In 2008, an elderly Indian named Gangubai Kothewali died of cardiac arrest at the age of 69. Her death was originally silent, but after the news came out, it was like a landslide to the people of India, especially women in India.
Countless Indian women, hundreds of thousands of whom are sex workers in India, cried for her departure. People erected a portrait of her, and her portrait has been hanging for 50 years in Kamathipura, India’s largest red-light district.
Today, many Indian women still hang a portrait of her in their homes and worship her as if they were worshiping a god.
What kind of person is this woman named Gangubai Kothewali?
Why in India, where the status of women is so low, her death can cause tens of thousands of people to cry and say goodbye? After death, can a monument be erected and a biography be erected, and the local people “conferred a god”?
On Gangubai Kothewali, there are three obvious labels: prostitutes, mafia, and social activists received by the Indian Prime Minister.
Because of these three conflicting labels, Gangubai’s life is full of legend.
Her story was also made into the movie “Gangubai Kathiawadi”, which quickly exploded on the Internet after it was released at the beginning of this year.
With this film, we get a glimpse into the twists and turns of this woman’s life, in fact, her life is far more exciting than the movie.
Gangubai Kathiawadi has a wealthy family, but was sold to a brothel because of love
Gangubai was born into a family of lawyers in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 1939.
Lawyering is a very respected profession in India, and Gangubai belongs to the high caste group in India, so she has not experienced the hardships suffered by other Indian women since she was a child, and grew up in the pampering and honeypot of her parents.
Gangubai’s father had high hopes for this lovely little daughter and named her Ganga.
Because Gangubai’s elders are either lawyers or teachers, in this way, Gangubai also has the right to receive education, which was something that Indian women in the 1940s could not even think about.
When she was young, Gangubai didn’t like literature and art, but only loved movies. Her dream was to become a popular Bollywood actress one day.
Perhaps it was because his parents protected Gangubai too well. When he was 16 years old, Gangubai’s life changed dramatically.
At the age of twenty-eight, the beginning of love. Gangubai, who has an ignorant understanding of emotions, falls in love with Ramnik, his father’s accountant.
Ramnik was 28 years old at the time, 12 years older than Gangubai, and the relationship was destined not to be acknowledged by his family.
During their relationship, Ramnik coaxed Gangubai into thinking of a way to keep the two together forever.
He claimed that he had Bollywood connections and could contact the director for Gangubai to help her go to Bollywood to make movies. The naive Gangubai believed it.
Gangubai, who was fascinated by love, stole all the family’s savings and eloped with Ramnik to Mumbai overnight.
When she was full of joy and thought that she was going to spend her life with the man she loved and have a star-like future, what she was waiting for were two local brothel thugs and a cruel and inhumane prostitute.
It turned out that the “set” that Ramnik claimed was a brothel in Kamathipura, India’s largest red light district. And the man who lied to him to Mumbai has disappeared with all her savings.
The prostitute told her that she had been sold by Ramnik for 1,000 rupees.
Gangubai would never believe that Ramnik would deceive himself in such a way. But the fact is that 94% of the women in the Kamathipura brothel at that time were abducted and sold here by their boyfriends, husbands and even fathers.
More than 80% of the girls here are under the age of 18. Once in Kamathipura, there is no turning back.
Those who run away are usually caught and beaten and humiliated. Even if they are lucky enough to go home, their family will not accept them to enter the house. Some local states where lynching is rampant will even hang them.
Gangubai resisted and was beaten violently. She went on hunger strike to seek death, but ultimately failed.
After waiting for a full week, Gangubai could not survive and could not die, so he could only compromise and accept his fate.
She changed her real name Ganga to “Gangubai” and began to apply makeup and powder, imitating the appearance of other prostitutes, standing on the street to attract customers.
Gangubai Kathiawadi successfully became the most popular prostitute, but was raped and beaten by the gang
Girls of high caste like Gangubai are very popular in brothels.
