Every year in India’s megacity Kolkata, the world’s oldest trade gets fleeting respect from an ancient custom — when soil outside brothels is considered sacred and collected for Hindu rituals.
Those working in the eastern port city’s ever-busy red light district say the coveted earth is a bitter reflection of society’s discriminatory attitudes — desired when needed, downtrodden filth when not.
The doorstep dirt is seen as holy by Hindu devotees, who believe it is imbued with special qualities because it is where men leave behind all that is good before entering for sex.
Photo: AFP
This scooped-up soil is included in clay to make brightly-colored idols of the beloved goddess Durga, or used to give an earth “bath” of the statues made for the festival.
Sex worker Salima, a woman in her thirties working in Kolkata’s Sonagachi red light district, is angered at the dirt-gathering tradition.
In the eyes of society, she is seen as having “no dignity,” said Salima, not her real name.
Photo: AFP
Gathering the soil is part of the celebrations for Durga Puja, the biggest festival in the eastern state of West Bengal, with celebrations this year beginning in October.
“When you want the soil from my hand, you suddenly respect me,” she said. “What kind of a rule is this?”
A spokeswoman for sex worker association Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee said its members tried to stop artisans from taking the soil.
Photo: AFP
‘NOT THE DARK SIDE’
The week-long festival celebrates the victory of Durga — a powerful multi-armed goddess often depicted riding a lion, revered as a protective mother — over a demon.
“The men who enter the sex worker’s house leave all the good in them at her doorstep,” said Jayanta Kushary, 64, founder of the Sarva Bharatiya Prachya Vidya Academy, which teaches Indian culture.
Photo: AFP
“That is why that soil from outside the sex worker’s house is considered holy.”
Kushary said the soil should be used to “wash” idols.
But families in Kolkata also use the soil to make idols themselves, which are venerated before being immersed into the holy River Ganges at the festival’s culmination.
Photo: AFP
Samar Dutt’s family has used the soil both for idols and holy baths for more than a century — and he for one decries how sex workers are often shunned and looked down on.
“They are not the dark side of society,” he said. “They are equal with other people.”
Dutt said modern construction with concrete and tarmac roads meant that sometimes finding a good place to collect the soil was hard.
So artists have found a solution.
“The sex worker goes to take a bath in the Ganges, and gets soil from there,” he said. “Then she keeps it outside her house, from where it is collected.”
‘SOCIAL WORKER’
Kushary insisted that it was important for the society to respect sex workers.
“They are very, very important to our society,” he said. “The sex worker is a social worker.”
The Hindu festival is a busy time in the red light zone.
Soliciting for sex is illegal, but workers say police often turn a blind eye in exchange for cash.
But the sex workers say none of the men collecting dirt have invited them to join a Durga Puja celebration.
“They don’t even recognize us,” said Pushpa, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, adding the men “look at us with disgust.”
“The women think we will snatch their husbands if we talk to them,” she said. “But we have no such thoughts in our mind.”
Salima said her family has little idea how she earns her living, work she turned to because she had no alternative.
“We don’t like doing this work,” Salima said.
“When the men come, they ask us to do many things. They say they won’t use a condom, that they don’t like it. Helpless, we say ‘okay,’ but we don’t feel right.”
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the country’s other political groups dare not offend religious groups, says Chen Lih-ming (陳立民), founder of the Taiwan Anti-Religion Alliance (台灣反宗教者聯盟). “It’s the same in other democracies, of course, but because political struggles in Taiwan are extraordinarily fierce, you’ll see candidates visiting several temples each day ahead of elections. That adds impetus to religion here,” says the retired college lecturer. In Japan’s most recent election, the Liberal Democratic Party lost many votes because of its ties to the Unification Church (“the Moonies”). Chen contrasts the progress made by anti-religion movements in
Taiwan doesn’t have a lot of railways, but its network has plenty of history. The government-owned entity that last year became the Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) has been operating trains since 1891. During the 1895-1945 period of Japanese rule, the colonial government made huge investments in rail infrastructure. The northern port city of Keelung was connected to Kaohsiung in the south. New lines appeared in Pingtung, Yilan and the Hualien-Taitung region. Railway enthusiasts exploring Taiwan will find plenty to amuse themselves. Taipei will soon gain its second rail-themed museum. Elsewhere there’s a number of endearing branch lines and rolling-stock collections, some
Last week the State Department made several small changes to its Web information on Taiwan. First, it removed a statement saying that the US “does not support Taiwan independence.” The current statement now reads: “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.” In 2022 the administration of Joe Biden also removed that verbiage, but after a month of pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reinstated it. The American
This was not supposed to be an election year. The local media is billing it as the “2025 great recall era” (2025大罷免時代) or the “2025 great recall wave” (2025大罷免潮), with many now just shortening it to “great recall.” As of this writing the number of campaigns that have submitted the requisite one percent of eligible voters signatures in legislative districts is 51 — 35 targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus lawmakers and 16 targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The pan-green side has more as they started earlier. Many recall campaigns are billing themselves as “Winter Bluebirds” after the “Bluebird Action”
RSS