Hoping to escape a forced marriage to an uncle, Ganga ran away from her village in Karnataka and reached Bangalore, keen to pursue her education and confident of landing a job. Instead, befriended by two women, she was sold to a prostitution ring in Mumbai. Three years ago, she was all of 15 years old when she was rescued from a red light district in Mumbai, suffering from AIDS. Ramya and Asha have similar stories to recount.
These are some of the human tragedies behind the dry statistics that proclaim that India has the second largest population of child prostitutes in the world; and that by 2025 one in very fifth girl child in this country will be a prostitute. The figure is almost inexplicable, considering that 200 clients in Mumbai`s notorious red light district alone get infected with HIV daily. Totally the country has a staggering figure of 500,000 child prostitutes; an abundance of innocent lives stilled by disease and torture.
Today, some of these children are trying to regain the joys of their lost childhood through education and professional training given by non-governmental organisations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh under the aegis of the Nalanda Way Foundation. The children, currently residing in a rehabilitation centre run by Odanadi Sewa Samasthe in Mysore, express a desire to enter skilled professions like nursing, teaching and social work. Glimpses of their fledging ambitions can be seen in a seven-minute film, Still Dreams, made by the foundation and funded by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) southern region, under its Children Media project.
Shot in the villages these children come from the film grew on the basis of a rough script prepared by the children through a participative workshop-led process. It was the children who formatted the approach and interviewed themselves for the film. The technical aspects of cinematography, music and editing, however, were handled by professionals.
The short documentary poignantly depicts the children`s flight from innocence into the sordid world of child prostitution. According to Sriram Ayer, one of the founders of Nalanda Way who researched the content for the film, ?We wanted to make a film with first-hand information on child trafficking, something that only these children could provide us with.?
At one level it is seven minutes of a youth lost. At another it is also seven minutes of hope as the youngsters seem busy regaining their childhood in their new surroundings. The contrast of happy images of gushing mountain streams, sailing paper boats and the hop-skip-jump of childhood set against the grim reality of murky, dark brothels effectively jolt the audience.
Conceptually, the Children Media Project is designed to get children in the vulnerable age group of 8 to 18 years write and film stories on issues that are important to them. The exercise helps them learn new skills, become sensitive to their surroundings, raise their self-esteem and develop their potential. Eventually their efforts may be published/broadcast in theatres, newspapers, radio and the Internet.
The project is meant to highlight a child`s perception of his/her environment, which Ayer and his team feel, differ greatly from an adult`s view. ?They look at life in a simple way. As we grow up we lose that perception.?