It was 2012, I was working with an NGO called Shtri , working for women and girls to prevent them from trafficking and smuggling, and also was working to rehabilitate them
based in Delhi
.
We had a large network, working in other areas as well as Delhi.
I remember, It was August 3rd when I received a call from a landline number.
It was a call from a House of Prostitution in Sonagachi, Kolkata.
The girl on the other side of the phone was speaking breathlessly. She just said, ''Please save me, I am KUBERA and I am here in Sonagachi." And then the call ended.
It seems like someone took away the phone from her. Don't know from where she got my number but I am pretty sure she called me quietly.
After the call ended, I called one of my friends who was working with me on a project before. He is now in Kolkata. I was now already working on a case in Delhi. So it was very hard for me to go to Kolkata immediately. But somehow I managed to hand over my ongoing project to my team members. I and Smita got two tickets for the train from Delhi to Kolkata from the emergency window.
Smita was my girlfriend
We have been together since college. She was very supportive and understanding. We spent 7 years happily in that relationship. Now we are traveling to Kolkata together. I was clueless about that girl, her place and it's right to say that it was very difficult for me. Because searching for that girl was like searching for a needle in the garbage.
I know you think I am mad. I just go to search for her without a clue. Yes, I am mad. This is my way to work.
Now we were on the train. It took around 23-24 hours from Delhi to Kolkata by train. We both were sleepless because we were worried about that girl. It's my first time in Kolkata so I was not aware of the streets and places, just read about them.
But Smita was known to that place because she already spent some years of her life in the school of Kolkata. She told me this just after five minutes of sitting on the train and I took a deep breath.
Now It seems that we can save that girl but before that, it was like an impossible task.
Smita leaned her head on Kabir's shoulder and said "We will definitely do this."
I Nodded. I know she was feeling what I was thinking and my worries. She cares for me a lot. Now we were about to reach Kolkata.
It's already 11:00 pm and we disembark from the train. Now we were searching for something to stay. Sonagachi was about 3 km away from the railway station. So we stayed near the station in a Hotel that night. When we reached the hotel around 11:19 pm, they delayed while inquiring with us
hotel management
.
We went to our rooms at 12:04 pm. We were tired and went to bed immediately.
We woke up the next morning, it's August 5, 2021. Now the big challenge was to find that phone call girl. For whom we came to Kolkata. We thought we must take help from someone, I already called a person, when we decided to come to Kolkata. That man was Shomat. I know him because we worked on a project together.
As I told you earlier.
We met there for the first time. I know he will definitely help us. I received the expected answer from him, and he agreed to help us.
He was living near Sonagachi. He was well aware of that area because he was working for the last 4-5 years on the health of sex workers. He was the only hope to find that girl for us. I called again Shomat this morning. He asked us to come to his house and meet him there. We went to his house where I met his wife Ahmada. The thing I came to know that day was his wife was also working for abandoned and smuggled women.
I was smiling from inside. Because it felt like that we are just close to our goal, as Shomat's wife was working in the grassroots of Sonagachi
she had great links with the owners of the houses of prostitution
. It seems easier to find that girl.
Shomat was 27 years old and his wife was 31 years old. Shomat was from Delhi and his wife Ahmada was from Kolkata. They start living there after their marriage. Ahmada was well known in that area because she grew up there and lived there. All the magenta and owners of that Houses of prostitutes believed in Ahmada because her mother was also a sex worker there.
Nazim was the mother of Ahmada, Who was a forced sexual worker by her husband. She got affected with a very dangerous disease like thousands of other sex workers there, AIDS, and other transmitted diseases.
She told us about the condition of sex workers. That these workers get a very minimal amount and customers do whatever they want to do with them. Many girls and females died due to sexual diseases, abuse. And many of them got pregnant
due to which they face many problems like if they choose to abort, face health issues . And if they choose to give birth they were alone to take care of their child
.
Children of sexual workers, especially girls, also indulge in this same work no matter if they choose by themselves or by others. Now I was worried about that girl. Is she alright or not?
I just want to find her now? What can I do? I was feeling sad for her and for the condition of all the women and girls who were forced to indulge in this work.
Like in India, sexual workers from every corner of the world are facing these problems. And thousands of women and girls are smuggled and forcefully indulged in prostitution every day.
Before starting searching for that girl it was necessary for us to know about that area. And the condition and the environment of that area were necessary to understand. I Asked Ahmada to tell us in detail so we could find her easily as we had no clues about her. We want to do that smoothly.