Even if I marry a prince tomorrow and wear expensive saris (dresses) and sit in a big car, people will still think I am a prostitute. I am scared wherever I will be employed, the men will rape me. Even if I leave this place where will I go? The society will always label me as a prostitute. She has promised to send me to Mumbai someday. Munni: 'Ma' will never let me go and she is good to me and this is my home. UNODC: Don't you want to leave Sonagachi someday and find a good job? They usually agree to use condoms but cannot as they find it difficult because of the drugs. One forcefully made me swallow and I fell sick losing a lot of business that day. They force you to try drugs with them as well. They are often sluggish when they come to the brothel and can hardly speak. They are usually addicted to nicotine and heroin. UNODC: Are some of the customers drug users? Even if we insist on condoms, customers pay an extra 25 percent as a bribe to the aunty. They also set up a testing camp of HIV and AIDS. We were also taught to insist on the clients to wear condoms which is important to be safe from the killer disease (HIV and AIDS). They regularly organize shows, gatherings and events on HIV and AIDS and sex worker's rights. Munni: There are many NGOs here in Sonagachi. UNODC: We hear non governmental organizations (NGOs) work on prevention of HIV and AIDS among sex workers in Sonagachi. The brothels are filling up and we are forced to move elsewhere in search of business. Competition is high, as almost every day 'dalals' (traffickers) get 5 to 10 girls as young as 7 years old. Since business is slow these days, we parade the streets from 11 am onwards. At times the police raid the brothels but aunty slips them some money and offers her best girls to them. Mainly college boys, lawyers, married men, some goras (foreigners), restaurant owners and taxi drivers come. The customer has to separately pay 25 percent extra to her as service charge. 50 percent of the money earned from each customer goes to aunty. Now we work on the fixed rate system for all for Rs. Some of the high category girls would earlier charge Rs. In peak time I would get 3-4 customers a day. Before two years, in total, we would get around 15 customers a day. Some work on their own and have rented rooms in Sonagachi for Rs. Munni: In this brothel there are 20 to 24 girls and 10 rooms. UNODC: How many and what kind of clients visit in a day and how does the business work? I returned to Sonagachi and found a new aunty. I saw a police man on the road and told him my story. One night aunty was drunk and sleeping and her brother was in another brothel. They made sure not to hit on my face, chest, thigh and stomach as customers would not choose me. I was caught, locked in a dark room for a week and beaten with a thick wooden stick. When I understood what was happening I tried to escape. At first I did not understand what was happening and thought we would be selected to go to a new home. Then on the third day she put make up on my face and made me stand along with the 20 other girls, for the men to pick their choice. I was given a bed to sleep and clean clothes. Munni: The brothel was owned by a fat woman and we called her 'aunty' in Bengali. UNODC: Were you treated well in the first brothel? He brought me to Kolkata and left me here at one of the dirtiest brothels promising to return but never showed up. When I was little, a man came to my house and said he will keep me in a palace and that I will marry a prince but I have to do as he says. But she means business and I have to work. She looks after me, feeds me, even gives me money to buy saris (dresses) for Durga Puja. I have been here for five years and this is my home. I am sixteen now but I tell people I am twenty years old. I tell people I am a Hindu and that my name is Munni. Munni: All I remember is I am from Bangladesh and I came here when I was ten years old. UNODC: Can you tell us how you came to be here at such a young age? UNODC interviewed Munni, sixteen years old, who shares how she was trafficked, made her escape, returned to the brothels and how the economy of her trade works. 'Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids' won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2004. The place got globally known, when an American documentary film, Sonagachi, translated as Golden Tree, has several hundred multistory brothels built in the winding lanes and is home to some 10,000 sex workers. This is the story of Munni, a commercial sex worker from Sonagachi, the largest red-light district in Kolkata, India. India: My life in the 'red lights' of Sonagachi
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