Tuesday, April 7, 2009


The red stains of betel juice, the sickening stench from the dimly lit alleys, songs from popular b-grade Hindi films trying to overdo the loud murmurs of several casually uttered abuses it all seemed to allure us with its inexpensive vulgarity.
Men with bulging bellies, torn ‘loongis’ and lecherous glints that made no attempt to conceal their lusty stares… and women with their freshly starched drapes barely covering their unrestrained bosoms , colored in the brightest of pink, gold and green, reeking of cheap perfumes and strings of ‘gajraas’ waiting to appease their sexual appetite…
Amidst the several objects of deal there stood the traders… the ones who had once been quibbled over too…the ‘pimps’ who seemed to enjoy, even revel at now being the perpetrators of the deed that seems horrendous to our suave eyes. It seemed to ease their agony, their slur; they are perhaps avenging themselves, making up for their long stolen pride… ‘Ijjat’ as commercial Hindi films often refer it as, defiling the term and the meaning, giving it a touch of contemptible humor. Human sentiments are often degenerated and commercialized and ‘ijjat’ fucked both figuratively and literally.
However, what certainly is surprising even shocking is the fashion in which these negotiations take place without the wink of an eye in an almost untailored style as if its not flesh and blood being purchased but mere items without sentiment or emotions…
The deliberate seduction captivates and defeats many with their loose hanging wrinkled moralities… the customer varies in size and shape… but all with one common impulse ‘inadequacy’… the desire to be desired…
‘jouno palli’… perhaps the only alcove where ‘jounango key keo hridoy bole bhul kore na’…where even the curse of impotency is eradicated by the orgasms that are so meticulously faked by the professionals to gratify their clients… rich and poor alike.
Where a human is no longer bound by logic or the morality imposed by the society and ‘jounota’ is not an object of disdain or contempt…


Dedicated to the sex workers around the world. Kudos to the professionals…who have had the guts to struggle against the atrocities inflicted upon them as also the stigma attached to their very entity.

written and sketched by ananya chatterjee

25 comments:

  1. Hey!!!its absorbing.....compelling enough to enkindle anyone...and agreeing with rabi...full of sensitivity and acuteness....

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  2. hey thank u... good to hear that there are people who understand... because these days we rarely do

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  3. We sometimes tend to forget that they are also humans and deserve respect like every other individual out there. It is upto us to remove the stigma that we only have attached to them......kudos for taking the initiative in your own little way......am proud of you my girl!!!

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  4. the picture has some special significance for me!!!!

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  5. anonymous u do coz if am not mistaken u have a copy of it too..............

    and s thank u 4 ur appreciation it means a lot to me that u care

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  6. very very well written....proud of you

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  7. hey thank u dear.... ebar apnio blogging ta abar shuru korun...

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  8. Bold......
    liked the 'customer' thing ......
    too real though...(for a fanatic ,that is)!!!

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  9. gadha...... tui fanatic............huh

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  10. I remember this incident which I can't help sharing here. It is not directly related to sex workers and prostitution, but when I was in college there was this news about some police official molesting a woman and that was somehow captured in the camera and flashed in the news. So this classmate hears about it and this is what she had to say about it "O shit! I missed it! Wish I could see it!" When people reek of insensitivity these days, your sensitive portrayal of a very sensitive issue comes as a much needed fresh air.......

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  11. thanks winnie.....its good to hear from u again...
    and amrita u r so ryt dear things cudnt be worse........ humanity is prhaps wat we human lack.quite ironical aint it

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  12. Robust yet palpable,pungent yet realistic,critical yet straightforward;good approach,though description could have been a bit subjective,beyond the narrative style,nice approach though and thought-provoking too,kudos to you too for such a venture.

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  13. Who should I praise the more..the artist or the writer..one plays with words..another with paints and brush....

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  14. inspires ur sensate world bt thn i will stil stik to it.dat it chokes u....makes u feel sickly........dnt kno if its a compliment 4u.if u realy wana ppl to feel dis deeply.......

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  15. no really babe il start writing of ribbons and bows.... of only frnz not foes...

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  16. very thoughtful and sensitive... infact not many people has this kind of a mindset

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  17. omg ananya, this is very very sensitive and thought provoking post..very well handled ..

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  18. nice post.....i feel that commercial sex should be just regarded as any other trade....so i think the unfeeling 'trading' is justified but at the same time those in the trade must be given equal rights as that of any professional.....which ironical was the case in the past not in the pseudo-modern present!!!!

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  19. hey ur so true...its disgusting the way they are treated, unfortunately sex is not considered a trade, but the sex workers are the commodities...that is what is saddening

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