Screengrab from the videos shared by the influencer.
Credit: Instagram/anishbhagatt
An Indian influencer named Anish Bhagat recently documented his entire day with a sex-worker and shared the heartfelt video on Instagram.
He visited one of India’s popular red-light areas and spent an entire day with Roxy, who is a sex-worker and one of his followers on social media. The video since shared has garnered over 17.7 million views.
Not only did he spend a day with her, learned about her everyday struggles and spoke about her resilience, he even took her out for sushi.
Talking about his experience in the video, Bhagat wrote “What a day!"
At the very beginning of the video, Bhagat tells his followers that he is going to meet one of his followers, Roxy, and is travelling to one of the most popular red light areas in India.
As the duo meet, Roxy invites him to her flat and shows him around. She said, “This is my room. I never bring anyone here, you’re the first one."
As the conversation proceeds, sharing details about how she ended up there, Roxy said, “My uncle brought me here after my father’s death, promising to help me with a job here but he instead sold me."
Visibly quite emotional, she said, “It’s been 15 years and my youth is gone. Even the pain has gone.”
She further added, “I feel the pain of women by being here. Our life is a waste. Stop rape, come to us."
She further said that despite the situational circumstances, she enjoyed reading books and that it did give her solace, thereby showing him the book she was currently reading.
Roxy shares that her daughter attends an English-medium school, and she also gave tuitions to local children.
On Bhagat asking her what he could do for her, she expressed her desire to try sushi as she has never had one. The video thus concluded showing the two enjoying a meal together and spending a great time.
Bhagat in his post wrote, “All I’ve learned today is that you don’t have to understand someone’s story to respect them—respect is a basic right, not a privilege.”
Several social media users reacted to the video, wherein one user said, "The boy who went to hear her out, it takes a lot of guts to do it. More courage to the boy.”
Another wrote, "'Stop crime-Come to us.' Words can't describe her power here…”