She has a kind of poetic and book temperament that Indian women at the bottom do not have, so she quickly received the first guest, followed by the second…
Gangubai’s business is getting better and better, and his reputation is getting better and better. Many men come here because of her, and the threshold of the brothel is almost broken because of her.
But although there are many customers, the money in Gangubai’s hands is pitiful. Desperately, they are just a tool for the prostitute to make money.
After working for a while, Gangubai finally realized that if he wanted to control his own destiny, he had to rely on himself in the end.
So she gave full play to her social skills, took money from the pockets of guests, and then silently deposited it into her “little vault”, dreaming that one day she would be able to turn around with this money.
Gradually, Gangubai accumulated more and more wealth and more and more prestige in Kamathipura.
But sometimes, fame is not a good thing. Soon, bad luck found Gangubai.
Mumbai in the 1850s was not so much ruled by the government as it was by the gang.
Especially in Kamathipura, the yakuza are the real talkers. The famed Gangubai caught the attention of a gangster boy who found Gangubai twice.
The first time, he beat Gangubai in a brothel and raped her, and the second time she went to the hospital in the middle of the night and went straight to the hospital.
Gangubai, who was seriously injured, finally understood a truth at the dying moment of his life. If he wanted to live, he could no longer be slaughtered like this.
So, she thought of a way that ordinary people would not dare to think about – to go to the gang boss and get justice for herself.
Gangubai Kathiawadi and the black boss became brothers and sisters and became the “Queen of Mumbai”
In the local area, gangs run rampant because of complex interests, but mafia leader Rahim Lala is different.
Although the mafia under him kills people, kidnaps for extortion, sells drugs, makes counterfeit money, and commits all evils. But in order to maintain his image in the local area, Rahim Lala is very good at doing “face projects”.
He will use the power of the gang to “help justice”. For example, he once held an event called “durbar”, which is to let people reflect the problems in life to him, and then he will do his best in economic or other aspects. aid.
Therefore, among the three major gangs in Mumbai, Rahim Lala has a high prestige. Gangubai naturally knew about Rahim Lala, so she hoped that the gang leader could help her find justice.
By chance, Gangubai finally blocked Rahim Lala in front of him. In view of Gangubai’s reputation, Rahim felt that she was not suitable for appearing in his living room, so he instructed his subordinates to bring people to the terrace and ask when he was done.
After Rahim was done, he found Gangubai standing upright on the terrace, and she hadn’t eaten a single bite of the food provided by the servants.
When asked why he didn’t eat, Gangubai said he soiled the dishes. This made Rahim more interested and patient in Gangubai, so he screened back and let Gangubai speak from the beginning.
After listening to Gangubai’s remarks, Rahim felt that this matter was too small for him to take action. Unexpectedly, Gangubai was in a hurry, rushed forward and pulled his sleeve, showing her the terrible bruises and scars on his body.
This shocked Rahim. He found the violent subordinate, taught him a lesson in front of everyone, and told Gangubai that if anyone else troubled her in the future, he could come to him.
These words are undoubtedly meant to “cover Gangubai”. Since being abducted, Gangubai has never felt kindness from strangers.
After getting his revenge, Gangubai took out a protective rope rakhi and tied it around Rahim’s wrist. This is a custom in India that expresses the woman’s unconditional trust in the man.
Rahim, who was in the blood and rain, has never been treated like this. He is also generous, not only giving Gangubai a luxury car, but also handing over the “site management rights” of the Kamathipura red light district to her.
In this way, a prostitute who was slaughtered at the bottom, became the boss of the entire Kamathipura, and became the Queen of Mumbai who was revered by everyone.
Committed to the rights of sex workers at the bottom, one sentence left the Indian Prime Minister speechless
Gangubai, who achieved a class jump, was not carried away by the suddenness.
In control of the entire red light district, she has never forgotten the humiliation she suffered, so she began to improve the living environment of women in the entire red light district and gave them the right to choose.
The sisters under the opponent, Gangubai is also almost righteous. For girls who, like herself, were unknowingly trafficked to brothels, Gangubai would let her choose to stay or stay.
