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| Posing at Pathsala Cafe, Margao |
-Brian Mendonca
Hanging out with students at Pathsala, behind Loyola High School, Margao today I was filled with a sense of joy (and relief). The students were getting their project printed and bound nearby. The excitement was palpable. A journey which began with frenetic messages on WA last August was coming to an end. The group was finally ready to put their thoughts in print and share them with the world.
I was struck by the sensitivity they showed in choosing the topic. Deeply concerned about the plight of women, they attempted to study the representation of sex work across media. 'Why is hooking up fine and sex work a disgrace?' they wondered. Their search was ignited by the Urdu short story Gharwali / 'The Homemaker' by Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991). As they explored the theme, they decided to analyze the Hindi film Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022). To offer the flip side of the issue, Diario de un Gigolo / Diary of a Gigolo (2022) - the OTT series in Spanish on Netflix - was studied.
This multilingual, multimedia project was daunting to say the least. Each of the 'texts' was imbued with its own weltanschauung/ world view, whether Islamic, Hindu or Christian. Yet sexploitation was present in all.
At first I was wondering if they would be equal to the task. But as the days passed and they submitted work for me to check, my respect for their calibre grew. The most daunting task was how to knit an argument which was true for all texts. They realized that the portrayal of women is generally stereotypical. As youth they wanted to make a difference in perceiving women as strong and free.
Art is predicated on desire. The tendency to sweep sex under the carpet has led to warped notions of gender. As the debate rages in the Supreme Court over the legality of same-sex marriages, it can only be surmised that desire can be gratified in more ways than one. Lady Voyeur (2023) on Netflix has a compulsive lady voyeur named Miranda who spies on the goings-on in the flat of Cleo, a female sex worker, who lives opposite her.
As we laboured through the chapters, one could not see the light unless everything was written down. Sections and sub-sections were added to provide structure and focus to the project. Often we reached a blind alley and had to retrace our steps.
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| Mural at Pathsala Cafe. |
The project provoked a ferment of ideas. To value-add their work they trotted out a Google form to do a survey on sex work. They also roped in Adv. Leslie Pereira from Mazgaon, Mumbai for an online interview. Adv. Pereira is known for his espousal for the cause of the marginalized. Both these initiatives we zoned away from the main body of writing, as appendices.
I gained many insights while collaborating with the students on this project. They remind me of the Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton, which I used to devour when I was young. 'Secret' because sometimes you saw them in class and sometimes you didn't - wondering what they were up to!
I am thankful to them for their out-of-the-box topic; for going through the rigors of writing patiently; editing the project painstakingly, and persevering till the end. The flurry of last minute activity saw us combing the PDF of the thesis for glitches from 8 p.m. last night to 1 a.m. this morning.
Though Ninoshka saw her dad leave for his heavenly abode, the team stuck together and pulled her through. She now manages her father's car and bike rental business.
Yesterday was the feast of the Irish bishop St. Patrick (385-461). I am wearing green out of sheer coincidence! Life will take on a different hue when one of the students heads to Ireland to begin her working life.
At the end of the day, it was a fruitful journey - one that will contribute to the awareness that sex work deserves to be invested with dignity, not social ostracism. To understand the matrix of sex, work, love and desire, it is necessary to go back to school, back to the pathshala where it all started. It was a great beginning to a weekend.
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In pic above, Andria, Malasha, Shital, Danya, Priyanka, Ninoshka, Rouella, and Brian. Photo courtesy Malasha (top) and Brian (bottom). Taken at Pathsala Cafe, Margao, Goa on Saturday, 18 March 2023. Updated 19/3/23.
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