Born into Brothels is the best documentary movie I have ever seen, if you didn’t see it, put it immediately on your list to watch this week because it worth watching. It is about a group of kids in India living in red light district, they are children of prostitution and the main business in that district is prostitution. Men have nothing to do except taking drugs, beating women and taking their money coming from prostitution. I can describe life there till tomorrow but you won’t imagine the picture till you see it yourself in the movie. So these kids live in hell, they have no future, mothers wait till their daughters get 13 to force them to join the line of prostitution and concerning the boys they won't be better than men they see in the district.
So that photographer gave every kid a camera and taught them how to take photos, because she felt connected to the kids there and she wanted to help them.
The idea is pretty wonderful, but really the thing that amazed me is when the kids got the chance to speak frankly to the camera. These kids live in hell, but when they started to talk about their dreams and about what they really want, you see that spark in their eyes and the pure smile on their lips. They are kids but very brave in expressing their feelings, describing their entourage. Let me quote you some of what these kids said:
Kochi
I keep thinking if I could go somewhere else and get education I wonder what I could become.
I live here with my grandmother because my mother can't take care of me.
My father tried to sell me, if my sister didn't come to get me my father would have sold me.
I worry that I might become like them.
Gour
I take pictures to show how people in this city live, people live here in chaos, nobody lives as filthy as we do in our country, wherever there are dirty plates we find shoes right next to them in no other country have I seen this, that's why I like photography. I want to put across the behavior of man.
I like the way Puja ( a girl from the group) behaves whenever she eats something she shares it with others, you don't even have to ask. One day I went to Puja's house and saw her dad beating up her mom I asked about it, she said my mom didn't give money to my dad for his drink so he beats her. I wish I could take Puja away from here, when she grows up she'll end up on the street, she'll do drugs and snatch people's money.
Tapasi
I never really think about being rich, even if I was poor I would have a happy life, one has to accept life as being sad and painful, that’s all.
I have to do something with my sewing and photography. I need to make a living and take care of my sister and me.
Avijit
When camera is in my hands I can take pictures of someone who has gone away, died or been lost and have something I'll be able to look at for the rest of my life.
I like to draw pictures because I want to express what's on my mind; I want to put my thoughts into colors.
When I was two my father married my mother and at that point another man got him addicted to hash. In the past my father used to be a very good man but now my mother has left and he just smokes all day, but even though I try to love him a little.
My mom used to say I'm going to send you to London to study; we don't have the money to live, let alone for studies.
After his mother was killed he said: I used to want to be a doctor then I wanted to become an artist there is nothing called hope in my future.
Do you see what I mean? They are brave, they are much responsible than their parents, Tapasi thinks how to take care of her sister, Gour wish to take Puja out of there. They see the ugliness of that life, completely the opposite of their parents who get used to it and have no problem forcing their children to be like them.
These kids have something that we have lost time ago, I'll tell what it is but read these words from the alchemist (my favorite novel ever):
Everyone on earth has a treasure that waits for him," the boy's heart said. "We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them—the path to their destinies, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place. So we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard: we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts.
Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist. Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer."
They still listen to their hearts; they have dreams to pursue in spite of horrible life conditions. That's the thing we missed in our busy life. I wish we could learn from these kids how to face difficult conditions, how to listen more to our hearts, how to search for our treasures, and how to be grateful for our life although it is incomparable with theirs.
P.S
Check the kids’ photo gallery.
P.S.S
Don't forget to watch the movie
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