Shamim Bano is not alone. Thousands of sex workers across the country are thankful to `Guriya', an organisation that seeks to brighten their grim life by focusing on their cultural talents as a part of their rehabilitation project.

"Rehabilitation does not mean only stitching and tailoring," says Ajit Singh, the founder of the Varanasi-based organisation.

"Most sex workers are talented in classical music and dance. It is only a question of putting their art in correct slot. Moreover, dance has a ready audience," says Singh, who was recently in the Capital for the Fifth National Festival for Women in Prostitution organised by Guriya.

The festival is in fact a get-together of women in prostitution tobring about a little laughter in their life and in the long run to launch a national movement against poverty and corruption - the twin factors responsible for driving women into prostitution.

The dramas, songs and dances depicting their aspirations and their plight at the hands of police and criminals, would give a first-hand knowledge for a more holistic national initiative and discard an `imposed' movement by the NGOs and the government, says Singh.

The annual cultural festival apart, the four-year-old organisation also runs a balwadi or an informal school in Shivdaspur red light area in Varanasi and publishes a quarterly magazine, the only one of its kind in the country, claims Singh. The school, which has about 200 students, also caters to medical and legal requirements of the children and protects them from pimps and head of the kothas (brothels).

Twelve-year-old Afsari Bano, one of the students of balwadi, says "I do not want to wear lipsticks and zari sarees like my mother. I want to become anurse with a white dress after my schooling and nurse the ailing and the old."

The change of attitude is the only thing which is emphasised upon in the balwadi, says Singh.

Nevertheless, Singh does not favour exclusive schools for the children of sex workers.

"These children should be inducted in general schools so that they can interact with the children from the so-called respectable families," he says.

The magazine Tawaif Ki Awaaz features not only articles by sex workers but also on all important current issues like education, health and law and order by experts because `prostitution is not an isolated issue', says Singh.