The Real Woman Behind the Story of Gangubai Kathiawadi

Written By: Sindhu Kambam

April 9, 2021

Highlights

Gangubai was deceived and sold to a brothel by her husband for Rs. 500.
She started as a sex worker and eventually became the rakhi sister of Karim Lala.
She was known as the “Madam of Kamathipura” for being an influential pimp with underworld connections.
She was the only brothel madam who gave importance to women but not money.
Even today, the statue of Gangubai is set up in Kamathipura and her pictures still can be seen on the walls of Kamathipura.

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While the most awaited Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Gangubai Kathiawadi’s teaser has been making rounds on social media, it has also created anxiety among the fans about the real story behind Gangubai Kathiawadi.

The real name of Gangubai was Ganga Harjivandas Kathiawadi. Born into a prestigious family of lawyers and teachers in Kathiawar in Gujarat, in 1939, she aspired to become an actress in childhood.

She fell in love at the age of 16 and fled to Mumbai to start a new life with her husband. She was deceived and sold to a brothel by her husband for Rs. 500.

She started as a sex worker in Kamathipura and eventually became the rakhi sister of the don, Karim Lala. She soon became one of the most well-paid commercial sex workers and was the most feared and respected sex worker in Kamathipura, Mumbai.

Gangubai soon became one of the most well-paid commercial sex workers and the most feared and respected sex worker in Kamathipura, Mumbai. She was known as the “Madam of Kamathipura” for being an influential pimp in the city with connections with criminals, peddling drugs, and murders.

Despite being a brothel owner, she cared for sex workers like a mother. She was the only brothel madam who gave importance to women but not business or money.

Even today, the statue of Gangubai is set up in Kamathipura and her pictures still can be seen on the walls of Kamathipura.

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Gangubai Kathiawadi is a biographical crime film which will be Alia Bhatt’s first project with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film is based on the real-life of a famous brothel owner and matriarch mafia queen “Gangubai”.

Gangubai Kathiawadi’s life has been chronicled in a chapter devoted to her, in the book “Mafia Queens of Mumbai”, written by the best-selling novelist S Hussain Zaidi.

Who is Gangubai?

The real name of Gangubai was Ganga Harjivandas Kathiawadi. Born into a prestigious family of lawyers and teachers in Kathiawar in Gujarat, in 1939, she aspired to become an actress in childhood.

She fell in love with her father’s accountant, Ramnik Laal at the age of 16 and left her family for her husband. She fled to Mumbai with the hope of starting a new life with her husband, but her life turned upside down when she was deceived and sold to a brothel by him for Rs. 500. She had no choice but to embrace the ways of destiny and swing it in her favor.

The Sister of Don

She started as a sex worker in Kamathipura. Being violently abused by a member of mafia don Karim Lala, she sought her revenge by reporting to Karim Lala and demanded justice for her. She eventually became the sister of Karim Lala by tying him a rakhi and securing her safety.

She soon became one of the most well-paid commercial sex workers and was the most feared and respected sex worker in Kamathipura, Mumbai.

Madam of Kamathipura

She began to develop strong ties with the Mumbai underworld under the influence of the don, Karim Lala, and came to be known as the “Madam of Kamathipura” for being an influential pimp in the city with connections with criminals, peddling drugs, and murders.

At a young age, she won the local gharwali elections held to determine ranks among the sex workers of Kamathipura and called herself “Gangubai Kathewali”, a corruption of the word kothewali. The steps taken by Gangubai for the improvement of the sex workers community made her ‘The queen of Kamathipura.’

She was the only brothel owner to own a black Bentley during those times.

An Advocate of Sex Workers Rights

Gangubai Kathiawadi is a truly empowered woman and fought for the recognition of sex workers. Gangubai, herself being a victim of the prostitution trade, was known to be compassionate towards other women and used her influence for the empowerment of sex workers and advocated for their rights.

Despite being a brothel owner, she cared for sex workers like a mother. She was an ardent supporter of her fellow females in the business and never forced any girl into prostitution without their consent.

