Reliving Cleopatra’s Syndrome
By Jawed KhurshidTinsel town Mumbai has become the breeding ground for Gigolos – the male prostitutes. With penchant for westernization, certain cultural traits have made their headway into our society. Gigolos are among these traits.
The saucy headlines on gigolos that splashed the front pages of numerous newspapers across the globe spur ‘moral police’ into action that went on the warpath demanding their blood.
‘Gigolo’- is one among them and this specter of Cleopatra has started haunting us and promises to tear apart our faithful social institutions.
It was first surfaced in the approving west. Thereafter, like tsunami it struck our shores and splashed our metros with vehemence. An excessive leaning towards westernization has virtually laid red carpet for it. Gigolo, like strong westerly gale, has ultimately shrouded our cities in a mushroom-like cloud, suffocating and asphyxiating us.
Gigolos are as old as the human being themselves. Eons ago, the grey sandy expanse of sub-saharan Egypt saw the emergence of a strange species that used to ‘entertain’ farer-sex outside the precinct of matrimony. Cleopatra-the powerful Egyptian empress-and undisputed beauty was historically famous for her penchant for refreshing young men – the gigolos.
A new hulking breed of debonair youth with leering smiles that spread across their faces and white band tied around their wrists could be observed either at rave parties or other pick-up joints, such as Chowpatty, Juhu, Band Stand to name a few.
On condition of anonymity, one gigolo said they could be recognized either by white band or hanky tied around their wrist or upper red clothes they wear. They put on indecent tight-fitting attire to vulgarly display their brawn and taut curves. With their 46-inch wide chest, they prowl about the streets and alleys to lure their prey. And their prey mostly constitutes the sex-starved women.
Walk solo down the beaches in Mumbai, and you are sure to be approached by brawny gigolos. Single women with surging libidos mostly rely on gigolos to satisfy their carnal passions. “Gigolos don’t cater only to women. Many of us have both men and women customers, in fact, mostly men” recalled Paul (name changed) a gigolo in his mid twenties. Most gigolos in the city are men between 19 and 27. Paul Knows well that his career is short-lived therefore he hopes to start an escort services soon.
Prostitution is soaring in Mumbai and male Prostitution, too, is not lagging behind. A plethora of websites have sprung up and mushroomed, advertising the services of gigolos. There is a sort of directory mentioning code numbers of prominent gigolos on particular websites, such as Gigolo 001 – J Naughty & David Caretta.
This sex-racket is well oiled and organized, possesses ‘HR-style’ management that maintains their clientele’s record and ensures that their customers’ identities remain strictly confidential. They see to it that it never gets revealed even under the worst of circumstances, as it is the only factor that sustains their business. However, there are a few clientele based freelance gigolos too, whose customers usually remain fixed. ‘It remains unorganized and hence attracts more risk. Therefore we stick to our time-tested clients’, said one free-lance gigolo of the city.
Some wealthy ladies hunt for Gigolos whose hubbies are either on frequent business jaunts or those whose surging libidos fail to satisfy. The price they pay ranges from a modest Rs. 1500 to whopping Rs. 50,000 per night. According to a senior journalist who worked on these topics, ‘there is a Bangalore based female who frequently visit the city specifically to fetch a particular gigolo. She pays his flight expenses- from Mumbai to Bangalore and back, books a five-star hotel there and shells out Rs. 60,000 per night.’ ‘This gigolo stays in the garden city of Bangalore for few days and then returns to Mumbai. In every such paid trip he earns a whopping Rs. 1.25 lakh’, he added.
There is another gigolo whose ‘esteemed’ client resides in Pune. This ‘gentleman’ hires a cab and darts out to Pune almost every fortnight. Apart from bearing his traveling and other expenses, the lady pays him Rs. 20000 per day. There are many gigolos who concentrate on international clients as they pay a fatter package and that too in dollars US or euros. Many among them even earn $ 500 per day
A lanky teenager and 12th class student of a premier institution of the city asked, ‘who has the heart to ignore the glint and clang of money that comes so easily. Nowhere else can a person earn such an amount and that too in a single night, here, money comes quicker and its flow remains uninterrupted and smooth.
The lust for getting quick bucks has even forced many young professionals to pursue it as their ‘part-time preoccupation is many times more profitable than their regular occupations. Not surprisingly, a few of them have left their old jobs and permanently stepped in to the shoes of gigolos.
Sometime back, Andheri Railway police nabbed a youth, from a second class compartment, who was found pasting stickers with a titillating message that read, ‘if you want a metallic body contact- (a mobile number was mentioned)’ The youth, on sustained interrogation, revealed that he was working with a cellphone company.
Many young men from fashion, modeling and film industries are moonlighting as gigolos. A scribe on condition of anonymity disclosed that there was a farmhouse owned by a prominent politician of the city in the vicinity of Kalyan, which ‘plays host to model moonlighting as gigolos that entertain their clients far away from the din and bustle of Mumbai’.
Shahid (name changed), himself a gigolo, narrated a harrowing experience of one of his ‘colleagues who was found to be HIV positive. In a fit of rage mixed with nervousness and helplessness he vowed to take revenge on every woman. He went on a cohabiting spree with his client without using contraceptives till the merciless claws of death squeezed out every iota of life from his frail body.
Ladies, who pick up gigolos for their ‘pleasure’, at times, draw sadistic delight by inflicting pain on their bodies. Legal experts believe there are difficulties in arresting the trend. A police official said gigolo cannot be booked under the immoral trafficking act because the act lacks such provisions.