NEW DELHI: The uncharacteristically quiet GB Road comes to life on the arrival of a vegetable vendor. The sex workers who have seen no business over the past one week rush out of their cramped multi-storeyed brothels to buy vegetables.
"I will not take much. Just give me a few kilos. I promise to pay you soon," pleads 54-year-old Savita. But the vendor refuses to give vegetables on credit.
Many sex workers like Savita don’t even have money to afford food since national lockdown was announced on March 24. Savita, who comes from Bihar's Darbhanga district, says that she has never seen such crisis at GB road ever since she came here over three decades ago or, as she says, when "Indira Gandhi’s son was the country’s Prime Minister".
With a dupatta covering her mouth and nose, she wonders, "We all know Coronavirus is a dangerous disease and we are following government’s orders but if we don't earn anything , how will we live? Why is the government not helping us?"
Baby, also a sex worker, joins the conversation saying there are some NGOs and police personnel who are trying to help them with food and ration but this help is reaching only a few. "For us, the lockdown began well before the government’s official announcement. The nature of our work is such that we decided to put it on hold for some time. But we've already spent all our savings. I have not been able to send money to my children in Andhra Pradesh," she says.
Like Baby and Savita, most sex workers are mothers who are in the profession to support their families. Rita from Tirupati, Aasha from Nepal, Manju from West Bengal, Gauri from Maharashtra, all wonder how they will they tide over the 21-day shutdown imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Around 80 brothels house close to 3000 sex workers in multi-storeyed dingy buildings located in the busy market area of GB Road. But many of them have returned to their homes with the help of those running the brothels, says Priya, a sex worker from Nepal. Those who couldn't leave their brothels in time are missing their homes, their families.
"My daughter cries everyday when I speak to her on phone. I haven't been able to send money to my parents. There are some government relief camps but we can't go there and live with dignity. If something happens to us there will be nobody to take care of us. We may not be able to even die with dignity here," says Priya.
Some of the sex workers here also feel that they may be at a greater risk of suffering from coronavirus than others. Shweta has a chronic sugar and blood pressure problems. Seema and Sapna have been taking medications for sugar as well. But they are not counting on any help.
One of Prema's eyes is bloodshot. She says she got into an argument with one of her clients, who hit her. During the ongoing shutdown, she says, she can't get food, forget getting an ice-pack for her eyes.
The sex workers here are also troubled by how long it would take for their lives to return to normalcy. Business for them may not resume soon after national curfew ends, since there will be all sorts of apprehensions among their clients.
Iqbal Ahmad has been living here at GB Road and working with the sex worker community for the past 40 years through his organisation Bhartiya Patita Uddhar Sabha. He says that sex workers have been taking the necessary precautions before the lockdown was announced.
"We have distributed masks and sanitisers among them also. But they need a lot of support. Some NGOs have come forward to help but the existing resources are not enough to sustain them for the duration of the lockdown," he says.
Showing a packet of food he says, "Look at this. Someone distributed food packets earlier during the day but all this food has gone bad. We urgently need help from the government and everyone who can pitch in to support these vulnerable people."
(Names of all sex workers have been changed to protect their identity).