Beautiful Women

[FM N]

"Beautiful Women" was released in March, to coincide with International Women's Day. It is an extraordinary book, documenting the work of ARZ, and including first-person accounts from women who worked in the Baina sex trade.

The book was mentioned on the Goa Book Club group, but received no further attention -- I am much to blame for that, as I haven't yet written the review I intended. Do read Tallulah D'Silva's account: http://environmentallywrite.blogspot.in/2016/03/beautiful-women-story-of-arz-and-why.html

Fatima

[Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا‎]

Nice! FN

ARZ is an organization based in Vasco, Goa and was founded in 1997 by a group of friends/ professionals from TISS- Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, with the objective of social work interventions with people who have committed crimes, have been victims or those who are vulnerable to either. It initiated its first project in 1998 on issues connected with trafficking of humans for the purpose of prostitution and began work with not only the victims of prostitution but also perpetrators, children, youth residing in the area, members of certain tribes, shelter-less and unsupported women and girls, widows/ wives of HIV positive men. My tryst with ARZ (Anyay Rahit Zindagi) began in 2010 quite by accident, when a dear friend Mariette Correa and social worker from TISS suggested my name to be included as a board member. Mariette was leaving for Nepal on an assignment and was required to base herself there for an extended period of time and since we had recently become friends then and having known of my interest in community initiatives and environmental issues, she had recommended my inclusion to the Director Arunendra Pandey. To be honest I had no experience in social work and had far less knowledge of issues concerning women in trafficking. And absolutely no idea about any rehabilitation work concerning people and children working in prostitution. The only knowledge that I had back then was that Baina was known as a red light area where prostitution thrived.
Beautiful Women , From despair to dignity, is an extremely powerful account of successful stories of rehabilitation of people working in prostitution put together by ARZ with help fromSalil Chaturvedi, Abhinandita Mathur and Vidhyadhar Gadgil. One of the sex workers, Nirmala, who is featured in the book has illustrated the cover.
This book was released on 9th March 2016 and was followed by a panel discussion with Salil Chaturvedi, Fatima Noronha, Hema Nayak, Sachin Parab and Naman Sawant.

Salil Chaturvedi writes fiction in English and Poetry in English and Hindi. His stories have appeared in various anthologies and magazines like Himal, Indian Quarterly and Indian Literature. His haiku was shortlisted for the Raedleaf India Poetry Award in 2015. In 2008 he was awarded the Commonwealth Shortstory Prize (Asia Region) and in 2007 the Unisun/British Council Shortstory award. He is also a disability activist and sailed from Bombay to Goa in 2009 to draw attention to access issues for persons with disability. He is a Trustee of Score Foundation, a national organisation working for visually impaired persons. He was awarded the CNN-IBN Indian Super Idol award in 2012. He shared his experiences with putting the narratives together in first person and read a few excerpts from the book. 

Fatima M Noronha, a freelance writer and editor has published fiction and non-fiction for the last forty years. The BBC broadcast one of her short stories, while others have appeared in periodicals and anthologies in India and overseas. Stray Mango Branches, a collection of vignettes and stories of life in Goa, was published in 2013. Born in Lisbon, having called many places home, especially during twenty years of what she calls- gypsying with her fighter pilot husband, she has finally returned to her roots in Goa. She holds a doctorate in philosophy. Over the years she has worked intermittently as a teacher, and has taught from nursery, through primary, middle and high school, junior and senior college, to postgraduate classes. During the military years she learned much from community work, although she found herself poorly equipped to help people in distress. She now works as a mum, gardener and freelance editor. 

Sachin Parab is the editor of Goadoot and has around 20 years of experience in print media, TV and internet journalism. He earlier worked as an editor of Navshakti, the oldest marathi daily in Mumbai. He is also the executive editor of Mi Marathi news channel, Metro Editor and the internet edition head of Maharashtra Times. He has worked as a political reporter in news channels like ETV and Sahara. He has been successful in editing and publishingRingan, the only Ashadhi magazine in Marathi. He was honored as President of the First youth literary conference, 2015 Akhil Bhartiya Yuva Sahitya Sammelan) at Pune. He has published articles on eminent researcher Manohar Kadam Edi, Karykarta Satyashodhak Sanshodhak, edited books titled Mahanama (About Sant Namdev), In 2015 Co writer  3 Sammelan, 3 Bhashan (Collection of speeches) Majh Ahal (Collection of blog posts) He raised pertinent points that unless the stories are shared widely, people will be unaware of the issues that surround women in prostitution.

