This documentary follows Kamathipura’s betis on a journey of self-introspection

This too shall passrdquo smiles Sheetal Jain with rapid gesticulations ldquoThis has become my motto since the pilgrimage to Spain It did begin on a tumultuous and painful note but ended in mountains of personal discoveriesrdquo Her excitement is palpable through the laptop screen on a weekday afternoonDaughter of a sex worker Jain is a professional drummer and social activist Born and raised in the redlight district of Kamathipura for the first 12 years of her life Jainrsquos mother was a bar dancer and her maternal grandmother was trafficked from Karnataka to be sold to the brothel there Abused by her stepfather whose surname she wants to get rid of Jain was thrown out of the house by her druggie mother when she was not even a teen She found her purpose after coming in contact with various NGOs while growing upThe pilgrimage the 28yearold is referring to is the 800 km walk down the Camino de Santiago in the far west end of Spain She embarked on this with 19 other women all daughters of sex workers under the aegis of the NGO Kranti This arduous journey of selfintrospection lasted 35 days through June and July 2019 and has been immortalised not only in the minds of these ldquoKrantikarisrdquo but in Our Odyssey is Red The 40minute documentary made by Agrabased feminist arts collective Hers is Ours won the bronze in Awareness and Media nonprofit at the international Anthem Awards which honour missiondriven workSheetal Jain drummer and social activistSaintJeanPieddePort a small village in the south of France was the starting point of the pilgrimage that ended in Santiago de Compostela at the shrine of the apostle Saint James the GreatldquoAt Kranti school we read Paulo Coelhorsquos The Pilgrimage which is about his personal experience of the journeyrdquo says Jain ldquoThe founders decided that we should all go too In the beginning I questioned its maqsadrdquo After three days of continuous crying homesickness bodily aches and pains the pilgrimage seeped into Jain ldquoWhen we reached a small village after miles and miles of walking I connected the dotsrdquo says the Nallasopara resident ldquoI realised this mirrored the trials and tribulations of life There is a power in the universe God or whoever who will help pass difficult days and times Irsquove had a better outlook towards life sincerdquoWhile the walk was cathartic for the pilgrims whose average age was about 22 years it was also so for those behind the camera and at the edit tableWe caught up with codirectors of the film Ayushi Shriramwar Naomi Jahan and Tahir Ahmed Qureshi ldquoWe are generally pictured as becharis and viewed from an lsquootherrsquo lensrdquo explains Jain ldquobut this film takes our voice and doesnrsquot add any mirchmasala Videos have been made on us but not through usrdquoTahir Ahmed Qureshi Naomi Jahan and Ayushi ShriramwarQureshirsquos words solidify the claim ldquoWe felt there was a void in the representation of women who take charge of their lives and we wanted to fill that vacuum We wanted to change the narrative of these women being passive victims to active changemakers because thatrsquos what they are They have taken control of their lives their education their development and that of other women and people of marginalised groups around them It is inki kahan inhi ki zubaanirdquoldquoI had a personal and professional need to talk about violence against womenrdquo says Goabased Jahan who is originally from France ldquothe root cause various perspectives sexuality and how sex work is a taboo professionrdquoIt was an absolute coincidence that Jahan bumped into the cofounder of Kranti Robin Chaurasiya and it was decided to capture Krantirsquos work in its Mumbai home ldquoThe women were in Europe for a performance tour of their Lal Batti Express theatre group and were to embark upon the pilgrimagerdquo adds Goabased Shriramwar ldquoIt was the best way to draw a cinematic parallel to their livesrdquo Tickets were bought a camera was rented Jahan and Shriramwar took quick lessons from Qureshi on camera work and joined the womenMoney was scarce and crowd funding poured in R16 lakh Amid blisters on feet backaches caused by heavy backpacks emotional turmoil fending for lodging busking on European soil and quick fixes for food the pilgrims and crew learnt to survive ldquoIf we thought walking uphill is a task downhill was even more difficult with all those bagsrdquo says Jahan and Shriramwar ldquoBut we all learnt patience resilience and survival skillsrdquoBack in Agra Qureshi had to edit 35 days of footagemdashthough shot in 2019 the film was completed only in December 2022 ldquoCOVID19 added to the delay but the trust between the crew and the Krantikaris helpedrdquo he says ldquoThis award is validation that there is coherence in issues we are touching and the way we are working That we should continue on this path for ourselves and fellow changemakersrdquoAlso ReadGrowing surveillance and policing of interfaith marriages in Maharashtra is as an attack on agency