Douglas M. Walker, Ph.D.
Department of Economics
Georgia College & State University
Milledgeville, GA 31061, USA
http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dwalker

Notes on visit to the Red Light District (RLD) in Mumbai, 25 May 2001

The first, smaller picture [appears larger here], is of the last brothel we visited. The three women there are prostitutes who have been there for over 20 years. They started as prostitutes when they were around 15 years old.

The other two pictures are of the same place. I stood in the middle of their room, and took two pictures in opposite directions. The first picture (with no people) shows the front door. The place is probably 10 ft. wide or less, and maybe 30 ft. long. The last picture shows, clockwise from the top, the 22-year old prostitute I described in the e-mail [below], another prostitute, her child, Vinay (the social worker), Savia (the journalist - these two showed me around), and finally, the lady crouching is the madam who owns the place.

The prostitute with the child has a daughter school-aged. She and her friend went into the kitchen (the door is in the upper right) while I took the picture. But they all would live in this room together.

These will serve as the notes of interviews and thoughts for my visit, written the day after the visit as to not forget. I went with Savia, a journalist from whom I've learned quite a bit about the trade in women, and about the history of the RLD in Mumbai (and the "skin trade" in India). We met Vinay, a social worker in the area who tries to educate the women on health risks.

The notes may be unorganized ... Sorry.

Savia helped me to find a book by Mary Ellen Mark on Falkland Road (1978). The pictures are amazing - nothing seems to have changed in 20 years.

According to Savia, a girl gets into prostitution for three major reasons: (1) her mother is a prostitute; (2) she was kidnapped and forced into it; or (3) her lover or husband left her, and she's too poor to make it any other way. There are stories about this. The first you can see-- the girls live and work in the same small place. So when the babies are brought up in that environment, they naturally go into it. Besides, they have little choice in the matter. Bangladesh and especially Nepal seem to be huge sources of young girls. They are often either tricked into coming here for a good job, or their parents sell them (for as little as $100), or they are kidnapped and sold. The youngest girl I talked to (22 yrs.) said that she was married, but her husband abused her and left her, and that's why she came to work at the brothel. She was too poor. She had no education at all.

The market for children is becoming more popular.

The driver took me from where our group was having its lectures and we went to the RLD in Mumbai. We met with Ninay Vatsasai. His organization is called "Social Activities Integration,"and it's dedicated to educating women in the sex industry about the medical issues relevant to them.

Brothels

Our first visit to the RLD was to a brothel. These need some explanation. All 3 that I visited have one owner/manager, and 2-4 girls each. And they all live in very small quarters together.

Our first visit was to a rather old woman (maybe 40-50 yrs. old). She's working with Vinay (the social worker who showed us around), trying to educate the girls as to the dangers of AIDS, to use condoms, etc. She says that the charge for sex is from 30-40Rs for the one girl at her place (that's less than $1). The exact charge depends on the customer. The girl, by the way, wasn't all that attractive, nor was this woman. But she was happy to talk.

We began talking about the police. They play two different types of role in the the RLD. There those who belong there--that's where they're supposed to be working. They typically take a small bribe to look away, so the girls don't get arrested, and don't have to go to court. But police from outside areas sometimes come in and arrest the girls, harrass them, etc. Arrest typically leads to being detained for a few days, then a court date is set and the girl must appear. So basically they give the bribe to save all the trouble of the legal system.

Vinay says there is no government provision of medical services for the girls. They can go to the hospital, but all they will receive is blood tests; they don't get medicines. (So they can get diagnosed, I guess, but not treated. This is for record-keeping purposes.)

Many of the girls are from rural areas. They come into the city to work. Their families are very poor. Illiteracy characterizes the girls. In many cases they will have had absolutely no education. Once they come and get into prostitution, they cannot go back to their families--it would shame them. But the families will accept money from the girls if they send it to them. Often the girls are tricked into coming and getting into prostitution.

