To the north of Kolkata, one kilometre north of the city’s Marble Palace area, lies Asia’s largest sex workers hub popularly known as Sonagachi. About 13,000 women satiate their hunger and needs through their bodies. As the sun hides, the illegal network of trafficking, local criminal gangs and victims conceal on the narrow lanes of the district. In Bengali, Sonagachi means “tree of gold”. The genesis of Sonagachi, Kolkata’s red-light district, can be traced to a dacoit-turned-Muslim saint.  During the early days of the city, the area was the den of a notorious Muslim dacoit by the name of Sanaullah, who lived here with his mother. On his death, the grieving woman is said to have heard a voice coming from their hut, saying, “Mother, don’t cry. I have become a Gazi”, and so the legend of “Sona Gazi” began. The brothels of Sonagachi, at one point, were said to be owned by prominent Bengali families. Today, women stare out from the balconies of decrepit mansions with suggestive names like “Prem Kutir”. It is thought as many as 1,000 women arrive every year to work in the brothels, and each of them have their own tale of how they came to live in the sprawling red light district. Here is an aching story of Beauty, a popular 19 year old prostitute.

Beauty is one of the youngest in Sonagachi, who works with a group of other prostitutes in the quest to earn money. She takes shower thrice a day, as she attends 4-5 clients in between every shower. Her nights are long while the mornings are short and start late. Life of Beauty is restricted to just the dark rooms of the brothel and the poverty of Sonagachi.

Beauty tells the story of her life and her two sons. Nayan was born from her then 23 year old husband, where her parents had forcibly married her off when she was just 12. Within few months, she fled to her mother’s place on account of an abusive husband’s torture; however, the tragedy was followed by her mother’s death. She immediately took homage at her sister’s place, where her brother-in-law forced himself on her one night. Instead of listening to her younger sister, Beauty’s sister asked her to leave the house.

In the quest for work to support her life and nourish her son, Beauty boarded a train to Dhaka. But little did she know that her life was going to change. She met her trafficker. Recalling the incident, Beauty says, ‘A vast, wiry haired-wild eyed woman’ promised her, a humble job with substantial wage. During the conversation with the lady, she remembers drinking the water from her bottle which was already adulterated with the sedatives. Later, she gained consciousness only to be found in a room at NonChapota, near Bangladesh-India Border, waiting to be transferred as a sex worker to Sonagachi. She was sold!

Since 13, she lives in Sonagachi, she says, “When I am sad, I put on makeup, it helps me become someone else to cover up the cracks.” In few months working as a sex worker, Beauty conceived a child and that is how Ridoy was born, a son of her client. When Beauty had refused to work as ‘Chukri’ (forced sex slave) her sons had been kept captive for bargaining terms. Today, both of them live in a NGO, away from the messy environment of the streets and the culture.

Her heart sinks while telling this, “Holding them, tight close to me is the only thought that gets me through the day, I don’t need saving. It’s for them I do this work. I hope I can at least save them from this world… that I can give them some of the important chances in life that I never had.”

This is the reality of Sonagachi, this is just one story, imagine how many are out there in those 13,000 sad faces?