That joy continues to exist in Kamathipura comes as a surprise to many. But the Kamathipura Kala Mela existed to rip the fabric of oppression and stigma, serving as a reminder that feminist resistance is powerful, creative, and loving.

Upon entering the Municipal School at Kamathipura 6th Lane, you meet with ribbons of colourful cloth - tied, torn, decorated-symbolizing the voices and stories of marginalized women. In front of you is the phrase Kamathipura Kala Mela written on a banner of interwoven chart paper. If you came in the evening, you would see it lit up. At this point, a white cat should go and greet you as it did to me. She rubs her nose on your feet and takes you to the mural on your left. A mural that shows women sharing love, forging solidarity, and creating joy-testaments to the resilience and resistance of sex workers and community women. The mural was put together by the women at Kala Mela on 18 December, surrounded by the curiosity of beady-eyed schoolchildren as the large banner was being woven. A few days before that, on the 16th, the Kala Mela team had assembled in the school. The practitioners, volunteers, and sex workers who had been working with the Kala Mela for three years began the day with free drawing on origami paper on the themes of art, hope, and equality, amplifying their voices through creative expression. The 17th started with theatre exercises like “hawa chali” conducted by Amora, followed by rehearsals for “Raasta” - a play created and performed by the sex workers of Kamathipura, highlighting their stories of resistance and community. The first performance of Raasta took place at Karnavati University, Gujarat, a week before the Mela, but the first time the Kala Mela ladies took the stage was at the social sector organisation Apnalaya in Tilak Nagar, Mumbai. Be it the preparatory workshop at Khar or the creative residency in Gujarat, the entire Mela has been designed by the women, emphasizing their agency and leadership. Volunteers tell me that on these days, when students from Karnavati University were reworking the decorations, they would help with logistics and set up the school while chattering away, supporting community-led initiatives.

The volunteers were pumped and ready on the day of the Mela. Bhavya, Neethu, Girija, Anil, Jaya, and all the ones from AHEAD, Haan Hum took the lead. From getting benches from the 3rd floor to making sure the washrooms were clean with help from the housekeeping staff to making sure the students from Karnavati University were feeling comfortable for them to be able to do what they do best - front desk registration, music room set up, art section set up, interacting with all. Dwarka tells me that folks from Karnavati University got lots of Gujarati snacks, and the Mumbai volunteers got sweets and shared many stories as a form of payback. The team decided to start by dipping their hands in paint and then stamping the banner they created. Everyone, including the guests and ladies, had chimed in on this. The ladies performed the introductory walk as they had practised - some nervous, some confident.

As one enters, the first part is registration, all formal details of the collective, donation information if one wants to contribute or know more. Then came the lobby, with pictures of their travel displayed, then suspenders from their first workshop displayed, and photographs of the workshop and the art created, a symbolic representation of their presence and their work. Then one could enter the music playroom. Filled with instruments, Joel, Daleer, and other folks from Karnavati facilitated the flow there. Then one could enter the hall where pottery art and self-portrait canvases were on display. 7. The walk through must have not been perfect but the energy and the flow was emotional and fantastic. Tejas handled the TV banners for all locations. Shradha and her friend took care of selling certain art materials. 9. Raasta HH's first theatre production performance started in the main hall. MLA Amin Patel also arrived, sat with guests and volunteers on the floor, and witnessed the performance.

It was a beautiful early morning on the 21st as the women from Kamathipura arrived. Murli, Anil, and Prabhakar ji had to check if they had breakfast. Volunteers caught many who skipped or gave their share to their relative or child. Volunteers had to explain that they were about to perform. They need the energy. The amphitheatre area was so open, and that is where the snack and tea counter was. A wonderful family with their 16-year-old daughter arrived as early as the volunteers did. They got amazing food boxes and goodies for all volunteers. The second day was full of performances, including a storytelling session by Gauri Bakshi, two Raasta performances, and an interactive solo performance by Apoorva, which made people weep and laugh in equal measure. And this vision, imagine this, qa young student giving a shoulder to cry on to one of the ladies, and one of the ladies patting a visitor on the back as they cry - this embodied how soulful the Mela was.

