The city of Joy, well, that’s what my city is known as. Yeah, you are right, am talking about Kolkata, the same Kolkata where an entry to Victoria Memorial would cost an Indian 20 INR, but then for the foreigners, its 150 INR. Oopz isn’t this something new for you all? Yeah, am talking to you guys reading this, isn’t this something you guys have never heard or rather never paid attention before?
Am talking about that same old Victoria Memorial, which is one of the most popular hangouts for the Kolkata couples, but then how many of us care to look at the signboard placed at the billing counter? It’s like why do we need to care about how the foreigners are being fooled? I mean we are getting those tickets in 20 Rs, so why to care about others? But then there lies the pun. We Indians never speak for others, if a grocer asks us for a rupee extra, we start fighting with them, but then when someone else is being cheated, we don’t even care. How many of us do realize that a day might come when we too can be equally fooled and may be in a way far worse than we can expect?
Kolkata – my city, famous for its people, culture, heritage and so many other things. But then there is something else that makes Kolkata the center of attraction throughout the world. Yeah, you, those who have experienced the nightlife of Kolkata, caught me right. Am talking about Sona Gachi, Asia’s largest and cheapest brothel!
Now you all may think what’s wrong with this girl? She will write something about any woman who at some point of her life had to experience some harsh realities and in order to help her empty stomach, she became a prostitute! But then that’s exactly what I am not going to write about. I just want everyone to know what’s the present day value of a girl in our society, or how me and my friends were treated in those dark lanes of Kolkata.
For those who have never been to that place, to reach Sonaa Gachi, you can either take the bus way or prefer the boat way from Howrah bridge. (PS: There are many other ways too, am just saying about the way that I took.). Well for us, we took the boat way towards Ahiritola, when the boat halted at the Neemtala ghat, a guy, most probably a foreigner ( thats what the colour of his skin indicated) threw a piece of paper at my lap and got down, but then we saw him staring at us and signing us to read the note, I opened the paper, it read “If possible cover your faces, those guys sitting at your left are trying to take your pictures” we at once looked towards the guy and he giving us a thumbs up sign, went towards the cemetery.
I still wonder, in a boat containing so many Indians, Kolkata people to be more precise, it was a foreigner who at least tried to help me out, but then that’s Kolkata. Forget about cooperating with the foreigners, they can’t even care about their own.
After a few minutes, we finally reached Ahiritola. Sonaa Gachi is at a walking distance from this place. But then hardly did we know what the lanes had in store for us…
Right from the time we asked the boatman to take us to Ahiritola, his weird gaze kept following us. Yeah, we knew the way to a brothel wouldn’t be that smooth, but then what could we do? Leave our assignment and walk out? After some discussions, we started walking towards the place. None of us had been to this place before, and google maps too, weren’t of much help and so asking someone the direction was the only thing that could help us out. One of my male friends went to a nearby pan vendor and asked him if he knew the way and guess what he got in reply? It was “eto gulo notun mey ajke besh bhalo income Hobe mone hoy” these were the exact words that the vendor said, but then I do wonder was he saying something wrong? No, he wasn’t. It’s us, the so called educated people who in order to earn money or hide our sins, sell girls. That’s exactly what these girls are to this society! A commodity! A sellable commodity to be more precise!
Well, my friend showed the vendor his ID card and cleared his doubts and the vendor in turn told us the way.
If you think it was the vendor’s words that hurt us, it was just the beginning. The worst was yet to come!
After walking for a few minutes more, we got surrounded by pimps, “Koto khon korben” and “Koto takar korben” was what they kept on asking! One of them even murmured “bechben naki? Bhalo customer ache” This went for a few more minutes and some how avoiding the crowd, we finally reached the place. The place was well lit and the surrounding was more than enough to scare us up. But then to our surprise, the woman we were about to meet came and greeted us well. She even shared her story without any hesitation!
Right from our childhood, we are warned not to talk to “those women” neither mix up with their children. But then did anyone ever think what would have happened to their daughters or their mothers or their wives if “those women” weren’t there? The minimum amount of secureness that a so called sophisticated girl feels is because of “those women” who sacrificed their homely pleasures just to make us feel secure.
The interview went well and to add fuel to the fire, it was quite obvious that inside the brothel we felt more secure than the dirty streets of Kolkata!
This was the story of my city, my Kolkata. Hardly did anyone know the city of joy too can have such dark secrets stored in those dark lanes, but then it’s my city… And whatever the challenges may be, whether be marrying a complete stranger or getting sold at some brothels, we are ready to face it no matter what… That’s #mycitymystory.
Note: This post is a part of our #MyCityMyStory series. To check out more posts from this series, please click here.
Edit: The entry fee for foreigners at Victoria Memorial has been edited to 150 INR from $200. Thanks to our readers for pointing out the mistake.
