In a nondescript small town of North Bengal, one small incident has taken place. It may or may not be called news. However the reporter for The Telegraph in charge of North Bengal has thought it important enough to publish it in the newspaper. It goes like this. One female sex worker of that town has donated a piece of land purchased by the money saved by her throughout her life, for construction of a health center dedicated for AIDS and STDs( Sexually Transmitted Disease). This center will provide help to unorganized sex workers and other under privileged people to diagnose and treatment of AIDS and STDs and also work for the overall awareness against these deadly diseases.
The above incident is not normal and no common person will behave this way. It needs extra strength of mind and overwhelming willpower to take such decisions. However , the most important and note worthy aspect of this incident is something else.
As we all are aware, nobody would have chosen the profession of sex worker of her own will. She must have been forced into the profession by unscrupulous people taking advantage of her abject poverty. She might have been trafficked at an early age. She must have gone through all the torture a young girl generally went through during initiation in this oldest profession. She might have passed her entire life in a dinghy unhealthy room servicing various men day in day out. Nobody to listen her cries, her emotions. Only language of communication is torture and torture. Her life has become synonymous to hell in its true sense. She has nobody to look after her. She did not have an iota of sympathy from any quarter. In fact , she had never felt the other emotions except sorrow and sufferings. The words love and joy had no meaning to her. In this situation, one can expect that she will also become a wretched person devoid of any emotion and values in her life.
In reality , we have found that though she had lived her life in hell like situation, her spirit had not died. It is her indomitable spirit which has won at last. No amount of degradation in life can kill our spirit. It comes from within , it is unbeatable. Living in that situation also she has kept her spirit alive, she has kept the urge to do something alive. She may not be Goddess in our prevalent mind set, but there is no doubt she is more than human. She symbolizes a spirit which teaches us to share, to cooperate to come above the rest. It is my tribute to that lady who teaches us earning and having everything is not life rather sharing and giving is where real joy lives. Let us salute her. .