It was one of those journeys where I didn’t know what exactly I was doing. It was one of those times just after the sunset, where I was travelling in an auto rickshaw accompanied by a complete stranger whom I had met a few minutes ago. My mind was confused and a high majority part of my brain was saying to me to not do what I was about to do. But there are times, when you give little importance to logic or values, but is tempted to try things that makes little sense or to put it better, those that have the ability to deceive your senses.
I have been new to the city and its been barely three months after I reached here as part of my job. It’s not the first time that I had been away from home, but it was the first of those occasions where I was living far from my state, in an entirely new set of culture and language. The city has always amused me for the past one month and there are a new set of friends which I have got here.
Today, started like an ordinary day with nothing extraordinary in it. In the evening I had come to the town with the intent of doing a little shopping. I had come out of the bus stand and was standing outside thinking where to go. It was then I met this man.
He came near to me and was saying something. First, I didn’t understand what he was saying and I was always in a switch on mode to say no to whatever he was saying to me.
“Sir, ladki chahiye?” (Do you need a girl?), he came close to me and asked.
I was not expecting this and for a split second didn’t know what to do.
“What?” I asked him regaining my consciousness
“Sir, we have some good college girls with us.”, he said to me
This situation puts you in a certain dilemma. The easiest thing to do is to just say that you are not interested. At least that’s what you are expected to say being a good boy. Even if you are not such a good boy too, nine out of ten times the reply would be a no. This no doesn’t mean that you aren’t interested, but somewhere down the line, your desire to have a physical relation is over taken by a sense of logic to not believe in the complete stranger in front of you.
But for me it was a different case. I was not in a state to say a complete no. I said a no to him in a tone that would always compel the person opposite to persuade again. It was a no of a person who is partly interested.
Sir, we have nice looking girls with us, he told me in Hindi. The place is very near and the rate is also cheap.
“How much it is?” I asked him, with a sense of guilt inside me for asking that question.
“1000 for one hour, he said.
“Oh, that’s very costly, was my initial thought, being a man who was wary about each penny I spend.
It’s not like you are buying a commodity. It’s a living soul, I said to myself.
It was like I had the questions inside me and also the answers for them.
“Is it safe?”, I asked him.
“Of course Sir, cent percent safe.”
“How would we go?”
“Sir, I have an auto rickshaw with me”, he replied.
“Shall we go?”, he asked.
I nodded my head in agreement.
The journey was through an entirely new unexplored area, where he took me through all the narrow lanes. It was almost like a journey through a different slum of the city which I was completely unaware of. It seemed as though it’s time to walk through a different shade of the city. After many twists and turns, we stopped in front of a seemingly old, but big chalet. It resembled all the cliché imageries that was embarked in me about a brothel house by the visual media.
“Sir, you just stay here, I will come in a minute “, he said and went inside.
I was standing outside all the while and examining the ambience of the place I have gotten into. From the outset, no one can predict the kind of business that’s going inside this enterprise I suppose. It almost gives away a sense of calm and nothing much is going around vibe. Is it a hartal or something was one of my initial thoughts, but my logic took over as to there can never be such a situation in this business. Never.
He came back after almost five minutes.
“Sir, you can go inside. I have talked with them, aapke ladki ready hai.”
“Ready hai”, I exclaimed.
“Don’t I have a choice to select the girl which I would like?”
“No Sir, you can’t go to that extend for the money you are paying. Selecting the girl of your choice comes at a higher price, which I guess may not be affordable to you”, he said with a sheepish smile.
I had a ‘what was that’ reaction going in my mind. Is he becoming prejudiced of his customer. How does he know that I can’t afford it? Does my appearance ostensibly give away such a hint? These thoughts surrounded me for a few moments.
“Don’t worry sir, she is pretty looking. You will like her.”, he said and gestured me to go inside.
Life provides you with many choices. It’s always great to have varied choices in life, but sometimes it’s better to have none.
I went inside.
The atmosphere seems pretty distinct from that of outside, once you get in. A different world altogether. It seems a busy place indeed, with woman moving around in front of me. They all seems to be busy in their own works.
“Welcome Sir”, a woman in the mid-thirties came to me and said.
I felt a little odd for receiving a welcome for this. It was a gesture of making you feel comfortable may be, but the context made me feel awkward.
“Sir, your girl is in first floor. Come, I’ll take you there.”, she said and lead me through a narrow staircase with an apparent wooden flooring.
We reached the top floor and she stopped in front of a door which was not closed fully.
“Have a nice time”, she said pointing me to enter inside the room, which again created a moment of awkwardness to me.
I entered the room and the first thing that caught my attention was the girl sitting in the bed in a lehenga looking outfit. But her face was not visible in the first appearance as she had her head tilted opposite to me. I closed the door and hearing the sound she looked back at me - The first sight.
The auto wala was true, may be a little stingy in his description of the girl. She was really beautiful and the first thing I noticed was her eyes, which had the power to attract even the most monk type man in the world.
She stood up seeing me and walked to other corner of the room, and handed over to me a glass of liquid.
“What’s this?”, I asked.
“It’s a kind of custom that we follow for everyone, a welcome drink kind of. You can call it the ice breaking drink.”
Weird custom it seems, I thought to myself, but I liked the tone in which she said ice breaking drink.
“Is it the first time?”, she asked me as I finished my drink.
I didn’t answer anything to her, but she added immediately,” It’s visible”.
I was thinking whether I gave away such an amateurish look to her in this as she said.
“We have one hour of time with us”, she told
“One hour!”
“Yeah, that’s quite good enough, more than good I suppose”.
She may be the experienced one in this case and I didn’t want to break that notion a tad bit.
“Shall we go one more round quickly”, she asked, looking at the watch. “We still have a good half an hour to go”.
“No, it’s fine”, I said, not adding anything more.
She didn’t reply anything, but smiled blushingly. The room was filled with silence as we both kept lying in the bed.
“Why do you do this?”, I asked breaking the air of silence
“Do what”?
“You know what I mean. This business. You are good looking and educated, why not try something else?”
“Wow, you seem to have understood the scholastic qualification of a girl you met half an hour back. Not bad”, she said
I said nothing lying there.
“You think that this profession is dirty, and you have now become a link in this dirtiness”.
I didn’t utter a word.
“I can ask you the same question as to why you are here. But I won’t – There’s only one reason why a man goes searching for the flesh of a woman”. She continued
We continued to stay silent for the rest of the time, lying in the bed. It seemed as if we both were busy in thoughts of our own.
“Time up”, she said suddenly, taking me by surprise
I got myself ready to leave.
“Can I know your name?”, I asked before leaving
“Maya”, she said softly, but looking firmly into my eyes.
“Yours - if you don’t mind?”, she said
“Jeevan”
“Jeevan. To your information, you don’t have to look out for girls. Girls would reach out for you. You are not bad.”
I just smiled at her and left from there.
The auto wala was waiting outside. He accepted the payment and left me where he picked me up.
Two days later
“Hello, is it the correct address? Ok, Coming”.
I reached the second floor of the building and rang the bell. The door opened
“Yes Madam, I’m the male escort that you had called.”
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