Hema Naik, a Bank Employee has spent the last 40 yrs at the forefront both as a Konkani Language activist as well as konkani writer raising issues about women. She has been active in the literary, cultural and social field as a Writer, Editor, Publisher, Organizer, Drama and Film Producer. Has brought Feminist trend in her writing and has produced literary pieces, Drama and Film which have celebrated Goan Women. She is the publisher of ‘Apurbai Prakashan’ one of the leading publications in Konkani. That has published about 100 books of various writers since 1974, Has written several Radio plays, translated National plays in Konkani, Broadcasted over All India Radio, Panaji. Editor of  ‘Chitrangi’ yearly issue devoted to the writings of women and on Women  since 1980. Her Articles have been included in Konkani Text Books for High school and College level. Chairperson of ‘Apurbai Chitra’ an association devoted for the promotion of Art and Culture through Audio/Video media since 1995. She is a member of Konkani Advisory Committee of Sahitya Akademi (2012 – 2017) She has many awards to her credit. ‘Bhogadandd’ has won her the Sahitya Academi award among others. She has also won awards for her contribution to the development of the Konkani Language.

Naman Sawant is a young social worker and activist with a passion for working with children and youth.

The panelists were asked to share their experience reading the stories of women and specific questions. What new insights have you gained after reading this book about life of women in prostitution? What are the issues that you feel the girls have highlighted in their stories? According to the stories what causes women getting into an exploitative situation? According to the stories what would enable their exit from exploitative situation? According to the stories how much is rehabilitation important in the life of women in prostitution. What did you learn about Arz and its work of providing rehabilitation to women in prostitution? Are there other ways or best practices in rehabilitation that you have come across? What role can society play to positively address this issue?(Women in prostitution and rehabilitation) What role can media play? What role can writers play? Will this book help in changing the perception of people about the women in prostitution? How can we reach this book to people to educate them about the plight of women in prostitution? Will publishing this book in local and regional languages help? How can we make it accessible to schools, colleges, and the general public? Do you think similar social issues like drug abuse and rehab,  need to be talked about more openly? 

We concluded that yes these stories need to be shared more openly and the book needs to be translated in other languages to wider readership. People in the media, writers need to raise awareness and responsibly write or document rehabilitation efforts and best practices. 

Posted 10th March by Tallulah D'Silva

Labels: Arun Pandey ARZ Hema Naik Naman Sawant NGO rehabilitation Sachin Parab Salil Chaturvedi social work success storieswomen in prostitution

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[augusto pinto]

Why nice?

First Fatima writes "It is an extraordinary book, documenting the work of ARZ, and including first-person accounts from women who worked in the Baina sex trade." 

So why is it "extraordinary"? Is it because the subject seems sensational? Sex can be pretty boring. Or is the writing interesting or insightful? If so, why?

Then Tallulah writes more about the panelists than about the book or the subject. Who knows, maybe the book is good although I somehow doubt it, given that there is nothing striking that anyone wants to say about it. 

Which means that the problem might lie with the reviewers. Too many reviewers are reluctant to say anything frank about a book for fear of offending someone they know. And Goa being a fairly small place that means well nigh everyone.

Bah!

Augusto 

[FM N]

Augusto, I find the book extraordinary among non-fiction books written about Goa. The subject matter, yes. The method. The women's testimonies have not been sensationalised. Along with the terrible betrayals and brutality, there are fleeting glimpses of humaneness in the gharwalis. Salil & Co have managed to get the tragedy across as well as the uniqueness of each woman. Also unique is ARZ's qualified success in helping many of the women rebuild their lives. It's worth visiting Swift Wash in Sancoale.

[Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا‎]

* Because the review is informative, about people connected with the book too..

* Because it tells me what I would not have otherwise known.

* Because more book reviews (or, writing about books) need to happen.

* Because newer people need to undertake this task too.

* Because every critic need not be (negatively or otherwise) critical in Augusto mode.

I am aware that Augusto calls it 'honesty'. But there's can be a thin link with spewing bias.

FN

On 28 July 2016 at 10:25, augusto pinto <pint...@gmail.com> wrote:

Why nice?

First Fatima writes "It is an extraordinary book, documenting the work of ARZ, and including first-person accounts from women who worked in the Baina sex trade." 

So why is it "extraordinary"? Is it because the subject seems sensational? Sex can be pretty boring. Or is the writing interesting or insightful? If so, why?

