Our lives have been destroyed.
Our lives have been destroyed.
I have to pay the rent for the
shop, the rent for the room.
I have to pay the men
I work with too.
So, because of this,
there’s a lot of problems.
I was told by my cousin that
she does household work, 
and that
I’d be asked to do the same.
But then, after
having lived here and
after I got to know what this was,
I thought that since I'm here anyway
I should earn enough
for myself and then go back.
I stayed back on my own.
Nobody forced me,
I’m here on my own accord.
That’s the case even now.
There’s been a lockdown
over the last four months,
and that’s made it
difficult for us.
We were able to feed ourselves,
and earn what we could,
but over the last four months
everything has stopped.
We didn’t know anything about it.
I heard about it in the news that
everything will be shut
from 6am to 9pm on Sunday
So, it began with
a Sunday
and then it kept extending to 
eight days, then fifteen, then a month
then a further three weeks and so on.
Now, this is the fourth month.
And during this time, there’s
been no work, no business,
and occasionally someone will pay you
and we are just surviving with that.
There’s no arrangement
for food and money.
We are getting very
limited food and rations.
There’s nothing else.
Have you reached?
Open the shop,
I’m just leaving.
My father used to work
in a town called Tundla.
So, over the last four or five months
he hasn’t been paid his salary.
He used to earn around Rs
8000-Rs 10000 a month.
He wasn’t paid for five months,
there were no rations at home,
we had to ask our relatives and
friends in town for loans,
it’s been a very difficult
and a problematic time.
There’s nothing at home, even
salt, no eatables, nothing.
I studied till 8th grade and
then I stopped.
I had to earn money.
There were problems at home,
I was the only earning member,
I had to also arrange for
the marriage of my sisters
and that costs a lot.
So, it’s for all of this that
I had to stop studying and
I had to come here to earn money.
We used to set up shop here at 8am 
and stay till 11 at night.
We used to earn something,
around Rs 1000-Rs 1200 daily.
Nowadays we open at around 10am
and stay till 8pm.
Even if we get a
call from a customer
they used to tell us to
come being prepared.
For instance, we should
wear masks and sanitizers.
By wearing gloves
and being well prepared.
We need money
to arrange all that.
For instance, I am in
debt during the lockdown,
because I have to pay
rents for the shop,
rent for the room,
and also pay the boys I work with.
So we are facing a lot of
problems because of this,
what can we do?
Yes, while we were there
we were thinking that
there was no work
that there was no work
during the lockdown but that
won’t be the case during Teej.
So i thought some money in my pocket
We thought we will get some customers,
that we will be able to earn
something that would take
care of some of our expenses,
that we would also be
able to save some money.
But once we got here,
there are no customers coming,
there are lots of problems here.
Due to Corona,
over the last four months,
our business and our work
has been shut down.
We have entered
the fourth month now.
We have not earned a single
penny since four months.
Because of this
Corona pandemic...
Our earnings are stopped
since all these days.
Should it resume again,
there will always be a fear
when we meet a customer.
We will have to be on our
guard and stay safe.
Instead of living with the
fear of getting infected,
is it not better to leave
the profession completely?
There’s fear of Corona, and
that fear is within us too.
So, if we go to a housing society, we worry
if the person opposite us is infected,
that there should not
be the slightest touch,
so there’s fear from both sides.
Some of us need medicine, and we’re
not able to arrange for that either.
Over the last seven months,
I’ve paid over Rs 1 lakh for
the treatment of my eye
and have lost an eye
as a result of this.
but nothing has worked.
I’ve had shingles,
Over the last six months, there has
been no improvement in the condition.
I pour water over my eye, and that’s the
only way I have been able to take care.
Only once the lockdown ends can there be any
possibility of addressing the situation.
I don’t have a single
penny right now.
Yes, there are instances
when people complain about
the fact that the Mehndi
hasn’t been applied properly,
and they say that they won’t
pay us what we’re asking for.
We then try to tell them that
we too are facing a problem,
and that is that you’re not
allowing us to keep our hands the
the way they should be kept
when we are applying Mehndi.
If the hand is not in the right position,
how can we apply Mehndi properly?
So, we have to face losses as a result of this
too sometimes when customers refuse to pay.
Customers come and
tell us sometimes that
we paid you but you didn’t
apply the Mehndi properly.
We tell them that we are
trying to do our best.
So, it depends on the customer,
to apply it in the right way.
Usually, there is contact
between our hands
But that is not being allowed now.