If they choose to go back, she will give them travel expenses. If she chose to stay, she would provide them with a clean, tidy, dignified work environment that would spare them from being exploited by others.
She opens bank accounts for low-level sex workers in the red light district, teaches them to save money, and lets them plan for their futures.
Every holiday, she will take them to eat, sing and watch movies, so that they can live the same life as normal girls.
She will raise money from various local government organizations to improve the living conditions of children born in the red light district. She not only made boys and girls equal, but also gave all children the right to education.
Because of the title of “Rahim Sister”, gang members dare not do anything in Kamathipura.
Even if there is trouble, Gangubai will fight with him on the spot to protect the girls under his hands from harm. Tens of thousands of sex workers and children are grateful to Gangubai, and many children simply call her “mother”.
In the early 1960s, residents living near Kamathipura protested, believing that the local red light district would affect the students in the nearby girls’ high school, and strongly demanded that all the red light districts be relocated.
While Kamathipura is a breeding ground for sin, it is also home to thousands of underprivileged sex workers. Leave here, these people will have nowhere to go, but face the situation of wandering.
To this end, sex workers petitioned, hoping Gangubai would do justice to them.
Gangubai went there with pleasure. Facing the national media, the 21-year-old gave a eloquent speech, criticizing the injustice of Indian society towards the lower classes, and calling on the government to introduce laws to protect the survival rights of sex workers.
Gangubai’s speech alarmed then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and in order to reduce his influence, Nehru invited Gangubai to a private meeting.
During the conversation, Nehru sneered at Gangubai, you could have married a good man, why do you want to do this?
Unexpectedly, Gangubai replied: If you are going to make me Mrs. Nehru, I am willing to give up my career forever.
Nehru was surprised that a prostitute would dare to speak to him like that.
But Gangubai then smiled and said she was joking: “Preaching is always easier than doing.”
In the conversation that followed, Gangubai made a case for it, stating that sex work was the only way for women in the red light district to survive, and that no industry or family would accept them if they gave up the profession.
After the meeting, Nehru promised Gangubai that he would investigate the matter, and Kamathipura was eventually saved.
After this incident, Gangubai’s influence further expanded. Women who admire her have hung her portraits in their homes, and some even erected a monument to her as a memorial.
In Kamathipura, no one calls her the “Queen of the Mafia”, and people prefer to call her “Mrs. Kamathipura”.
In 2008, Gangubai died of cardiac arrest at the age of 69, which ended her turbulent and magnificent life. Three years later, “Mafia Queens of Mumbai” was published.
An orphan from a brothel adopted by Gangubai during his lifetime once came forward to warn the public not to think that Gangubai was a “saint”.
He told the book’s author, S. Hussain Zaidi, that Gangubai also smoked, drank and gambled, and said people just selectively forgot her “dark side”.
“After all, she ended up running a brothel.” So says Gangubai’s adopted son.
After the book was published, there was a great response in Indian society, with some Indian media commenting that it was “full of exciting details”.
However, although Gangubai is committed to improving the rights and interests of sex workers in India, it has achieved little in the overall social atmosphere of India. After her death, Kamathipura almost returned to her original form.
Because of its huge influence, the novel was eventually adapted into a film. Gangubai’s adopted children and daughters once submitted an application to the court to suspend the release of the film on the grounds that it had a negative impact on their normal life, but the film was eventually released. .
Ironically, when the film was released, it was also boycotted by the local community in Mumbai, India.
It is believed that the content of trafficking, violence and sex workers involved in the film is a smear of Mumbai. Even the heroine, Alia Bhatt, was implicated. Many people feel that Gangubai does not seem to have changed anything.
But in India, it is already a great achievement for a small woman to become a big heroine and benefit female workers.
This is why Gangubai is still revered by countless Indian women after so many years of death.
Related Post: India’s legendary woman “Gangubai Kathiawadi”: The mafia queen who came out from the brothel.