Then Tallulah writes more about the panelists than about the book or the subject. Who knows, maybe the book is good although I somehow doubt it, given that there is nothing striking that anyone wants to say about it. 

Which means that the problem might lie with the reviewers. Too many reviewers are reluctant to say anything frank about a book for fear of offending someone they know. And Goa being a fairly small place that means well nigh everyone.

Bah!

[augusto pinto]

On Thu, Jul 28, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا <frederic...@gmail.com> wrote:

* Because the review is informative, about people connected with the book too..

* Because it tells me what I would not have otherwise known.

 

Really? It did not reveal much to me which is why I was complaining. Playing the advocate without even reading the book may win you chamchas and friends among influential people you are just encouraging mediocrity. Good PR though - there are no prizes for guessing who is winning the popularity contest here.

* Because more book reviews (or, writing about books) need to happen.

* Because newer people need to undertake this task too.

This has little or nothing to do with what a reasonably good book review should be. Nobody's arguing that newer people should not get into book reviewing or that more reviews should be written, but as argument this is nothing more than farting in public.

* Because every critic need not be (negatively or otherwise) critical in Augusto mode.

I am aware that Augusto calls it 'honesty'. But there's can be a thin link with spewing bias.

 

Behold - snideness and  bigotry at its defamatory best! After vomiting pablum to soothe ruffled egos, he now puts honesty in quotation marks to insinuate that Augusto is negative, spews bias - and hence it follows as night follows day that he should now be sentenced to be hanged like a dog with a bad name.

Very funny.

I've seen what the 'reviewers write'. Kindly buy the book, read it and let me see what your idea of a review is like.

Augusto

FN

On 28 July 2016 at 10:25, augusto pinto <pint...@gmail.com> wrote:

Why nice?

First Fatima writes "It is an extraordinary book, documenting the work of ARZ, and including first-person accounts from women who worked in the Baina sex trade." 

So why is it "extraordinary"? Is it because the subject seems sensational? Sex can be pretty boring. Or is the writing interesting or insightful? If so, why?

Then Tallulah writes more about the panelists than about the book or the subject. Who knows, maybe the book is good although I somehow doubt it, given that there is nothing striking that anyone wants to say about it. 

Which means that the problem might lie with the reviewers. Too many reviewers are reluctant to say anything frank about a book for fear of offending someone they know. And Goa being a fairly small place that means well nigh everyone.

Bah!

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[Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا‎]

A review is a very subjective act of encountering a book. I don't see any 'right' or 'wrong' way of doing it. Like in all forms of writing, there are certain orthodoxies and styles which are fashionable in some places for some times. 

Besides, Augusto's way may work for Augusto. But this is not necessarily the best or only way of doing a review.

Some reviewers write a lot about themselves in a review. Others feel a need to blast the author. Having gone through the book-making process, I know how easy it is to err, and how facile should-have-beens and could-have-beens can be. Probably I have softened in my approach towards the books of others after beginning to do (mostly publish) books myself. Which is why I was speedily jumping to the defence of Remigo Botelho the other day.

This is not to question Augusto's way of doing reviews; though again this is only one way of doing so.

The line below should read: There can be a thin dividing line from spewing bias.

Yes, all of us our biased in one way or another. We have our favourite whipping horses, our pet peeves, and our blind spots. I would be the first one to acknowledge that in myself.

FN

On 28 July 2016 at 16:40, augusto pinto <pint...@gmail.com> wrote:

I am aware that Augusto calls it 'honesty'. But there's can be a thin link with spewing bias.

 

Behold - snideness and  bigotry at its defamatory best! After vomiting pablum to soothe ruffled egos, he now puts honesty in quotation marks to insinuate that Augusto is negative, spews bias - and hence it follows as night follows day that he should now be sentenced to be hanged like a dog with a bad name.

Very funny.

I've seen what the 'reviewers write'. Kindly buy the book, read it and let me see what your idea of a review is like.

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[Jeanne Hromnik]

I share Augusto's irritiation with words like 'extraordinary' and 'nice' in this context, but am looking forward to Fatima's promised review of this special book.

Meanwhile, here is a review of Half the Sky -- an extraordinary book :) I've read it. Shook my head, gasped, could have cried.

Not nice.

From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.

Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen. (less)

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[Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا‎]

On 28 July 2016 at 23:06, Jeanne Hromnik <jeanne...@gmail.com> wrote:

I share Augusto's irritiation with words like 'extraordinary' and 'nice' in this context, but am looking forward to Fatima's promised review of this special book.

