five. She now delivers speeches and runs workshops for students to discuss child sexual abuse, trafficking and sex work.

Saira is on medication for depression and occasionally engages in self-harm behaviour. She is still coming to terms with her abuse and how to deal with her father.

Sheetal was born in Mumbai while her mother was a famous bar dancer and sex worker who was trafficked from Karnataka at the age of 14. She spent most of her early years in Kamathipura and ages 14-16 at another NGO before coming to Kranti at 17. As a young child, she was raised by a hijra sex worker while her mother worked, and she still feels quite close to both the hijra sex worker community and to bar dancers. She and her mother, who is only 15 years older than Sheetal, have a strained relationship .Although she is 19, she has studied only three years of her life and is giving her 10th exam this year. She has also made a name for herself as an inspiration speaker and trainer for NGOs. Sheetal’s mother currently lives with a man who is abusive and Sheetal is also very concerned about taking care of and providing for her mother. She struggles academically due to her gaps in education.