[Reader-list] IFS'07 - 3rd posting - May - displacement of prostitutes

[SUROJIT SEN]

Hi All,
  This is my third posting.
   
    Some Notes on Bodmayes Jobdo
   
  Prankrishna Datta wrote Bodmayes Jobdo when he was only seventeen. He lived in close vicinity to Sonagachi, the oldest brothel in Bengal, if not in India. He saw the reactions that the Act 14 of 1868 sparked off and wrote this text on 31st March, 1869.
  Bodmayesh  jobdo as usual, begins with hailing Queen Victoria who is the queen of England and mother of India as well. She loves her white and black children equally and punishes those who do injustice to her good-natured children. Those who speak against this move lack loyalty to the crown and prove guilty in the eye of God. Datta thus makes the point that the objective of Contagious Diseases Act 14, popularly known as Act 14, is to tackle those wickeds who distract the minds of good natured people and pollute society by visiting brothels. That is why Datta dubbed this Act as an act that has ‘punished the wickeds’. His text covers the time period of full twenty four hours from the evening of the day preceding the promulgation of the Act to the evening of the following day, he writes:
          
  “ Tomorrow on the 1st of April, 1869, the 1868 Act 14 ( which makes it mandatory for the prostitutes to get their names registered and undergo medical treatment if they have contracted syphilis ) will be in force. It has created a great stir in the entire city. Sitting inside their rooms or out in the verenda or at the doorstep, prostitutes are lamenting that they will now have to turn up for registration and ( medical ) examination in the same area where from they pick up at least five customers everyday. Sometimes their outbursts of laughter are startling birds and animals. Among the babus , some are reading, some are interpreting the Act 14, while breaking into laughter some are ridiculing and some condemning the Act. Some simulate to be smiling but some are looking really frightened : Alas, how would we go to the police station to record the names of our fathers and grandfathers! But if we don’t, we’ll have to live as a dead man if we can’t indulge in whoring!”
   
  The Act has also frightened the prostitutes. Those who are already affected by syphilis know that they will have to record their names in the official register and then will land up in hospitals for treatment. This means they will be losing their earnings during their stay in hospital. Moreover, once they are known to be affected, they would lose the trust of the customers even on recovery. None of the customers would come to them. That would totally block their way of earning. Some of them are also feeling ashamed because they know that ( under this Act ) in one room or another in this area, one doctor will examine their sexual organs. May be they are harlots but they too have a sense of respect. The Act made it a rule that both prostitutes and babus would have to get their names registered. And babus would have to disclose the names of their fathers and grandfathers to prove their identities. It thus put both sections in a fix. Prankrishna datta depicts the reactions of
 both the prostitutes and the babus. Some of the babus still hold on the belief that the Act will not be in force, and are desperately looking for escape routes. Datta narrates the ongoing dialogue between two regular brothel- goers:
   
  “ The first friend, a fop, said, ‘ this new Act is going to do us in!’ The second one: Why friend of mine , the Act is to seize the whores. Why should we worry?’ First: ‘ No , not only the whores but to take hold of  the wickeds too. This Act is not Act 14; it is an act to punished the wickeds, understand!”
   
  It clearly bears out that author stands by the Act. The Act, in fact, affected the poorest of the prostitutes – those who had no regular, fixed babus ( customers). And the wickeds were those who didn’t have means to keep a harlot on a regular basis. They represented the poorer section of the brothel – goers. The dialogue between the two friends reveals this situation in clear terms. One of them gives the other a dig : ‘ You can drink the whole day away; but in the evening can you restrain yourself from stepping in Siddheswaritola or Balakhana at least once? You, guy. Can somehow gather the money for your drink by selling one of your family utensils; but how would you pay the fine that they will charge the moment you get into that area? Hence you are now fated to spend the whole evening sitting like a metal- pot on the floor and warding off mosquitoes. They have taken you by the horn, understand!’
  Balakhana refers to the hospital set up for medical treatment of prostitutes. It was located near Nakhoda Masjid at Kalutola, the southern end of the red- light area which extend from Siddheswaritala at Bagbazar on the north. The speakers represent the subaltern section of brothel – goers. While the rich babus can get away by paying off the fine, these men find themselves in a fix because they don’t have the money to pay the fine that the Act 14 is going to impose on them.
  The author then describes the Calcutta scenario in the context of said Act. He narrates the reactions of not only the prostitutes and their clients but also some other sections like the clerical class and refers to the bumper sale of mewspapers and journals that dealt with the Act and its aftermath in detail. Let us see how he describe the day ( April 1, 1869 ) on which the Act actually came into face :
   
  “ The Act will be put into force from today. All the harlots and lechers ( wickeds ) are scared. 

. By and by, all the quarters became vacant as those women have started fleeing. On the day of chrak  festival ( Charak  festival is held usually on 13/14 April every year. Bhanphora, literally, sticking, pointed iron sticks the skin is a rite performed by the devotees on this day. Procession of clowns is also a special feature of this festival. ), the women who teem in balconies to have a look at the clowns from Kansaripara, all are gone, the balconies lying vacant 

.. Whereas chandannagar is brimming. Houses which are let in for Rs 10 ( a month ) are now charging Rs 50. While brothel oweners in Calcutta are regretting for their loss, exclaiming; Alas, for luck; lechers are having a field day in Chandannagar.”
   
  The fact is that following the Act 14, prostitutes in the Sonagachi area in Calcutta fled to Chandannagar, 33km away from the city. Some took to water way some went by train down the Howrah – Hooghly  (railway ) line. Their choice of Chandannagar as a refuge is significant. Chandannagar, which now belongs to hooghly district, was then under French rule and therefore outside the purview of British Law. Prostitutes moving en masse, from one coloney to another for the sake of their living, stands out as uncanny event in our colonial history. But unfortunately, this incident has not attracted the attention of researchers that it deserved. Prankrishna datta’s text  is significant because it documents the entire sequence of events including this one in the wake of the Act 14 of 1868.
   
   


       
---------------------------------
 Office firewalls, cyber cafes, college labs, don't allow you to download CHAT? Here's a solution! 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20070522/7857dd7c/attachment.html