Pune has a large red-light district, and one evening, Mary D'Souza (right), head of an organization for sex workers, invited us to hang out at a brothel. The upstairs flat had several private rooms and a little prayer shrine. A baby lay in a crib. One wall featured framed photos of nine women, in a collage that resembled the Employees of the Month, who had worked there previously. The madame said she had lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, and that the threat of HIV-which now infects about half of the sex workers here-had severely hurt business. "It's 25% of what it was," she said. No client came knocking during our hourlong visit. |
