He took his camera to a village where prostitution is a way of life. Here's what he found.
What happens when a place is left to become an unchecked prostitution economy? One writer, Souvid Datta, spent nine days there to scratch the surface of that question. After seeing what you're about to see, you may be moved to share. The more people talking about these injustices, the better.
By Souvid Datta | Kolkata, India, 2014
Sonagachi is an area located in North Kolkata, India.
Narrow alleys, enclosed by towering, decayed brothels and bright market stalls form together in a confusing, colourful maze.
This is the home of Asia's second largest red-light district.
The neighbourhood exists as a sprawling, illegal network of organised gangs, traffickers and victims: a place where reporters and outsiders are threatened away by violence, politicians and police are bribed or complicit, and an estimated 12,000 prostituted women, often under the age of 18, are effectively raped everyday for £1.
Lalka*, 25, in her room with a client in Sonagachi. Having been trafficked at the age of 16, Lalka suffered years of violent customers and then an abusive marriage with a local gang enforcer who works in her brothel. They are still together now, though she is desperately looking for a safe way out of the relationship. (*name changed)
Over the past 30 years the district has grown in the shadows, being left to fester. State and private initiatives have failed to tackle groups of petty criminals who now control territorial authority and resources. And a growing cultural stigmatization of those involved has bred disinterest and fostered exploitation. Today, younger and younger victims of trafficking come from further afar.
Sonagachi itself thrives off a self-perpetuating, city-wide mentality of hypocrisy, crime and ignorance. It is a word not used in public; a pit that many profit from, yet one that most, including the local media, seem to turn a blind eye to.
Abroad, it continues to be largely unknown.
The first step is challenging ignorance.
Broadcasting the reality of the situation on the ground can inspire constructive awareness and empathy.
Radhika, 17, and her friends look out from a caged window of a brothel in Sonagachi while getting ready for the evening rush. While many in the area have 'earned' the independence to work on personal basis, all newly trafficked women and youngsters are kept on firm lock and key, forced to stay within the prison-like, dire conditions of brothel walls.
This year I gained access to Sonagachi for 9 days.
I spent time with prostituted women as young as 14 who had been kidnapped on their way to school from border states. Their resilience, grace and collective enterprise astounded me; and at night, within dark, caged brothel cells, I heard their cries for hours.
Outside, police officials embraced gang-leaders and were offered their pick.
Radhika, 17, in the room of a veteran sex worker, Asma, in Sonagachi (seen dressing in background). The two have grown close over Radhika's period here; she respects and learns from Asma's experience and matter of fact, survival attitude, while Asma feels a fondness for Radhika's unfettered 'kindness and curiosity'. Strong bonds can often form within brothels as girls learn to support each other and find self-empowerment through group assertion and collective experience.
A serious, in-depth multimedia report will give voice to thousands of young women who have been systematically stripped of human choice and expression. It will inform topical debates in India today on sexual inequality, graft and development. And perhaps most importantly, it might provoke ordinary people to sit back callously no longer, but begin contributing to a process of improvement.
The Matter Fellowship will give me the resources and time I need to document the reality of Sonagachi both honestly and compellingly, from rights abuses and state failure to urgent human stories.
Radhika in her evening wear awaiting clients on the foot of her brothel in Sonagachi.
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via 
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.