Garstin Bastion Road, Delhi red light district, has many aspects. GB Road houses a temple, a mosque and a school. It's said to be india's biggest market for bathroom fittings. It even has its own ruin-Ajmeri Gate. It's easily accessible: a minute's walk from the New Delhi railway station, next to the Anglo-Arabic Model school. The stretch is not ton the tourist itinerary, though it's a walking distance from touristy areas such as chandi chowk. If you take a walk there, the scenes that greet you would be surprisingly ordinary-shop, migrant labourers, rickshaws, cars, pull carts, bikes, bins, chaat-wallas, women in sarees, suit salwar & in burqas. You would also see some men craning their neck upwards. Follow their eyes. There are the grilled windowns on the floors above the shop; bare arms coming out, gesturing passers by to come in. The women behind these windowns are the sex workers. Inside, benches were arranged in a hall on which sat the women. lolling around on the floor were their children. One wall hand framed portraits of Lakshmi, Hanuman, Jesus Christ, Guru Nanak, and the shrine of Mecca.
During mugal empire there were five red-light areas in the city. After the 1857 revolt, the British closed all except the one at G.B. Road. In 1965, it was renamed after Swami Shradhanand, a social reformer. That hasn't changed the character of the place. GB Road has aroud 96 kothas. Each kotha has its own 'family' of prostitutes. Most come from desperately poor villages spread out in such varied regions as Nepal and Karnataka. Some are runaways, or have been duped by lovers and sold here. Then they condition themselves, or are forced, to the life of a sex worker. A section of men who work in GB Road but never meddle with the kotha women are the shopkeepers down-stairs. Watching these traders carry on with their business under the garlanded portraits of their black and white ancestors is rather odd. One shopkeeper refused to give his name and refused to talk about the ladies. "we've never touched, never talked to these women" .
During mugal empire there were five red-light areas in the city. After the 1857 revolt, the British closed all except the one at G.B. Road. In 1965, it was renamed after Swami Shradhanand, a social reformer. That hasn't changed the character of the place. GB Road has aroud 96 kothas. Each kotha has its own 'family' of prostitutes. Most come from desperately poor villages spread out in such varied regions as Nepal and Karnataka. Some are runaways, or have been duped by lovers and sold here. Then they condition themselves, or are forced, to the life of a sex worker. A section of men who work in GB Road but never meddle with the kotha women are the shopkeepers down-stairs. Watching these traders carry on with their business under the garlanded portraits of their black and white ancestors is rather odd. One shopkeeper refused to give his name and refused to talk about the ladies. "we've never touched, never talked to these women" .
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