Posted on 05/25/2002 2:56:00 PM PDT by swarthyguy
War is bad for business - any kind of business. In fact with nuclear neighbours India and Pakistan engaged in a public slugfest, even the world's oldest profession is proving to be no guarantee against insolvency. As if the September 11 strikes and subsequent American military romp in Afghanistan were not bad enough, looming war clouds over the subcontinent have virtually dealt a body blow to male prostitutes in India. With well-endowed foreign clients disappearing overnight, this nascent community has been pretty much left to fend for itself.
The return to the relative penury of a few thousand rupees a month is proving especially hard to digest for male fitness trainers who once earned lakhs as Erotic Service Provides or ESPs. Memories of the good old days when voluptuous Japanese and Korean women thronged to sample their wares are all that remain to make life bearable.
Khalil, an Afghan fitness trainer with 10 years of professional experiences, reminiscences with visible delight about his encounters with Japanese women who have been the mainstay of the trade for years. "I still remember the thrill of my maiden experience with a Japanese diplomat's wife in Delhi. With the best food and wines and charming ambience providing a perfect backdrop to the main act itself, I would gladly render my services over and over again. To be paid Rs 10,000 for pleasuring myself and the lady can only be described as an added bonus", he says.
A group of 50 Japanese workingwomen on a visit to India in 1996 was the first recipient of such paid male "hospitality", insiders reveal. According to Vijay Thakur, an ESP who was part of this pioneering encounter: "I was contacted by an interpreter attached to the group. My credentials proving satisfactory, I was initially hired for two nights against an amount of Rs 40,000. After the delegation extended its stay by two weeks, I was asked to get in three more men into the act. That is how I found my way into this lucrative trade."
However healthy sexual appetite and an eye for the lucre alone are not enough to get into the profession. Indeed not everybody gets paid to have fun. "You need to pass stringent medical standards, including blood, saliva and urine tests, in order to qualify. Even then you would need to be recommended by a mediator which itself is a hush-hush affair," explains Ronnie Varma, a Japanese interpreter.
And with clients expecting full value for money, an ESP can never care for his body enough. "Because an out-of-shape ESP is a dead ESP, regular exercises and healthy diet are a must. Besides working out 4-5 hours a day, the serious professional also spends close to Rs 10,000 a month on nutritional diet. After all it is the stamina that fetches the price", remarks Partho Ghosh, a fitness instructor.
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