``Will you be an escort?''

Just what happens when a stranger enters your gmail chat list?

I guess this was about four years back, when a woman I did not know ended up in my chat list. The name was all so familiar. Maybe it's one of my classmates from the creative writing class. I let it be.

The so-perceived classmate's real credentials, I got to know in an amusing but not so pleasant way. The conversation left me with a sick feeling.

Am browsing mail on gmail, when the chat window opens suddenly. Let's call her AK.

AK: hello, would you be interested to work in an escort service?

What? Who on earth would try this stupid enticing thing? Obviously shocked but curious in an instant...aargh...me the journo all time...

Me: Who the hell r u?

AK: My name is A as you can see it and I work as an escort. We are looking for more people. Would
       you be interested?

Me: am wondering how u showed up on my chat wall.

AK: we added each other years ago I think.

Me: What made u add me to the list? Do you know my background?

AK: I do not know...so asking, if you would like to.

I am irritated by now, but still curious if she was willing to talk...you never know if there is a story in there!

Me: u r asking a journalist. now just tell me how i must react, curiosity or amusement?

AK: interested. you are anyways used to travel and meeting new people.
        i think you will be a good fit.

Oh really. Now that's a shocker. And how dare she assume if I am a journo, I travel and so am available?

Me: Oh My God! i can't believe what u r doing. look, i do not wish to judge u, but let me tell u, am
        in no need of doing this. am happily married...blah blah

I do go on to add:
I can only pray for ur well being and request u not to bother me with such queries.

AK: you might not be in need, you can do it for fun, like i do. whats the big deal? that u r married is
       not going to be a problem

Me: ok...let me get this straight, if a person is a journo, it does not mean that person is available for
       such work. i have met people in sex work, but no one stepped out of their boundaries to entice
       other professionals like me into their world

AK: I agree, but then it is very common for women in media to be escorts.

I want to give her a tight slap. For suggesting that my colleagues and friends who sweat it out are escorts. If she was in front of me, I would have done that.

But I am curious if she means what she says. And if she knows it.



Me: really? this is making me curious. can u name them?

AK: No, I won't of course. what is stopping you...why can't you spend sometime with some one when
        anyways go out as part of your job?

Me: what makes u think all journalists are always travelling, and are escorts? how dare you paint
       media women with that brush?

Miss Enticer is least bothered about how angry I am. And goes on. I want to hit her for insulting me and my colleagues.

AK: I said `most'. Anyways, how old are you?

Me: if you are part of an escort service trying to lure women, this is a bad selling bait. my age thing -
        none of ur business. First of all, stop assuming that people `want to do it' when u do this

I am aghast. She continues mundanely.

AK: if you are below 30 and decent looking you can get 10-50K per day

Me: it is one thing for u to be an escort and another to pull others into the web. u r obviously trained
       to do it this way

AK: am just offering work...just socialize with business men and make them feel home for a day.

Am now getting clearer in my head how the trafficking industry works at this level. So tailored to suit the male libido, so particular about converting the woman's body into a product to be used and thrown. Am amazed though, that she treats it as a legitimate job, something the men who pay her will not do,nor will governments and courts, but she is made to believe so.

Me: wow...what a job!

I admit, am getting judgemental here. I go on.

Me: and they get to go back to their wives the next day, while all u get is cash in return. if this cash
       runs a family, i can understand...

I want to go on...but she interrupts.

AK: ofcourse...jobs are to earn money...just like your current day job.

She obviously does not know that I am not working with any organisation, and am in a faraway land at that.

AK: okay, so are you saying you will be interested if some money goes to family?

Me wants to end the conversation, having run out of patience with this seller of such a job op.

Me: all the best to u my dear...u will learn when life teaches u
       bad bait that (about the family part)

AK: its totally upto you if you want to donate some of your earnings to charity....

Me: am deleting u from my list. goodbye, good luck with life

AK: why...let it be, just in case you change your mind. i will always be available, if u want to start
        working and making good money.

Me: Men won't call what u r doing a `job'.

AK: what do they call?

Me: you know better. i do not want to talk further.

 

AK: i just don't get what you find so bad about it...what is your objection in the first place? dont you
       feel comfortable with new people?

At this point, I have deleted her id from my chat list. Am in no mood to be in touch, even if for a story. But am left with a lot of questions. I quick check her name on google, and other forums have her name all over with cryptic messages, obviously for her to get in touch with her escort agents.

``Your brother is calling you...'' was a common message. Another said, ``Calling AK *******''

It does ring bells about how the system works. What was intriguing was how she was schooled into believing that this is a job like any other, by the people who hired her. And it is probably a similar thing she was using to suck in other girls into the profession. And she also believes there is fun in it.

I cannot call this conversation a perfect journalistic one. I still cringe how anyone can make such an absurd and abusive remark about women who slog it out in my profession. I did not query her age when talking to her. But her email id hints at her being of 21 years. That's my guess, not conclusion. If it is a job as she argues, why do only girls like her get caught during police raids? Why do courts put the `immoral' label only on the women into the trade, and not the men who make merry and get away with it? Does she get to go ahead in life and get married? I doubt it.

The businessmen she talks about have all that luxury - go `have fun' and get back to your family anyways.

And the words they use - `make them feel at home'.