India Post releases 10 postcards featuring 10 children of Kamathipura

A postcard featuring the face of a woman with a moustache, painted by the 14-year-old daughter of a commercial sex worker from Kamathipura, Mumbai, has a message. A QR code on the back of the postcard, when scanned, reveals that the artist has depicted the dual identities of women in Kamathipura, who have to play the role of mother and father to their children.

Another postcard, titled Intertwined, has flower stalks stylized with green leaves and bright red petals. The colors are different but the parts of the plant are connected to nature, each playing a specific role. Yet another postcard, Innocence, shows a baby on a swing, a symbol of the childhood innocence that the artist says she has always craved.

Swati Pandey, Postmaster General of Mumbai Region, with a postcard based on the portraits of 10 children from Kamathipura, Mumbai, which were issued by India Post, Mumbai. , photo credit: special arrangement

Ten such postcards made by children of sex workers of Kamathipura, Mumbai’s oldest red light district, convey a message of hope, innocence and optimism. The names of the young actors have not been disclosed to protect their identities. The set of postcards, which cost ₹180, and include each artist’s vision in a QR code, was recently released by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of children, social activists and India Post officials . To promote in a big way to a demographic that is generally ignored by the public and the system.

The postcards are one of the by-products of the continued intervention of Swati Pandey, Postmaster General of Mumbai region, which has transformed the lives of women in Kamathipura.

Poonam Awasthi, who works with Apne Apne Women’s Collective, an NGO, says it was a grand gesture of recognition for the children and their mothers. The NGO is closely associated with the officials of India Post in its work in Kamathipura. “Every mother in Kamathipura is proud of the 10 youths who were invited to the Raj Bhavan. Her paintings will go around the world and it has inspired children to dream big and empower themselves,” says Poonam.

Empowerment, a painting by the daughter of a commercial sex worker from Kamathipura. India Post, Mumbai released postcards based on pictures of 10 children of Kamathipura. photo credit: special arrangement

Swati says it all started during a workshop on saving and investing in relation to Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, a savings scheme for girl child, in Kamathipura in 2021. Swati heard the women speaking in Bengali. He spoke to them in the same language and the women, though shocked, slowly opened up. Swati asked if they were saving for a rainy day or for their children.

“That was in October 2021. I wanted to help them start banking and save for themselves and their kids. That’s when he told me that he doesn’t like going to the bank or the post office because men often look down on him and he feels inadequate and neglected,” she says.

women empowerment

Although Kamathipura had a post office, the women told Swati that they would feel comfortable only if there were women in all the posts. Swati assures him that she will turn it into a women’s only office.

“I visited the office, and saw that it was a dilapidated building. Converting it into a women-only post office would, somehow, be disrespectful to women. Hence, it was prepared, upgraded and computerized. Kamathipura Gali No 8 Post Office is now one of our best post office. This is the first ‘safe location’ of its kind post office branch in Mumbai.”

The next step – working with women – proved challenging, as many women feared that working in the Kamathipura branch would anger their families. Swati mentored and trained select women officers to help sex workers empower themselves.

The post office was opened on December 21, 2021. The Post Master of the branch, Sweta Karle, is proud to be a part of an intervention to help women from underprivileged backgrounds. “Many of them have opened post office savings accounts and learned the basic steps of banking. We have also helped them in securing the Aadhar card for their children.”

Swati liaised with the departments concerned to open a window to secure Aadhaar cards for people without any identity cards, usually the poorest of the poor. The post office of Kamathipura now provides the facility of Aadhar card enrollment in addition to banking services. “Children of sex workers who do not have birth certificate or verification of paternity, get Aadhaar card now. We also connect women with government functionaries and schemes.”

beyond banking

Apart from the health camp, Swati organized a painting competition. Pleasantly surprised to see the artistic skills of the youth, she wanted to use them on post cards. To get more tasks to choose from, the children were given canvas and paints and told to paint whatever they wanted.

‘Innocence’ is a painting of the daughter of a commercial sex worker from Kamathipura, Mumbai. India Post, Mumbai released postcards based on pictures of 10 children of Kamathipura. photo credit: special arrangement

Out of 35 pictures, 10 were selected and the postal workers interacted with the children to understand what their works depicted. These explanations are QR coded for buyers to scan and read. Postcard sets are available at select post offices and in the Stamp Collection section of the Main General Post Office in Mumbai.

“We have not stopped at that. The Indian Postal Services staff are now teaching them computer skills and I plan to organize an exhibition of 35 paintings,” says Swati.