“Gangubai was known as the only brothel madam who gave importance to women but not business or money.”

She maintained and operated many brothels in the red-light district of the city and earned the title President of Kamathipura. She was the first woman to open a franchise of brothels and different cities of the country.

She even approached Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss the difficulties encountered by sex workers in India.

Even today, the statue of Gangubai is set up in Kamathipura and her pictures still can be seen on the walls of Kamathipura.

With Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgan starring in the lead roles, the film is ready to hit the theatres on 30 July 2021.

Alia Bhatt Gangubai Gangubai Kathiawadi Madam of Kamathipura Mafia Queen of Mumbai Sanjay Leela Bhansali Sex Workers

Sindhu Kambam

A content writer by profession with a passion in art and science. Being a nature and technology lover, she loves to solve real problems that makes life easier.

This Women-led Initiative Empowers Other Women

Written By: Gitika Debnath

May 24, 2021 | 09:00 AM |

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Highlights

Project Baala is an impact-oriented youth-led organization that is started by women, largely run by women to make menstrual hygiene and access to better sanitary products as a major priority for women in rural India.

The organization has come out with an intensive report highlighting how the global pandemic and the lockdown have worsened the situation for women in rural areas.

They introduced hyperlocal resource persons known as Baala Associates to directly take a grip of the situation and solving the issues of economic loss and compromise of menstrual hygiene.

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Project Baala is a menstrual hygiene solutions provider that works towards improving the menstrual health of vulnerable women and girls. Their major aim is to spread awareness about menstrual health and effectively keep improving and innovating menstrual health facilities. Since there is an immense lack of awareness, infrastructure, accessibility to better sanitary products coupled with grave financial restrictions, women still lack basic menstrual hygiene resources. Soumya Dabriwal who is the co-founder of Project Baala, during the interview with Infano said, ” We employ a two-pronged approach inclusive of comprehensive menstrual health awareness programs to inculcate behavior change and distribution of safe and hygienic reusable sanitary napkins ensuring sustainable menstrual protection for up to two years”.

Baala pads come in two sizes and consist of three layers. The Baala Kit comes with three pads and one carry bag for storage and carriage. Making it more convenient for women and also keeping in mind the water crisis, Soumya adds, “These pads can be washed with 150 ml of water and some soap or detergent like any other piece of cloth, you can also use home remedies such as lemon to clean the pad as well”.

During the pandemic, the organization did intensive ethnographic documentation to recognize the menstrual hygiene issues faced by women covering twenty clusters in Delhi. The key problems that the communities and women were going through because of the lockdown were limited financial resources, shortage of sanitary products, restriction of movement, and increase in the price of these products. 97% of women went back to using old cloth and rags. There was a major disruption in the distribution of Baala pads in the schools and communities. Given the existing crisis and the anxiety around the same,

Baala derived a new approach to continuing their work; they provided digital access to menstrual awareness through their social media channels and their mobile app, Baala Boss. Individuals who were sensitive enough towards these concerns and were driven to learn as well as impart knowledge and awareness about menstrual health while also generating financial independence for them were trained by the organization. These hyperlocal persons were knowns as Baala Associates. These associates further went ahead and directly sold Baala pads reducing their economic burden and eliminating the unmanaged sanitary wastes.

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It is the 21st century and as a society, we are still plagued with patriarchal structures that seeps into our social systems. We are still reluctant to talk about sex education, mental health, menstruation, etc. The situations get worse when such issues are riddled with myths and taboos, and one such classic example that we still as a society need to recognize over and over again is menstrual health. Being perceived as unholy to dirty and even considering the menstruators as impure, is not a new phenomenon that we are encountering. Surrounded by shame and the cultural anxiety to establish control over the bodies of women, they are still expected to follow restrictions when they are menstruating. In rural India, where there is still a lack of awareness, facilities, and education or public health systems, we keep witnessing the alarming rates of girls dropping out of schools as soon as they reach puberty.

project baala founders — Founders Soumya and Aaradhna

Being acquainted with all these problems and the stigma attached to menstruation, Soumya Dabriwal, who has worked intensively in the social sector founded Project Baala, and later she was joined to co-head the organization by Aradhana Gupta, an alumnus from Cornell University.

