I was talking over with one of my friends the other day, getting bored in the bus. I realised how much at a loss I was to what was happening outside the miniscule circle of my life. I have been so preoccupied with my own world of electronic gadgets, software and money that I have completely forgotten that a world existed out there – a world where people still strive hard to make their ends meet, a world where poverty still reigns supreme, a world where in people are not always "connected" to the net, a world where in people are being exploited haywire.
It is at these moments that one really thinks of the luxury that one lives in and thanks people around them for the love, warmth and affection that they have granted to us! My friend was talking to me as to why I should take up a bit more interest in what is going on out there. For e.g. I was at a loss as to what was really happening in the Jessica Lal case, although I had heard about it here and there. I had no clue as to the second rape case. When I replied with a single "sick", she asked me if I had heard or read about "The Day My God Died…" I went NO!
She proceeded to explain to me the gruesome details of the Mumbai sex slave trade! Mind you, not of grown women, or consenting adults, but of CHILDREN!! The scene was so hard to imagine, I kinda shut myself off the very news. But, today as I was reading through some article, I was reminded of that line "The Day My God Died…" I just googled it out and voila, there is a site on the documentary. However, the picture is not rosy, not a single bit.
Forget the surprise of the director when he learnt that India and Nepal – the epitomes of culture, spirituality, religion, and all other blah – have a sex slave trade of children, I was flustered. Over and above confusion, I think that I was enraged that people could be so cruel, heartless and unforgiving, and for what – money?
Is money so important that people are ready to sell innocence, to rape childhood, to bury and burn life? How can be people so flinty that they can't understand the pleas of children, for god's sakes!!
I was in the middle of Kamati Pura, the largest red light district in the world and I didn’t even know it. Camera in hand, girlfriend (now wife) at my side, assaulted by smells and snapping away. Later I learned that every vile desire a man could dream of was for sale and child virgins were the region’s most noted delicacies.
[source: The Day My God Died–Director's Notes]
I would urge everyone to visit this link – The Day My God Died to at least be aware of what is happening in our country. There are thousands of children caught in this sinful web of sex trade! Apparently 300,000 children are employed as sex slaves in India alone.
India and Nepal are NOT the only countries that have the problem of sex trade of children. It's a global problem. I think we should all try and fight against this! Please notify as many people as possible of this problem that is facing the world. People cannot be heartless to molest children. If they are, they lack the basic necessity of being human!!! They become heartless creatures.
Some really disgusting information present in the site that shook me head to toe!!
Children are kept inside cages, where they are beaten up if they don't comply with the brothel's wishes. They aren't fed, clothed, or medically attended to. They are kept in cages like poultry about to be butchered. [In many cases, isn't that the case? Stony clients literally raping innocence (disgusting)]
At points, children are beaten and asked to serve up to 20 clients a day.
80% of the children are already infected and are worried to be HIV positive.
The director says that the movie is an awareness documentary as people are unaware of the problems plaguing the world today! I completely agree with him there. And I think it's our duty as a human to spread the word and help these people in need!
For helping out more, please visit the The Day My God Died–What I can do page. There are listed many organizations and forums where in you can lend your support financially and morally against this butchery of human life!
This is a good post! It’s information like this, that causes the virtual and comfortable bubble that we build around ourselves to be shattered, for us to start looking at events in the world outside us.
Third-world/Developing countries suffer the most from exploitation, and the sex trade in India is just one of the many forms. Pick up any daily newspaper, and you can get an account of atleast one form of abuse related to sex, if not of sex-trade/prostitution rackets. What’s sickening is that there are underhanded power tactics behind most of such abuse, so its not easy to bring them to the fore.
The Sunday Times of India, Bangalore, carried some articles last weekend on rape cases in India. The focus was on how rape incidents of foreigners were being brought to court and the accused punished within days, when those within India (particularly in villages) were languishing in the court for decades. Four popular cases were highlighted in the paper and all ended with the perpetrators being freed and the victims left to suffer (2 were maimed for life/1 was killed/1 was isolated).
Women and girls are usually at the receiving end of sexual abuse, but male children are also not spared (Something similar is shown in the movie Page 3). At times, I just think we’re a sexually-frustrated nation, to be dealing with such cases on a day-to-day basis. They demean the very purpose of humanity.
The only ray of light in all the muck, is the tireless work being done by those who really wish to contribute and bring about a change. Maybe, one day, our future generations will grow in an India where children are loved, respected and cared of, and where child-sex-trade is non-existent. And where women and children can hold their heads high and walk without fear…
Spreading awareness about issues like this is critical, as is contributing, and I applaud you and your friend, for atleast taking out the time to reflect and to speak about it!