My name is Laila Khatoon (name changed). I am a seventeen year old muslim girl but they also call me Bindiya, the auspicious mark on the forehead. My father Mhd Kurban Ali was a mason and we lived in Deula village, Sardarpara in Diamond Harbour. Ours was a big family with three brothers, three sisters and my father who was an alcoholic. My mother had died a few years back. The earnings were insufficient to maintain the family and I had to leave school after finishing class II.
I was so disgusted with life that I ran away from home about three years ago and while on the run, I struck up acquaintance with a lady who drugged me and took me to the Pune red light area. The lady sold me to a "malkin" and I had to service clients for almost seven months.
I was very much resigned to my fate and was instrumental in trafficking another girl named Saheeda. All of a sudden a police raid took place and I was among those taken into custody. They sent me to Nanapet Home in Mumbai and from there I was transferred to Mandua Home. I never really liked those homes. Those homes were so different, in an alien land and was much relieved when I was again transferred to the Sanlap Home in my part of the country. My inner self never accepted the situation I was in. I was later transferred to NIJOLOY (a care home) on 05.03.07. The situation did not help me much and initially I could not adjust to the new surroundings. My whole self was in conflict.
I was not ready to stay at NIJOLOY. I was very rude and loud in my behaviour and ended up fighting with almost everybody in the home. I underwent regular counseling sessions and gradually my nature underwent a transformation. Now I speak softly and understand the economic need to enter a profession. I have taken up tailoring and block printing in my vocational training classes. I definitely prefer tailoring and one day dream to become a master tailor. Doctor uncle has promised to buy me a sewing machine, if I can learn the art well within three years. I would also like to join the non formal classes and continue my education from where I had left off. When I will earn a lot of money in the future, I will go back to my family. I miss them very much.
In my almost two years stay at NIJOLOY, I have not gained in weight but in experience and when doctor uncle asks me how am I, I say doctor uncle. I'm fit and fine.
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