All the way to kotha number 51, there were teenage girls in bright clothes standing on the dimly lit staircases, waiting for prospective customers.

And, at kotha number 51, there were the bais talking about human rights and decriminalisation.

While the Northern India Secretariat of the National Network of Sex Workers cried out loud against the injustice being meted out to sex workers, it was business as usual in all the other 129 brothels in Delhi's red light area.

Sitting on the floor of kotha 51 was a weak, dishevelled girl. Name unknown. In the small room, decorated with portraits and photographs of goddesses and film actresses, even Gandhi and Nehru, this young girl was a dismal portrayal of life on G.B. Road. Nimmi Bai, secretary of the organisation spoke about the problems and demands of this community. Clad in a white saree, Nimmi Bai was emotionally charged as she answered queries about life in the dingy rooms of G.B. Road.

``People talk of rehabilitation but does anybody really care? For 15 years, the government has been thinking about us, but have they done anything? We do not want your sympathies but our rights as a human being,'' she said. ``Think about our problems. Give us jobs, education for our children, a place to live and we will leave this profession,'' Bai added.

``We are living a life of hell. Even the police trouble us when clients give false complaints. We cannot secure admission for our children in a school and there are no doctors to treat us. The hospitals don't accept us and if some do, they hang a board on the bed identifying us as prostitutes,'' said Bai.

For 26-year-old Chandni, a mother of five, the issue is more basic -- that of survival. The talk about legalisation does not affect her as she silently watches the debate. She goes back to her world after giving the talk a two-minute hearing.

But Nimmi Bai goes on: ``We want legalisation of prostitution and provision of all other civic liberties so that we are able to lead a normal life without being at the mercy of anybody. At least, the child prostitutes and the aged ones should be saved from this?'' She was apparently talking on behalf of the around 3,000 prostitutes and 5,000 call-girls in the Capital.

Former sex-worker and member of Mahila Samanwaya Samiti Rekha answers the eternal question of why?

``Do you think we do it for money. No. We also want to live like you. Which girl would like to share her body with 10 persons everyday, taking the risk of being `sinful' mothers of illegitimate children? '' she says.

Over the years, a number of organisations like the Mahila Samanwaya Samiti that have taken up this issue. Jan Shakti Vahini is one such voluntary youth organisation working for the prevention of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases among sex workers.

Anand Sharma of the Jan Shakti Vahini says: ``At present, there is poor supply of condoms. Whatever is supplied by the government is of poor quality. There is always a chance of contracting STDs.'' ``We have divided the country into four zonal secretariats located in Sangli (West), Tirupati (South), Delhi (North) and Calcutta (South) to coordinate the sex workers and jointly highlight their problems,'' explains Ravi Kant, general secretary of Jan Shakti Vahini.

Nimmi Bai sums up the immediate requirement: ``What we want is that the government rehabilitate us, give our children proper education, a place to live and a working licence. Ten to 15 per cent of the people here want to leave the profession. If some of them are rehabilitated, others will follow suit.''

Although Nimmi Bai is confident the workers will turn their backs to the profession if given a chance by society, other residents of G.B. Road are not so sure. For them, life is as miserable as usual.