Meticulous student, obedient daughter, non-complaining and well-adjusted, young Uma was the good child we all want in our lives. I can only imagine the kind of pride her parents must have felt in her. 

I heard Uma first at a closed door roundtable, articulating the reality of a woman who leaves the security of her extremely poor home for ambition, love or livelihood.  Almost always, she is betrayed. Almost always by men & women she trusts in attempt for a better life. 

It was Uma who had explained to me how trafficking is a highly organised global crime and an extremely profitable business, next only to arms and drug smuggling. Inspite of which, India even today does not have a single comprehensive, clear retributive and preventive law against it.

Traffickers have huge resources and the latest technology at their disposal.  They have real time data to track every single woman in their control.  But what about her?  She is usually trapped in a location where she does not understand the local language at all.  Like knowing only Bengali and being sold to a brothel in Pune. Completely alienating her from society.  And what about her own home community?  They believe she has left to earn money or run away with her lover, often not even knowing she has been trafficked!

Uma Chatterjee’s inspirational journey from a clinical psychologist to a leader combating violence against children and women is a story she has chosen for herself.

With her father serving in the army, and a mother who with a lot of care raised three lovely daughters, Uma developed the ability to become one with her surroundings very early in life. She was the Roman in Rome, one with everyone, the person with many roots.  She was also hiding a deep sense of rootlessness. Belonging to everyone and everywhere made her feel like she belonged to nobody.