Meanwhile, here is a review of Half the Sky -- an extraordinary book :) I've read it. Shook my head, gasped, could have cried.

Very interesting to see a book from Goa, about one NGOs attempts to rehabilitate sex-workers from a small pocket in the state, being compared with the work of two Pulitzer winners ("as guides") spanning two continents.

I think such unrealistic expectations could kill the field of Goa books practically before it even got started. Okay, you can fault me for my defence of 'mediocrity' (tho' I don't see it as that).

FN

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[Jeanne Hromnik]

What reason can there be to think that there is anything mediocre about Beautiful Women?

Why should a Goa book not be equal in quality and passion to one by a Pulitzer Prize winner despite a difference in scale?

There is, btw, a really good review of Half the Sky in Harvard Magazine -- by Rohine Pande. I think Augusto's message was all about substantial reviewing as opposed to hasty comment.

JH

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[Frederick Noronha]

Guess you're right, Jeanne. No harm in expecting beginners to compete in the Olympics.

One impressive writer I've come across is on such issues is Philip G. Altbach. He did a lot of useful studies in the 1970s and thereafter (is still active, but seems to be more focussed on education now). Some of his work looks at India and Africa.

FN

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[FM N]

Beautiful Women – Journeys from Despair to Dignity

 

Published by ARZ, Vasco, Goa.

Rs 200 / $ 10

To order: arzi...@gmail.com

 

 

Guns, drugs, sex. In that order, that is where the big money is, worldwide. Enormous vested interests –and fatalism about them – are ongoing threats to anyone who works against commercial sexual exploitation in Goa’s port town too. Arz (anyay rahit zindagi, life with justice) shows that something can be done. While many other intervention programmes managed by NGOs or by the government are remand or shelter-based, the Arz programme is multi-pronged, and takes legal and livelihood issues seriously. Beautiful Women documents Arz’s efforts, and gives a voice to a few of the people they have helped opt out of the sex trade.

 

Kareena, 30: ‘She forced me to stand on the road and solicit customers…She never paid me anything….She would hold my face and pour alcohol forcibly into my mouth, shouting, “Drink, drink, open your mouth.”’

 

Twinkle, 31: ‘I was picked up by the police during a raid and taken to a remand home in Merces, Goa, where I spent a month. My son was just one-and-half years old at that time. Imagine! I had to leave him…’

 

Saraswati, 29: ‘The red-light area was quite a violent place. Men would beat up women constantly. Sometimes I would stop to watch a fight. Once I saw a man chasing a woman with a broken bottle in his hand. He was calling her a randi (prostitute) and running after her. Everyone was out running to catch her.’

 

To exit a situation entirely loaded against them, many Baina women are willing to give up their ‘high’ income and settle for the small salary at the Swift Wash laundry in Sancoale where they find dignity, safety and someone to trust. In 2005, before they set up the laundry, Arz studied the women’s abilities and expectations. ‘The consensus amongst the women was that they needed to earn a minimum of Rs 1,500 per month. This surprised us. This was a lot less than they were earning from prostitution, where their average income per month was around Rs 20,000.’

 

Plain speaking marks the book. In the foreword, young Suman says of the sister who raised him, and later died of AIDS, ‘When I told my sister to leave the profession, she asked me, “How else can I earn money, you tell me?” No one gave any other work to prostitutes.’ At one level, prostitution has always been about money, so the term used in Baina, as elsewhere in India, is dhanda (business). (The hamari-sanskriti brigade may gloat that ancient India got it first, which is why veshya (prostitute) and vaishya (trader) are so alike.) The stakeholders are many. Arz interacts with the local residents, with the authorities, with pimps and madams. While the book portrays the Vasco police positively, other reports show up police complicity in human trafficking. Baina is a cash cow for many men in khaki, who additionally demand free services. Among others, who benefit from the increased footfalls the sex trade brings them, are Baina’s grocers and other shopkeepers – some of them work against Arz, even as others would prefer to be rid of the ‘bad name’ so as to attract ‘decent’ customers.

