RG Kar hospital Archives

Brothel Soil For Dussehra Idol: An Ironic Symbol Of ‘RESPECT’

Guest Author08/12/2024036 views

Festivals and traditions bring people together, be it for sharing joy or age-old miseries! The yearly routine of sculpting Durga goddess’s idol for Dussehra, has taken a revolutionary turn this year as sex workers in Sonagachi refuse to give brothel soil for sculpting the Durga goddess, as a form of protest demanding safety and justice for women in the society. The Hindu tradition involves fulfillment of certain sacred requirements when it comes to collecting soil for sculpting the Durga idol. One of the requirements, that has turned extremely controversial, is the use of brothel soil for sculpting.

So, what can men do?

Guest Author08/12/2024036 views

I started writing this is in disbelief, and exhausting rage, which quickly extinguished into helplessness, and permeated as grief and eventually settled down as our default state of being — despair. But despair doesn’t warrant change, so I’m writing to you, in hope. Hope that doesn’t exist in this burning world, but is created, over and over again. And even though I am yet to witness this personally — I want to believe that you, our integrity to change and respond with accountability and our blueprint for the future can sit here together.