Nita
Nita is one of the leading characters in the book ”Slumdog Millionaire“. She is the one, who gives Ram the protagonist a reason to participate in the quiz show by motivating him indirectly to earn some money.
Nita is an Indian girl who at twelve lost her virginity after she had been sold at an auction for the highest price. Since that day, Nita sells her body to men because her family forces her to. Her family is no help at all; her parents prefer the money to their own daughter's well-being. Shyam is her pimp and brother at the same time and he deals unscrupulously with his sister's body.
The first time Nita and Ram meet, Ram is seventeen and living in Agra and Nita is still a prostitute. In Agra they meet and fall in love. Ram wants to rescue the girl from the daily physical and psychological pain she experiences in connection with her work.
Nita's brother consents to the plan with the condition that Ram pays for Nita's freedom and he allows Ram to marry Nita as long as Ram pays him 400.000 Rupees.
Ram tries to get the money in different ways, but fails, until he decides to participate in the quiz show. Ram is the first person to give Nita hope to escape from her current life and have a new start. Nita has found a person in Ram, who loves her unconditionally and a person, who does not limit her to her looks, but also esteems and respects her and treats her well.
Because Nita has suffered physical violence by the quiz showmaster Prem Kumar, who has also mistreated the actor Neelima Kumari, Ram is determined to revenge what has happened to Nita.
In the end, Nita escapes the life of a prostitute because of Ram winning the quiz show. Ram and she plan to get married.
Nita’s life is affected by strokes of fate. Her parents force her into prostitution when she is twelve. She experiences what it means to be reduced to the money she is worth because she is good looking. In poverty, there is not much space for love.
Many girls in India have a similar destiny to Nita. India is a place, where women are not worth as much as men and have fewer rights. Children have to work and the rate of prostitution is very high. Girls like Nita are forced into prostitution, even when they are still only children. India's society does not fight enough for the equality of women and men and against violence, poverty and child labour. All these factors form part of Nita's destiny and story. In order to prevent things like those which happened to Nita, the ideals and social values of Indian culture have to change.
It is important to remember that not every girl has such a happy ending as Nita. Many girls will never escape this environment and they end up living their whole life in these bad conditions. And the state, their family and the police look on, while doing nothing to stop it.
For more information about prostitution, click the link “prostitution”.
Sources/origins
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/world/asia/indian-prostitutes-new-autonomy-imperils-aids-fight.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0