The old lady complains that there are fewer customers these days. She blames the AIDS scare. It was interesting that we only with older women. Perhaps the younger girls are seeing more customers, and perhaps the average age is falling. On the other hand, the absence of work might prevent new girls from coming in. So it's bad for the current generation, but might decrease the number of new girls coming in.

Another interesting sign is that brothels are being closed. Shops are being opened. But we were also told that many of the girls are leaving the Forest Road and Falkland Road areas and soliciting at train stations and other places. The RLD has such a bad reputation, that they might make a better living if they work somewhere else.

I asked who the customers are. Apparently, they're primarily migrant workers. It's not dominated by tourists, to be sure. Truck drivers were mentioned by more than one person. Most of the girls, on the other hand, are Indian and Nepalese. Nepal was very popular from the 70s-90s, but now Bangladesh is becoming a more common source of the prostitutes.

Vinay says there are about 45,000 confirmed prostitutes in Bombay. When he began his job in '91, he claims that there were 100,000 working. Private charities are of no significant help.

At this point, I think we left the first place, and went to a brothel. It was in an interior, 2nd floor apartment, just down the street from the first place.

The building was remarkable. (See my pictures for details of the rooms.) Several girls will live together. There's a group feeling there--a feeling of belonging, of "sisterhood," even with the madam. She will often cook for the girls. They have no families, so this "groupness" is important for them, and one of the major advantages over living and working the streets alone.

The manager/madam gets 50% of each girl's revenue. This is in payment for housing, food, etc. Typically, as I mentioned, the girls have no formal education. But fortunately, the girls' children are now starting to be able to be sent away to school. But otherwise, they live with the mother, where she works and sleeps. Very shocking.

At this brothel, the manager says that the charge ranges from Rs0-200 or 250.

The third brothel was upstairs in another building. We had to again go through some amazing (dirty, scary) alleys and stairs to get up to it. No one could find the place on his own; he'd have to be led there. The manager of this place was out of town, but there were 3 or 4 old women working there. There were 2 or 3 wooden beds laying next to each other. We sat on one. There was a man sleeping in there; apparently, he was the manager's son visiting.

The ladies here showed us the box of condoms they had to use. They said that if the man refuses to wear a condom, they won't take him as a customer. I find that hard to believe, but that's what they say. They claim the number of AIDS deaths has decreased, primarily because the word is spreading.

On occasion, the girls develop relationships with their customers. In many cases anyway, the men are repeat customers. But sometimes they develop a romantic relationship, and decide to have a child together. Otherwise, they don't seem to worry about pregnancy.

Apparently, this lady says, police do go after customers too, to an extent.

The women at this brothel have been working from 15-20 years each. They started at young ages, about 15.

I asked about drug/alcohol use & abuse. They claim there's not much drug use, but some light alcohol use.

This completes my notes from the visits. After this visit, we said goodbye to Vinay, and went to the Strand Book Stall to buy the Mary Ellen Mark picture book (1978). It's fascinating, and things have hardly changed, except the value of the rupee and dollar.

Then we went to lunch at a nearby restaurant. I had fish and dahl, along with excellent garlic naan. The fish was great! I also had a mango milkshake.

Our last stop was the Document & Research Center (I can't remember the name, but I have it written down somewhere--on the invoice for membership.) This was very near the Cottage Industries by the Sea Palace Hotel. There I made copies of numerous reports, and got references for some books. Those appear below.

M. Sundara Raj. 1993. Prostitution in Madras: A Study in Historical Perspective. Konark Publishers PVT Ltd.

Rozario, M. Rita. 1988. Trafficking in Women and Children in India. Uppal Publishing.

Human Rights Watch. 1995. Rape for Profit. ISBN 1-56432-155-X

Women Soliciting Change. 1996.

Marglin, Frederique Apffel. 1985. Wives of the God-King: Rituals of the Deradasis of Puri. Oxford University Press.

Also see the http://strandbookstall.com/, which is where I purchased Mary Ellen Mark's book, Faulkand Road.


https://www.gilesorr.com/India/by-others/prostitution-mumbai.html 
by giles