Born Into Brothels

A friend brought me to watch "Born Into Brothels" today - SubhanAllah!

Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district. The widely acclaimed film, written and directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, won a string of accolades (about 30 awards) including the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2005.

Briski, a documentary photographer, went to Calcutta to photograph prostitutes. While there, she befriended their children, and offered to teach the children photography to reciprocate being allowed to photograph their mothers. The children were given cameras so they could learn photography and possibly improve their lives. Much of their work was used in the film, and the filmmakers recorded the classes as well as their daily lifes in the red light disrict.

The movie began with Briski's voice-over on her documentary of those prostitutes. It was then that she met these children, and the photographs preceeding reflects the world as seen by these children. There were about 8 of them, and we were shown how they lived their lives before their exquisite collection of photographs were shown to us. Being an avid photographer myself, I was mesmerised by the quality of photographs taken by these wonderful children. Their innocence and artistic potential shines through despite the living conditions that they were raised: physical and emotional. One wonders how they managed to retain such innocence.

They all shared their aspirations of being somebody, someday. They all want to leave the area, but we saw how obligations made them stay behind: supporting their families, taking care of their younger siblings and even their parents while they 'work' etc. Life's lessons have taken away their childhood at such an early stage.

We saw some success stories: one of the children was even chosen to represent India in Amsterdam to showcase his works along with other young photographers around the world. Through an exhibition of their works in New York, about US$100,000 was earned to pay for their tuition and for other children of prostitutes to benefit the same. Most of these children were put up in boarding schools by Briski to keep them from being forced by circumstances following the footsteps of their parents.

Not all have fairy tale endings: half of them, over time, ran away and chose to return home. It will not be fair for us to sit in our ivory tower to judge the reasons why they turned back on education and returned home to their families in the red light district. It is also convenient for us now to pass judgements from our air-conditioned rooms with our laptop on our table and handphone an arm away. The fact remain that their lives were shaped so differently from ours. And for that, we have so much to be grateful to Allah, the Almighty. If during some moments we were faced with some challenges in our lifes, we should now look at them in a proper perspective. Alhamdulillah!

Turning to Briski, I cannot help but to think throughout the show, how many children she must have felt that she should save and how much more she could have saved. Whilst saving one group through the skills of photography, there are so many more needing her. During the show I was mostly quiet, yet I was mostly overran by emotions watching their lives unfold and suddenly being rendered helpless. And it brought me to another perspective: although I thought I understood how Mother Theresa felt then, I now see and understood more, and I guessed that was why she decided to make her mission her home. There was just too many lifes to mould and inspire to have faith in just living.

But I guessed I have asked the wrong question: it is not how many lifes Briski could have saved or should save, but the fact that she has already saved them, even if only one life. The fact that she used her profession to give hope to others of a better life to those children is a miracle enough. The fact that she did not give them fish to eat, but instead taught them how to fish.

This seemed to be a similar thread on Islamic principles that we have been talking about all these while: it is not the quantity of your service to God and mankind, but it is the quality that you offer. We may not climb a mountain, but at least we have began to climb a hill - and this small effort must persevere.

So, my dear friends, sometimes when we look forward at what we should be achieving in life, it over-awes us and it seemed impossible to achieve them - for it is seemed such a giant step forward and we wonder whether we can really make it. But in reality, the small efforts we make today which may seemed to us insignificant, is indeed a giant leap of faith towards reaching where we want to be. Sometimes looking at our journey of returning to Paradise may seemed like a hopeless task, but we dragged our feet ever the small inch everyday towards reaching it anyway. Because at the end of the day, it is through the Mercy of the Almighty that we eventually arrive - for our own efforts can never justify our penultimate desired destination.

We fear the repercussions of our deeds, but we hope for the Mercy of the Owner of our existence. We exist and we survive merely in the shadow of the Creator.

Do take time to watch this gem of a movie, soon.