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Name: Sangeeta Jadhav. Age: 25
Education: No formal education
Hails from: Mumbra, Maharashtra
Sangeeta has been a waitress in a bar for one-and-a-half-years.
Married in 1998 to a Mumbra-based unemployed man, Sangeeta was the sole breadwinner in the family.
With the meagre money she got by doing random household jobs, she fed her seven-year-old girl and five-year-old boy.
Her alcoholic husband often turned abusive. She could bear physical abuse, but when he tried to force her to sleep with one of his friends she decided that she had had enough. She ran away.
She came to a relative's house in Mumbai, and found a job in garment factory as a daily wager.
But what she earned was barely enough for food and accommodation.
Then one of her neighbours suggested she could earn more if she worked in a beer bar.
"I wanted to bring my children and keep them with me. I needed money for their education and accommodation. So I decided to become a waitress in a bar," said Sangeeta.
Now Sangeeta easily earns Rs 15,000 a month. Three months ago, she went to her in-laws' house, and took custody of her kids.
But it wasn't easy.
Her husband was not home when she went there. She managed to trick her in-laws, took the children and came back to Mumbai.
"He [her husband] doesn't know where I am. If he gets to know my whereabouts he will kill me," she said.
Sangeeta regrets being in this profession. But then, she says, "Which other profession can fetch this much money for an uneducated woman?"
"I need to find a house for my children. Once I get a house in Mumbai, I will leave this job. But I will never go back to my husband. To ensure that, I'll have to do this job for some more years," said Sangeeta.
Any difficulty in being a dancer? "Sometimes, people ask me out for a night, but I refuse. I might want to make some money, but I definitely don't want to become a prostitute. What if I contract HIV? Who will take care of my children?" she asked.
Photographs: Arun Patil
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