[PROSTITUTES OF GOD PART 3 OF 4]
Back in Sangli, we were invited to meet
another Devadasi called Pandu.
We were told she was different,
but we weren't prepared for just how different.
I love to wear sari, it makes me feel sexy.
I grew up as a sex worker, as my mother was in this profession. I grew up among them.
Initially, I didn't believe in Goddess Yellamma, but gradually began to develop faith.
I am a gay
and I do sex work.
Every morning, he spends two hours
polishing brass Yellamma statues
and blessing his beloved shrine.
I have no regrets about leaving everything for God. Someone else may have this regret, but I don't.
I am able to dance if I want, live well.
I can freely roam anywhere and do whatever I want.
Nobody can stop me from going anywhere. Nobody has a right over me.
I can now boldly tell society,
'This is my life and I will live properly.'
Nobody can restrict me.
Can you ask him to show me how to make chai?
Tea powder.
Wow, that's a lot of sugar!
Fucking hell!
Still?
Going, going, going, going, going, going....
-He is a good dancer!
Can we watch him
dance today?
We have to persuade him, sweet-talk him.
Oh, wow!
Wow, Pandu!
Who's this guy?
You put your sari over his head!
-Oh is that- I've put the end of my sari over my shoulder to get the money.
He's got money between his teeth.
Your best friend, Sudhir...
My best friend.
Oh wow, that's a nice photo.
Wow, thank you.
Just days ago when I was passing by these miscreants, they began to tease me.
They said, "Come with me, I will fuck you...I will fuck your mother etc."
I could not bear it, therefore, I fought them.
I took along my community members and fought them!
My community has to face all sorts of prejudices, not just because I wear a sari.
I don't pick pockets, I don't borrow or beg from anyone.
I sell my body and feed myself.
I am a Devadasi and also a sex worker,
just as the women are.
I can't bear children like women can.
I wish that I was born a woman, then I would have given birth to a child.
I feel bad that God has not blessed me in that way.
Therefore, I have adopted a girl,
and I feel happy about the fact that she will succeed me.
I'd like to get her educated and married off,
then she can pursue a line of her choice.
She would have children and they could visit me.
Her husband could visit me too.
My only wish is to have a family.
Later that day at our hotel,
Pandu showed us his favorite Bollywood videos
and the famous Sangli condom trick.
You're about to witness a demonstration
of the classic Sangli condom trick
that Pandu has just taught me,
when his male customers don't want to use a condom.
You hold it in between your fingers, and put it in your mouth.
I think I lost.
Pandu may want a better life for his daughter,
but for many other Devadasis,
there's a lot of money to be made in recruiting the next generation.
Now we're on our way to another village
about 5 km outside of Mudhol,
and most of the women who live there
are from the Madiga caste.
Most of them are vulnerable to becoming Devadasis.
One of the interesting things about this village
is that we're going to able to go to the house
of a Devadasi woman who has made a real career out of prostitution.
She's built this enormous house in the middle of the village as a symbol of her success,
so she can become a role model to the other girls living in the village,
that becoming a Devadasi is a good way of life.
The legendary owner, Champa, doesn't even live here.
She's too busy turning tricks in Bombay.
Inside, shiny display cabinets of unused crockery
line the walls as testaments to her success.
There were groups of village children
roaming around the house to gawp at her flickering color TV sets
and shelves of broken electrical equipment.
The message is clear:
prostitution is a lucrative business.
So, this is the necklace, the mutu,
that the Devadasi women wear
when they get dedicated.
And hers was just hanging on the wall
of her mud hut.
She's an old lady called Shewawa,
and she's one of the oldest Devadasi women in the village.
I've just been told that
she brought the very first radio to this village.
No one had ever seen a radio before she brought it here.
Walking through the village, we noticed Yellamma's presence everywhere.
The locals told us that all the Devadasis in the area
were preparing themselves for the full moon festival,
which is apparently the most important event
in the Yellamma calendar.