         Before saying goodbye, volunteers and ladies shared feedback, expressed appreciation, dislike, anger, and love. Girija tells me that this process is intentional. Just as sustainability is a key organisational principle for Haan Hum (everything used in the Mela was either rented, borrowed or sourced locally), intentional reflection is also central to how the organisation functions. MLA Amin Patel invited the local women and the team for dinner. Ms Patil from Karnavati University and Priyapal Toto graced the space by singing songs for all.

Think of a quilt - think of the patchwork on it - that is how the mela was—held together by patches of cloth, thread, and embroidery. The ladies themselves, the Haan Hum team. The volunteers, the visitors who graced the Mela, the local vendors, the school and its housekeeping staff, the local community who supported the event, and the organisations that came forward for assistance. Held together by kindness, love, care, and friendship.

 WHY I CHOSE THIS TOPIC 

The Kamatipura Kala Mela has left such a lasting impression on me, reminding me that the world is shaped and held together by love. So much so, that even a week after the event,  I am still smiling and laughing at things that happened at the festival. It taught me about how to gather people together for a common compassionate cause, it broke my misgivings about talking to new people, especially in Hindi, a language that is not my mother tongue. I found people who were like-minded and socially engaged artists, who created a sense of belonging in me. I also learnt about the impact of art and theatre on society and on individual people’s prejudices. In short, the festival renewed my hope in the world and in humanity. 

Luckily, there was a topic that gave me an opportunity to reflect on the festival.

 Hence, I decided that I must write about it, so, I chose to write about an autobiographical experience.  I have so many reflections and anecdotes from this experience that one project will not be able to cover it all, but I have done my best to narrate the incidents that took place in the event and the emotions and feelings I was left with.

INTRODUCTION

The Kamatipura Kala Mela is a theatre and art festival that was conducted for the first time in Kamatipura, a red-light area in Mumbai, by Haan Hum, or “Yes, us”, a  collective of artists and sex workers, a part of the AHEAD (Art, Hope, Equality, Autonomy and Dialogue) Foundation, from 20-21st December 2025. My mother is a co-founding director of the AHEAD Foundation and a core team member of Haan Hum. 

Haan Hum is a collective based in Kamatipura, created to bring out the unheard voices of sex workers and women who live in Kamatipura, who have been stigmatized in our society for ages through art and theatre, and to collectively heal through expression. The event garnered volunteers and guests from all over the country, and was entirely crowd-funded. 

It saw the performance of the Haan Hum collective’s first ever theatrical production, titled “Raasta”, or “path”, a forum play in which the actors stop at a moment of conflict, and the audience steps in as “spectactors” to take the story forward as they see fit. Forum theatre is a method of theatre under the Theatre Of The Oppressed (TOTO), in which the core team and a few members of Haan Hum have been trained.

 I was a volunteer at the festival, and along with other volunteers, I helped with registrations and decorated the venue, which was the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) school, Kamatipura, with old sarees, photos, jute and old colourful dungarees which were used while making paintings or clay, to show the process and journey of the members of the collective. 

I made lots of friends, and became overwhelmingly close to all of them.  

KAMATIPURA KALA MELA

Mela prep: I landed in Mumbai on the 19th. I could feel the hot air blast on my face as I exited the airport, a warm relief to the freezing Bengaluru I had left behind. I immediately sensed a feeling of promise and excitement that the city holds.  A bustling, overpopulated Mumbai thrummed with activity. As we cruised into Kamatipura, I could see the transition from towering skyscrapers to small, Indo-Islamic style buildings and matchbox-sized houses. Many people lived on the roads as a result of the demolition of their homes. 

When I entered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation school, Kamatipura, I saw the walls lined with murals of butterflies, flowers and people, done by the Haan Hum collective. Three dupattas hung from the terrace, adding a splash of colour to the dull wall. I was welcomed with hugs and gushes of excitement by the members of Haan Hum, who had only seen me on video call until then. We tied old colourful bits of cloth on twines and hung them on the walls to welcome the guests. We hung baskets in which dolls made by Haan Hum members, representing their inner child, were placed.  One member had beautifully embroidered “Haan Hum welcomes you” on a cloth. We worked on all the exhibits, carefully weaving the place together with artworks. We put up a handwoven paper banner, announcing the festival in hot pink letters. 

