Ekta Chopra was a child when she became prostitute in the early 1970s. Here he explains how he was drawn to work on the streets and why 23 years later, he gave his life to ensure that other girls did not fall into the same trap. Some people will find it annoying
I grew up in the 1999's on the West Side of Karolbagh,Delhi . My mother died when I was six months old. She was only 16 years old and I never learned where she went - my grandmother, who drank the most, never told me later. The official definition is that they were "natural causes".
I do not believe in that. Who died at the age of 16 from natural causes? I like to think that God was just right for him. I heard the news that he was beautiful and had a good sense of humor. I know that's true because I have it too.
It was my grandmother who took care of me. And he wasn't a bad person - in fact he had a very serious debt to him. She read it to me, baked things for me and cooked some delicious potatoes. He just had this drinking problem. He would bring my drinking partners home from the bar and after getting drunk pass these men who could do things to me. It started when I was four or five years old and it became normal. I'm sure my grandmother knew nothing about it.
I was watching the women with the big, shiny hair and the shiny clothes standing on the street outside our house. I had no idea what they were determined to do; I just thought they were shiny. As a little girl, all I wanted was to shine.
One day I asked my grandmother what the women were doing and she said, "Those women take their panties off and the men give them money." And I remember saying in my heart, "Maybe I'll do that" because the men were already taking my panties off.
At the same time, I was nervous, always nervous. I had no idea if what was happening was my fault or not. I thought maybe something was wrong with me. Even though I was a smart kid, I dropped out of school. By the 1970s, I was the kind of girl who didn’t know she was saying “no” - if the little boys in the community told me they loved me or treated me well, they would be with me.
By the time I was 14, I had two children and boys in the community, two girls. Granny started saying that I need to bring money to pay for these children, because there is no food in the house, we have nothing.So one night - actually Good Friday - I went to the corner of Division Street and Clark Street and stopped in front of the Mark Twain Hotel. I was wearing a two-piece dress that cost $ 3.99, cheap plastic shoes, and some lipstick that you thought would make me look older.
I was 14 and I was crying about everything. But I did it. I didn't like it, but the five men who fell in love with me that night showed me what to do. They knew I was young and seemed to be happy about it.