What is Project Baala?

Project Baala is an impact-oriented, youth-led organization that is started by women, largely run by women to make menstrual hygiene and access to better sanitary products as a major priority for women in rural India. Soumya Dabriwal who is an alumnus of the University of Warwick, England, and a social worker recognized one of the most pertinent issues that women were facing of unhygienic menstrual practices, while she was teaching in India, Africa, and Ghana. The commonalities that she found while working in rural areas in these third world countries were the lack of public health infrastructures such as toilets and proper sanitary products, the issue of disposal of menstrual waste, and lack of awareness and information on menstrual health. Different social and cultural taboos attached to menstrual blood, especially in a conservative society such as India, make it even harder. Since its inception, it has done tremendous work in imparting awareness and education about hygiene and menstrual health and also creating more innovative and sustainable sanitary napkins.

Keeping in mind the immense waste production and lack of proper sanitization and disposable methods, the organization has researched and come up with a product that is cost-effective, safe, and supports sustainability. They have provided free reusable sanitary napkins in schools in rural areas, urban slums, and villages that can last for two years.

“Through the use of Baala pads we can reduce menstrual waste by 99 % in rural areas, from using approximately 240 pads in 24 months, we will be down to 3 pads, which is 800 times less than what we generate now “, says Aradhana.. During her fieldwork in different rural areas, she heard experiences where women and girls get harassed and assaulted in the middle of the night when they go to dump their menstrual waste, making it extremely dangerous. Such use of technology and innovation that can produce safe, hygienic, reusable pads which can tackle multiple problems with one solution is a great achievement.

The Baala Kit

The Baala Kit comes with three pads and one carry bag for storage and carriage. While recognizing the weather conditions in different cities and rural areas and the drying time of 1 to 3 hours on an average, the Project Baala team has been mindful about their methodology of distribution of these kits, for example; 4 instead of 3 pads are given in the areas that are prone to heavy rain, realizing the obscurity of drying the pad. In India, these pads have already been distributed in rural settlements and urban slums of seventeen states, the organization has gone above and beyond to also send Baala pads to villages in Nepal, Ghana, and Tanzania.

Work During Covid

Even through this crisis, Project Baala has kept working, investigating, and developing new methods to impart awareness and create mobilization on menstrual health. Recently they have come out with an intensive report highlighting how the global pandemic and the lockdown have worsened the situation for women in rural areas. The study used a structured methodology of doing a telephonic survey with 368 participants, covering twenty clusters in Delhi.

Given the existing crisis and the anxiety around the same, Baala derived a new approach to continue their work; they provided digital access to menstrual awareness through their social media channels and their mobile app, Baala Boss. The project launched its digital library with recourses catering to menstrual health, both in Hindi and English. They collaborated with organizations like Sewa to create a larger mobilization and connect to different rural communities, who have also been working with women, making them empowered and self-reliant.

The Inception of Baala Associates

Even though the organization was already trying different modes to cater to the concerns of menstrual hygiene in the middle of a pandemic, they came up with the idea of introducing hyperlocal resource persons to directly take a grip of the situation and solving the issues of economic loss and compromise of menstrual hygiene. These people were known as “Baala Associates”. Individuals who were sensitive enough towards these concerns and were driven to learn as well as impart knowledge and awareness about menstrual health while also generating financial independence for them were trained by the organization. These associates further went ahead and directly sold Baala pads reducing their economic burden and eliminating the unmanaged sanitary wastes.

While discussing the future goals for Project Baala, Aradhana said, “We are working with different textile scientists and manufacturers who can create a pad that can be used even in drought-stricken areas, eliminating the use of water, which can last for a longer time “. If this product is successfully made, it can completely revolutionize menstruation and effectively cut the financial burden that comes with it. Whilst discussing the commercialization of Baala pad in urban settlements, Soumya added that they right now strictly want to use their resources for women in rural areas where they do not have access to better sanitary products.

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