It wasn’t something they had anticipated or could prepare for in advance.
Here, women are slowly getting back to the trade after the pandemic hit their pockets. In contrast to the kotha, where there are mujra performances, are the brothels. In the present scenario, it is a guess how the women will conduct themselves should they choose to leave with a customer. Customers come and take them in their cars, mostly to hotels, after making prior appointments,” says a 36-year-old tea seller working near the building. “The women don’t indulge in sex work inside the kotha here. She has gleaned this information from television.ĭelhi HC declines to entertain PIL on protection, welfare of sex workers, LGBT members The most we can do is not allow people who have visible symptoms to come here.” By visible symptoms, she refers to coughing and breathlessness. It’s impossible not to have close contact in this profession, says Priyanka. “But masks and sanitisers are the only solution we have,” says Saloni. By normal, she means no sanitiser, no masks, no virus.Īs of now, there are only a handful of customers. “I don’t know when things will become normal. Priyanka learnt dancing here at the kotha. She has two teenage sons who are both aware of what their mother does for a living. The 40-year-old woman has been working here for the last 22 years. Priyanka, who stands close to her, agrees. Over 60% of sex workers in Delhi returned to their home States during lockdown
Saloni’s soft voice echoes in the hall and for a brief moment, it creates the illusion that there are many voices.īy now, Saloni would have been ready, mostly in a saree, but today she starts dressing up only a little after 8:30. generally starts filling up with men holding cigarettes in their hand and carrying a bottle of alcohol in their pockets, is empty. She returned to Delhi on August 17 as lockdown norms were slowly eased. The staircase goes up to the second floor. I am not trained to do anything else,” says the woman in the golden blouse. If I act on this fear, I won’t be able to earn. “I feel scared all the time but what can I do? This is my work. It is impossible to practise physical distancing in this trade. One of the drunken men pulls out a ₹100 note and pushes it into the golden blouse of the woman nearest to him. Whoever wanted to get a test done went for a test on their own.Ī bottle of sanitiser is kept on one side of the room. The women say no camp was set up to test the sex workers for COVID-19. The women, who are decked up in their shimmering outfits, are not wearing their masks. With the number of COVID-19 cases steadily rising across the country, the laughs and songs of the night are a faint echo of the past.ĭelhi's red light area resumes business after COVID-19 lockdown, embraces unwritten protocols to ensure safety Taking precautionsĪn hour later, two men climb up the paan-stained staircase. But this year has been particularly difficult for them. They take pride in carrying forward the legacy of mujra performances, the dance of courtesans which originated in Mughal courts. All the women of this kotha are trained in the classical dances and music. Sonia is one of the courtesans, or ‘tawaif’ as she calls herself, who lives in ‘kotha 5217’, also known as Kashmiri building.
The world’s oldest trade faces its toughest challenge from a 21st century pandemic and the end is nowhere in sight. The building used to heave to loud music, now it has fallen silent. Most women left for their native villages once the nationwide lockdown, announced to contain the spread of the virus, was imposed on March 25 only a handful have returned several months since. In Kashmiri building on Garstin Bastion Road (GB Road, now renamed Swami Shradhanand Marg) in New Delhi, business is listless in COVID-19 times. Sonia is not sure how many men will turn up today. Her make-up box containing brilliant shades of lipstick and an array of mascaras lies open in front of her. She is dressed in a nightgown and a mask. and 45-year-old Sonia wonders how the evening will play out.