Families flourish on flesh funds

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MADHUSUDANPUR (SOUTH 24-PARGANAS): Lipika Sardar is happy. Her sister, who works in Kolkata and foots the family''s bills, is coming home during Kali Puja. Unlike the rest of Bengal, where Durga Puja is homecoming time, Kali Puja spells reunion in many Madhusudanpur homes. But that is the least of Madhusudanpur''s peculiarities.It is the biggest contributor (among Bengal villages) to brothels in Kolkata and beyond.<br /><br />Besides the sheer numbers (every second home contributes to this trade), something else makes this village stand out: it is more than willing to sell its girls and a girl''s family often earns the first rupee out of the deal.<br /><br />Madhusudanpur started following a script different from most other villages about 55 years back, when husband-deserted Sitala Mandal fell into the hands of a police sub-inspector. By the time she died, she was the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">mashi</span> of a Sonagachhi establishment. She, however, did not give up on Madhusudanpur and even donated a land for a school (the Madhusudanpur Sitala Primary School).<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal">The village did not take much time following her. Take Tripti Mandal. Her mother was forced to bring her to an NGO-run home to ensure she was not abducted or sold off by others in the family.<br /><br />Tripti''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">pishi</span> now works in Sonagachhi; her money allowed her family to build on its single-storey structure and watch films on CD.<br /><br />"It''s easy for families, which have had a glimpse of the money, to forsake their daughters'' happiness when everyone else is doing it," a resident of the village said. The men are not complaining.<br /><br />Teenager Babulal Naiya spends his day playing cards when he is not cajoling girls and their parents, networking traffickers and striking deals. He also sports a ''Ray Ban'', wears clothes that look like imitations of brands and smokes cigarettes (they are the real thing). (Some names have been changed.)</div> </div>