It's now obvious to state that the pandemic crippled multiple industries, but the crisis posed a unique predicament for the sex workers at Kamathipura. The reason is simple. How are professionals for whom physical intimacy amounts to their bread and butter expected to work in a situation where social-distancing is mandatory? They were anyway an ostracised lot. But the past two years have seen them getting beaten up by law enforcers for merely stepping out of their homes, being made even more invisible by civil society (the word ‘civil’ here serving an ironic purpose), and struggling to put even two square meals on their plate, having been completely deprived of their income.

Santoshee Mishra