 

That Hindi is the common language in the red-light area indicates a mixed population, but many of the newly trafficked women, especially from Karnataka, do not speak it, and the Arz team have an added difficulty communicating with them. Like language barriers, some of the problems are India-specific, notably entrenched notions of social hygiene: the ‘pure’ will not accept food cooked by a prostitute, ruling out for her the small-scale food businesses which would have been logical alternatives. Dedicating girls to Yellamma, as a ritual start to prostitution, is common in Baina thanks to the large numbers of Kannadigas there. Politicians could not resist the combination of real estate beside the beach with deep local prejudice against ‘outsiders’ and ‘criminals’. In June 2004 the government demolished the shanty town (starting where the Ravindra Bhavan now stands), leaving some 900 women and their kin homeless in the rain. Today the ruling party boasts of ending prostitution in Goa. Really?

 

Communication problems did not deter Salil Chaturvedi and Abhinandita Mathur. They elicited cooperation and testimonies from human beings so deeply wounded that they are ever wary. The general manager of Swift Wash, Juliana Lohar, speaks for Arz: ‘We are extremely grateful to Salil Chaturvedi…. We were impressed with how quickly she (Abhinandita) managed to…gain their trust, enough for them to share extremely personal experiences during in-depth interviews.’ The writers’ names are invisible in the main text, on the cover, on the credits page of Beautiful Women. They have made themselves invisible in the well-edited interviews, which reproduce distinct voices, as well as in the Arz narrative. Some credit for the way the whole hangs together goes to Vidyadhar Gadgil who edited the book.

 

Arunendra K Pandey, the director of Arz, hopes the book ‘will help the various stakeholders to understand the important role that alternative livelihood programmes play in enabling the exit of women from prostitution and preventing their re-trafficking.’ It is also aimed at policy makers as well as other NGOs interested in a more thorough rehabilitation of trafficked persons. I think it is a book parents and teachers should read and share with the children in their care, lest they too shrug off so great a tragedy with, ‘It’s the oldest profession. It will always be there.’

 

Fatima M Noronha

On 28 July 2016 at 23:06, Jeanne Hromnik <jeanne...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Jeanne Hromnik]

Dear Fatima

Thank you for this description of Beautiful Women.

Before Frederick hit me with the blunt edge of his sword, I was going to quote a paragraph from  Rohini Pande's review of Half the Sky by Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Your message encourages me to post it now instead. (The subtitle of Half the Sky is 'Turning oppression into opportunity'.)

Kristof and WuDunn conclude by exhorting readers to take action. In an earlier chapter, the authors mention that stories about individuals are much more effective in promoting action than statistics. They might have more confidence in the stories they tell. The exhortation feels unnecessary, and perhaps even patronizing. The case for change has already been made—and some of the actions they suggest to casual readers, such as signing up for e-mail updates fromwww.womensnews.org and www.worldpulse.com, or volunteering in the developing world, sometimes feel more like an attempt at moral improvement of Westerners than effective ways to bring about change elsewhere.

I quote this negative paragraph from what is a very positive review simply because of the problems that taking action present and also because you might wish to make use of  the two sites mentioned above to publicise Beautiful Women. Rohini Pande indicates these problems along with routes toward their solution. You can read the review for yourself. I'll quote only the concluding paragraph:

 Over and over, the narratives make the same point: the problem here is the invisibility of the oppression, the silence and powerlessness of the humiliated and the uneducated, the indifference of the unknowing world. It becomes clear that the answer is to bring what is hidden into the light—whether it’s oppression or neglect of individuals or groups, or the corruption of authorities—and to make it matter. That may be achieved by publicly supporting the brave individuals who speak out, and organize, and resist; or by working to give other women the economic status and education to be able to speak out without risk, to ensure for themselves that laws are enforced and women are treated with respect. It may also be achieved by using our positions as citizens of a rich and powerful country with relative freedom of speech to speak truths and make moral arguments that others don’t have the influence to make or freedom to say. In this book, Kristof and WuDunn have done exactly that. 

Because of its high tourist status, Goa occupies a special niche in Western awareness. This might be used to advantage in illuminating the prostitution trade and opening the way to justice. Writers have a big part to play in ending the oppression of 'beautiful women'. 

(Jeanne)

[FM N]

Thank you, Jeanne.

 

‘Because of its high tourist status, Goa occupies a special niche in Western awareness.’ Advertising Goa takes many forms. Apart from dollar-wielding paedophiles who fly to Goa on a dedicated mission, there are large numbers of Indian tourists who visit Goa hoping for free sex but ready to pay. Sex tourism is a knotty problem, partly because online pimping eludes the local constable, but mostly because there is no political will to break the back of a big business.

 

I’ll forward your mail to Arz. They would like to know more ways of spreading awareness in Goa.

 

Best wishes.

 

Fatima