Our Human Library Book of the Month is a series of portraits of our books from around the world. The portraits are created to offer our readers a chance to understand the diversity and variety on our bookshelves. It also provides unique insights into the motivations and values of the thousands of volunteers that are published each year.

Interior designer by day, sex worker by night

Nitin is not ashamed of who he is, or how he lives. He wants to talk to his readers at the Human Library about his amazing life as an interior designer at day and a sex worker at night. He hopes that by sharing his experiences, he can help change attitudes among readers.

Meet our Human Library Book of the Month for March 2019. 22-year-old Nitin has already been published three times since he joined the Human Library book depot in Mumbai in the fall of 2018.

His topic on the bookshelf is “Sexworker” or “Escorting life” as he prefers to call it. He enjoys to share with his readers, how he combines a daytime job as an interior designer with a night time job as a gay escort.

Thought something was wrong

“I get a lot of different questions,” he says.

They range from: Who are your friends? What are your goals for the future? How do you date? To: How do you make sure that your clients are safe? And how do you get in contact and meet with them?

“I grew up dyslexic in a normal Indian school system in Dharavi. I did not grow up rich. I thought something was wrong with me, until I was out of school,” Nitin says.

But nothing was wrong with Nitin, and instead of giving up his hopes he started working hard to get to where he is today.

One thing is being gay

In September 2018, gays in India celebrated after the country’s Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality. Though this was an important breakthrough for homosexuals in the country, it doesn’t mean that homosexuals are free.

“I don’t think that something is wrong with me. Escorting should not be a taboo,” he says.

“I really am happy to have been selected as a book, because I feel that my challenge is to help change that taboo.”

Sharing makes Nitin stronger

In Nitin’s opinion the Human Library plays a significant role.

“It’s the only platform, where people are asked not to judge. That is so important,” he says.

One day in the Human Library he shared his personal story that also includes his chapter on sexual abuse, from when he was a child.

“A girl in the group of readers started crying and told us that she had also been abused as a child. It was such a touching moment, we cried, and my heart beat really fast. She spoke up about her experiences. Whatever happened was not right, and she could walk away with confidence, knowing that it was not right, and that it has happened to other people, too. Nothing will change if we don’t speak up. That is why the Human Library is so important. I am proud to be part of it.”

Follow the work of the Human Library in Mumbai here for an opportunity to borrow Nitin and many more.

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