Was raped by school teacher when I was 10': Story of a sex worker's daughter

Mumbai: For decades, Kamathipura has been notorious as a red light area in India’s bustling financial capital Mumbai. Growing up in such an area is a challenge in itself as it comes with unfair treatment in the outside world.

In addition to all hardships, being dark skinned in India only invites more discrimination, as a girl growing up in Kamathipura recounts in a Facebook post by Humans of Bombay. She tells how other children isolated her and bullied her for her skin colour.

The failure of the system is reflected in how she was raped by one of her teachers at school at the age of 10 and was too afraid to tell anyone until she got therapy at the age of 16.

But it was art that came to her rescue since theatre helped her to turn things around and even took her all the way to San Francisco for a special performance which intended to raise awareness against taboos in the society, similar to what she suffered from.

Even as her parents have moved to Kerala, Kranti continues to call Kamathipura home and breaks stereotypes reinforced by societal norms related to beauty.