In Gangubai’s area ..the broker says – if I want a good girl, I will show it: I had come to become a heroine, if trapped, then the mother of the girls who sold the body

Name- Gangubai Kathiawadi

real name- Ganga Harjivandas

Know- House no. 10, Reshamwali Chawl No. 39, Ground Floor, Kamathipura, 12th Lane, Mumbai

birth place- Kathiawar, Gujarat

date of birth- Do not know

death- 1 February 1980, Mumbai

It is Friday, 12 noon. I have set out in Mumbai for the red light area Kamathipura amidst the glitz of glamor.

The local train got down from Andheri to Grant Road station. From there they reached Kamathipura in 25 minutes by taxi.

Peeking over the shops, sex workers…
Shops in Kamathipura are looking like a common market, but sex workers are seen peeping from above the shops. Going a little further, there is a group of sex workers, painted in the streets in front of the shops.

She is presenting herself like a showpiece kept in a show case. Even in the sun, she is standing under the shed near the shop, just waiting for a customer.

Taking a few steps further, a man comes near. Said, ‘Sir, I have fresh goods. Come, come with me…’

As soon as he got rid of that man, then another man came. I have understood that these are all brokers, who take the work of taking customers to the doorstep for brokerage.

Then a person wearing a hat says, ‘What do you want?’ I said – ‘We have just come to visit’, then he said – ‘Our beard has become white here, no one comes to roam in this area. Now you will go to the next street and enter a cell. Show me a good girl, take my number.’

We went ahead, because the purpose we came to this red light area was to investigate the life of Gangubai Kathiawadi. His life was spent in this red light area.

We came to know that in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali trailer, Gangubai Kathiawadi is being shown as a domineering woman and a prostitute, who was she, where she lived, what she used to do. We reached this place to know what was his story. Before proceeding on this journey of ours, you can give your opinion in Bhaskar Poll…

The corner shop guy will tell you the address…

Going forward asking Gangubai’s house address, a person met there said, ‘Sir, there is a shop on the corner in the street number 12, he will tell you.’

The shopkeeper told that ‘Ganguji had adopted many children. who lived in the same house with him. Ganguji’s adopted daughter Babita lives in this number 12 street. The rest of the people live in different places in Mumbai.

Many people with him are not even in this world yet. Gangubai died in 1980 due to asthma. You will get all the information from Babita. We proceeded along the narrow alleys, where there were small cells.

The factory which is there, was the home of Gangubai.

There we were told by the worker at the tailor’s shop that ‘Sir, the factory in front of this, this was Gangubai’s home. The address you are telling is House No. This is 10 Reshamwali Chawl, No. 39, Ground Floor, Kamathipura 12th Lane. Now the factory runs here. This is where his court was held. From here she used to help women and other people involved in prostitution in Kamathipura. Worked for their betterment.

Further, in many streets of Kamathipura, we saw girls dressed like this outside the shop and outside the house. There some old women were seen sitting on the cot. Then we reached Babita’s house on 12th street. In a small room, there is a small temple of God on one corner and there is a photo of Gangubai nearby.

Babita, a woman of short stature, and her son, Vikas Gowda, who worked in the bank, met. Babita says, ‘Gangubai brought up, got married. To me she was the mother and the grandmother of our children. We were associated with him since we were little. Children, elders, girls, 20 to 30 people together lived in the house. Whenever the girls of Kamathipura had any problem, Gangu Maa used to go to the police station and rescue them. She used to wear very simple simple white saree and blouse, did not wear bindi. On Thursday, she used to distribute money to the fakir. Used to go to the race on Sunday. He was also fond of playing cards.

Now tell the real story of Gangubai in three stories

First anecdote: She came to Mumbai to become a heroine…

According to Vikas Chandra Gowda, who called Gangubai his maternal grandmother, ‘She came to Mumbai to become a heroine. While Hussain is showing in Zaidi’s book and film that Ramnik Lal sold him in a kotha for Rs 500, this is wrong. The real story is that when Gangu Maa came to Mumbai to become a heroine, there was some problem with her in between, she got stuck, but she was educated. At that time she had studied till ninth.

Then she thought that my life is spoiled, but now I will live for everyone. He started work for the poor orphans. The one who had to get married in Prostitution, got them married. She became the mother of all these girls in the red light area.

Another anecdote: Karim Lala considered her as a sister…

It is being shown in the picture that Gangu Maa’s people did wrong with Don Karim Lala, while this is a lie. She had met Karim Lala because her people used to come and harass the girls here. Regarding this matter, Gangu went to mother Karim Lala and told her her problem. Both of them were so attached that Lala made Gangubai his sister.

Then Lala said that now if anyone bothers further then tell me, I am. He had this back support. Gangu Maa got many girls married at Red Light through this support. Today she is living a good life.

Third anecdote: Had asked Nehru, if you marry me, you will leave all this

The incident related to the first Prime Minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru, is that at that time there was a movement to remove Prostitution from Kamathipura. Then all the girls came to Gangu Maa. Then Gangu Maa gave a speech at Azad Maidan. Red light stood up for the girls of the area. Got a call from Delhi twice.

Gangu Maa along with many girls went to meet the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Then Nehru ji told Gangu Maa to get married and go away from this dirty place. Then Gangu Maa told her that if you are ready to accept me as wife then she will leave all this forever.

Nehru was stunned by this and he disagreed with Gangubai’s statement. Then Gangubai had said that Prime Minister, don’t be angry. I just wanted to prove my point. It is easy to preach, but difficult to adopt. At the end of the meeting, Nehru promised Gangubai that he would heed their demands. When the Prime Minister himself intervened, the work of removing the prostitutes from Kamathipura was never done. Till now there is a red light area in Kamathipura.

Being shown wrongly in the film…

Babita says, ‘Gangubai is showing the mother in the wrong way in this film that is coming. Those people are showing anything to earn money. We didn’t get any. When the book was published, those bookmen had come. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was not found. My mother was a social worker. Whole life worked for the people of Kamathipura. They are making a film to defame him.

The family has been in trouble since the film started.

Gangubai’s adopted granddaughter Bharti says that we have to change homes from here since the film started. We can’t go to functions. We have to change our numbers.

Gangubai’s adopted daughter Sushila Shivram Reddy told that Gangubai had adopted us. She is my mother. No one speaks to his mother as Dakan. In the film that is coming, he has presented my mother as a dakan and a prostitute. This is done wrong.

Two thousand girls are sex workers in Kamathipura.

An NGO working in Kamathipura came to know that even today two thousand girls and women are active in prostitution in Kamathipura.

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