Monday, June 8, 2009

Prostitution, India, Nirvanavan Foundation, 2008


After the women and girls of the Nat and Kanjar Communities had seen their portraits and experienced our photography, Nirvana Bodhisattva of Nirvanavan Foundation was kind enough to share his thoughts with us. He speaks of their reactions to the work and how this has affected the project as a whole.

Interview with Nirvana Bodhisattva 

Q: How did the girls feel about their photographs? 

They were very, very happy and there is a definite change of attitude. At Ramgarh a few of the sex-workers also came to the show. Which meant a lot. Your work has certainly made an impact. We can now work to build on it. 

Q: What did the presence of the sex-workers mean? 

The presence of the sex-workers meant that they have come out of their shells and will be ready to photograph themselves when you come next. I have asked the teachers to make a local committee mainly of women and particularly sex-workers who will look after the school. This will generate more interest in them and they may ask their younger sisters to go to school.

Q: Have any improvements been made as a result of the photography? 

I am sure that we will be able to open all the closed schools. The new session begins from July. We will have three new schools this year. We will establish them first before we open the last two. 

Nirvana Bodhisattva Chairperson, 
Nirvanavan Foundation 
www.nirvanavan.org.uk

7 comments:

  1. Wonderful Photography. I am visiting Kanjar and Nat hamlets of Alwar from last 7 years but never saw them so confident and stylish. Kudos to you.

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    1. Hello dear friend, I am grateful to your kind words. I am going through my posts and saw your beautiful comment. My hope is that you are doing well, and that your work continues.

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  2. Last night I had a long chat with Surbhi Dayal. Surbhi is in London doing her Phd on the Kanjars. I have known Surbhi for many years. She often comes to the Childline office to share her work. Her comments says a lot about our work. The subtle changes that are happening are due to the hard work done by a team of dedicated volunteers. Thank you Halim.

    Nirvana

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  3. beautiful photographs of these beautiful girls

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  4. Baba Saheb when i first visited Kanjar hamlets in 2001 and than my recent visit in February 2009 i can make out a big difference in the attitude of kanjar women. They seems to be much aware, confident about their self being. The all credit goes to you and other volunteers. I know changes are slow from the eyes of society at large but for the people like me who knows the background, grass root cause of this hundred of years old tradition can understand how much time, patience and efforts need to reach at this stage.

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  5. Thank you for the kind words and support dear friend.

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