So, if it’s not done
in the right way,
then we lose revenue because 
the payments are that much lower.
I do dhanda [sex work] here.
I do dhanda and feed myself.
And I do wrong and also take
care of my three children.
I am responsible for
their upbringing,
 and their education.
It’s going on, but over the last
three months I’ve done nothing.
I’ve been sitting at home.
The work that we used to
have earlier doesn't exist now.
Hey, Tanya!
They are distributing
food-grains!
Where? - They are distributing
food-grains to 12 street.
We got our food-grains.
Everyone has got
the extra food-grains.
I do dhanda [sex work] here.
I do dhanda and feed myself.
And I do wrong and also take
care of my three children.
I am responsible for
their upbringing,
 and their education.
It’s going on, but over the last
three months I’ve done nothing.
I’ve been sitting at home.
The children are also facing
a lot of difficulty now.
I’ve not been able to do
much, or send any money
But I’m still managing,
getting by daily for food.
Everything is just going on.
There was great difficulty.
There was pain in the stomach.
I had difficulty getting food,
and I could not buy
medicines either.
However, I somehow adjusted,
as pretty much everyone
is in the same boat.
Where will they go to get work?
Where will they go to
arrange some money?
So I reconciled myself to that
and stayed at home.
However, we step out
every now and then,
hoping to earn Rs 100
here or Rs 50 there.
Sometimes we are fortunate
and by god’s grace
we are able to earn, and
sometimes that does not happen.
The situation has affected
the work here a lot.
People are fearful, and
since so many people
have died due to COVID-19
people are taking care of
themselves that much more.
So they keep their distance
because they fear that
someone might be infected.
However, out of greed
there may be occasions
when somebody gets a customer and
then gets infected or falls ill.
that they think twice.
As there's a chance of
them to get infected and thereby
getting rejected by the family.
They worry about their
children and therefore...
They think of their
families and then step back.
My delivery is due in two months.
Let’s see, if I can
find a job after that.
I used to be a bouncer
earlier, a security guard.
So I’ll have to apply
there perhaps.
In case the current
occupation does not work out,
then maybe I’ll find another job that
may pay be Rs 8000 to Rs 10000 a month.
No, my family is not
aware of what I do.
They believe that I am employed
as a maid
 to do household chores,
they know nothing about what I do.
They think that I do household
work and am paid around
Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 a month, and
that I send a part of that to them.
I would want to continue this
work until two of my
daughters get married.
My husband does not
have the income
to cover the expenses for the
marriage of my daughters.
One would require at least Rs 5 to
6 lakhs for a daughter’s wedding.
So I would hope that
I continue this work
until my daughters are married, and that
I do whatever possible for
my daughters with what I earn.
No, never. I don’t want my children
to ever be under this shadow,
and I pray to God that my children
should never be part
of this profession
and that they should never know
or find out about what I do.
There’s fear about how and whether
we would be able to continue.
Corona has not gone away, and
there is no cure for it yet.
So how do we start again?
We are concerned and scared.
If we start our work again,
and customers start coming to us
how do we find out or know if
they are ill or are infected?
'It's a nice Pulav'
There’s fear about how and whether
we would be able to continue.
Corona has not gone away, and
there is no cure for it yet.
So how do we start again?
We are concerned and scared.
If we start our work again,
and customers start coming to us
how do we find out or know if
they are ill or are infected?
What if we get infected?
We have children at home,
and they may get infected,
So, there’s tension about what
can we do, and how do we do it.
I heard about the infection
having spread
in a certain area.
So, my neighbour, who
lives downstairs,
she told me that the people
there eat insects
and other things,
and that’s how the
infection spread.
So I said that they
do eat such things.
The illness has spread
there but it will not reach to us.
We never thought that
the illness would reach us.
Some people used to come
from other suburbs,
but now they can’t
because trains are shut.
The people who continued coming
were those who drove down.
But I haven’t stepped out for
work since the lockdown began.
I haven’t gone on my own, nor have I been
using the phone to contact customers.
In fact, one customer
had asked me to come,
but I did not go out of fear.
If I have a life, I can survive,
eating some basic food,
 but now’s not the time for greed.
I was also hoping to marry off my
daughter in a couple of years.
And I also have two more
little kids to take care of.
I used to earn around 
and I used to save around Rs 300 a day, Rs 200.
Part of that went for the rent,
but I used to save the rest,
since I thought it
would come in handy
But now because of the lockdown,
we have a worrying situation.
What can I do?