Day 1:  We got to work immediately, my friend and I put up photos framed with jute, hung used dungarees stained with paint and clay and metal frames in the shape of hearts and butterflies, from the walls of the corridor, showing the process of Haan Hum’s team and their work. 

It was finally time to open our doors to the world! Everyone had to dip their hands in paint and imprint them on a banner before entering. After writing their details at the registration desk, everyone was given a walkthrough of the corridors, with members explaining the process of Haan Hum, and their experiences. They were then taken to the painting exhibit where members’ paintings were exhibited and visitors could sit and paint right there, if they felt inspired to. It became a great hit with the children! Then they could explore the clay exhibit, gilded seashells on an ocean-like table and the Inner Child section with the dolls made by Haan Hum members placed in hanging baskets. There was also the Self Portrait exhibit, where self portraits made by members were displayed and mirrors were placed for the viewer to look at themselves among the other paintings. I played the djembe at the music room, it was a blast! The first Raasta performance took place, with a house-full audience! It showed the long journey of the lives of sex workers, right from their childhoods to the injustices faced by them as adults. Many audience members eagerly joined the action as spectators, taking the place of the oppressed person and demanding their rights by having dialogue with the oppressor in each situation. I gifted a watercolour portrait to a dear friend, who introduced me to his friends, to whom I showed my graphic novel in-progress. They were very impressed! The day ended with a musical dinner in which the MLA Amin Patel greeted us, along with some BMC corporators. I was surprised at dinner when the same dear friend sang a song for me! While coming back, it was shocking that drivers refused to drive us when we said we wanted to go to Kamatipura. 

Day 2: We reached BMC school early, and opened in the morning itself. We were joined by a young innovator who was there to talk about cybersecurity. The second Raasta performance of the festival took place, with some more interesting perspectives from the spectactors. I was gifted some bookmarks and a precious sticker of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s signature by a friend. There was a mind-blowing Marathi solo play called “Priyanka”, by Apurva Kadam, of whom I am a big fan. She connected with the Haan Hum members very naturally and addressed their struggles by playing the role of a single woman maid from an underprivileged background living in Jopadpatti. A  group of women from the Stree Mukti Sanghatana, or Women’s Liberation Organization announced that they had published an article about Haan Hum in their magazine, “Athmabhan”, which was received with ecstatic joy by the members. The third and final Raasta performance for

the festival took place, and this time, I stepped in as a spect-actor. It was a scene where a doctor refused to treat a woman because she was from Kamatipura. I stepped in as the patient’s mother, and said “My daughter is in great pain, just look at her. We are all humans, and we must live together.” After that I put my arms around everyone and did a group hug, at which everyone laughed. My friend was impressed, and my mother was proud of me. 

All of the volunteers and team members sat down and reflected. We were thanked by the core team, and my mother cheekily added that we were joined by volunteers from the ages 61 to 16 (me being the 16-year-old). At that very moment, when I was surrounded by the people I love and who love me back, I felt like I finally had a place where I belonged. We all said our goodbyes and hugged. I was overcome with emotion. It was like I was flooded by this ocean of love and art, and suddenly, we all had to go our separate ways. Little did I know when I set foot in this city, that Mumbai would become a home for me. 

CONCLUSION

This project gave me a very good opportunity to reflect back on what happened and what stayed with me from the festival to this day. Kamatipura Kala Mela has been the most enlightening event in my life so far. I am immensely grateful to everyone who made it special and put in their heart and soul into bringing it to life. It has reinforced the fact that compassion is the end of suffering, and compassion is what brought us all together in the first place. It brought in many different perspectives, and it was heartening to see people of all ages from all walks of life had gathered together to celebrate Haan Hum and the sex workers of Kamatipura. It was a celebration of art, of love, and though it was humble, it is the beginning of a revolution. The MLA, Amin Patel had promised to renovate the rundown BMC school all because of this festival. The members of Haan Hum, who were pushed into dark corners, are now proudly owning Kamatipura, and demanding their rights through theatre. Many other socially engaged artists and organizations have connected through this festival, which holds the promise of systemic changes in the future to give the sex workers of Kamatipura their due rights. I am sure many people who had a strong stigma against sex workers went back home after the festival with at least a little change in perspective. I hope more people join this movement and make the world a better place by spreading  their art and love.