They testify mental health therapy is a lifeline, yet not a need that is always recognised by donors
Illustration: Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur
The pain is palpable as we sit together in a circle, but so is the resilience. On the wall is a custom-made bookshelf, designed to spell the words, Kranti. This is the suburban Mumbai shelter home of the Krantikaris, a group of adolescent girls, all daughters of sex workers from Kamathipura, Mumbai’s red-light district. Kranti was founded by Robin Chaurasiya to create revolutionary leaders from India’s most marginalised communities. Today it houses 19 girls, an extraordinary sisterhood of struggle and triumph. The girls share their stories—of sexual, emotional and physical abuse, but also of healing and recovery, of hopes and dreams for the future. The Krantikaris, as they call themselves, are agents of social change: First-generation college-goers, studying in prestigious universities such as Ashoka University, Krea University or abroad, and returning to India to contribute to the communities they grew up in and to society at large.
One such individual is Krantikari Shraddha, who received a full scholarship to do a 12-week residency at the Cow House Studio, an artist-run school and residency on an Irish farm. “Shraddha definitely found the programme challenging, but it pushed her to explore and create some new art while deepening her understanding of her own creative process. She is now working with the students at a government school in the Kamathipura red light area, the community where most of us grew up,” says Tara-Shweta Katti, who was the first girl from Kamathipura to receive a full scholarship to study abroad—in Italy—and is now working full time with Kranti having completed her studies.
(This story appears in the 10 March, 2023 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)