<p>A customer is slapped when he tries to grope one of the four girls he is haggling with at kotha number 64 on GB Road. It does not end there. The other girls too slap him, one after the other. The man in his thirties looks embarrassingly at the large gathering in the brightly-lit hall, and then he hurriedly enters a tiny dark room with a sex worker.<br /><br /></p>.<p>At another corner in the same hall, something similar is taking place between another woman and four men. But she plays along. All of them want to be with her at the same time. “The room won’t hold all of you at once. One by one,” she tells them.<br /><br />“Once in a while these girls slap someone around to show that they rule inside the brothels. Most customers behave themselves inside the rooms after witnessing such a reaction,” explains a young male pimp who introduces himself as Roshan, perhaps not his real name.<br /><br />He had trailed this reporter, promising to provide Indian and foreign girls aged 16 to 18, before being told of the real purpose behind the visit.<br /><br />Occupied mostly by Nepali girls, kotha number 64 is the most popular among the about 100 brothels in this busy market area. It is also considered the safest for customers as the rate for one-time sex is fixed, at Rs 300.<br /><br />For the sex workers here, life is confined to the dark, movie poster-filled walls of the four-storey building. It is within these walls that they cook, raise their children and try to find love.<br /><br />A man in his thirties cuddles a girl in the common area of the brothel while she plays a game on his mobile phone. She unwillingly leaves his company half-an-hour later when three or four men repeatedly express their desire to obtain her services.<br /><br />Once outside the brothel, this married man tells Deccan Herald that he visits this sex worker almost every week and the two have developed feelings for each other. Earlier he had offered to pay extra to be able to take the girl out for a movie. But an outing of any sort is banned for the GB Road prostitutes. “The girl said she wants to go out with me but can’t due to the rules. I don’t want to make it difficult for her and me,” he says.<br /><br />Believing this reporter to be a customer, he sincerely advises him to keep away from any misadventure.<br /><br />But the pimp Roshan learnt things the hard way. He shows several self-inflicted blade injury marks on his hand that have now healed. “I fell in love with a girl in one of these brothels about a year ago,” he says. Once the brothel owner learnt of the “setting” between the two, she banned him from bringing customers for them or even enter the place. It took him time to forget the girl and move on.<br /><br />He shares the story of another brothel where a prostitute was so much in love with a customer that she did not even compel him to use a condom during sex about a year ago, soon leading to her pregnancy. The customer suffered the usual fate. The girl was terribly harassed and made an example of. “But they welcomed the child and even closed the brothel for an entire day in celebration of his birth,” says Roshan.<br /><br />While many girls at kotha number 64 appear to be close to particular customers, they are aware of several eyes on them. These are of those manning stalls selling cigarettes, soft drinks and local beer – all at exorbitant rates - inside the brothel. Also selling snacks and fruit salad inside are street vendors. A tailor at one of the floors of this building takes measurements of a girl while several sex workers check out the items with cosmetics vendors.<br /><br />“These men keep an eye on the girls and customers,” says Roshan, who has taken a few hundred from this reporter.<br /><br />Customers are not allowed to take any photographs. “Photography not allowed. If caught, camera will be taken,” read several posters inside. But posters advising the use of condoms have been ripped out.<br /><br />Meanwhile, scores of men walk up and down the narrow and dingy stairs to pick up a girl of their choice. Some older and out-of-shape prostitutes try to solicit customers on the first floor, but their calls of “jaanu’ and “darling” are generally ignored.</p>
<p>A customer is slapped when he tries to grope one of the four girls he is haggling with at kotha number 64 on GB Road. It does not end there. The other girls too slap him, one after the other. The man in his thirties looks embarrassingly at the large gathering in the brightly-lit hall, and then he hurriedly enters a tiny dark room with a sex worker.<br /><br /></p>.<p>At another corner in the same hall, something similar is taking place between another woman and four men. But she plays along. All of them want to be with her at the same time. “The room won’t hold all of you at once. One by one,” she tells them.<br /><br />“Once in a while these girls slap someone around to show that they rule inside the brothels. Most customers behave themselves inside the rooms after witnessing such a reaction,” explains a young male pimp who introduces himself as Roshan, perhaps not his real name.<br /><br />He had trailed this reporter, promising to provide Indian and foreign girls aged 16 to 18, before being told of the real purpose behind the visit.<br /><br />Occupied mostly by Nepali girls, kotha number 64 is the most popular among the about 100 brothels in this busy market area. It is also considered the safest for customers as the rate for one-time sex is fixed, at Rs 300.<br /><br />For the sex workers here, life is confined to the dark, movie poster-filled walls of the four-storey building. It is within these walls that they cook, raise their children and try to find love.<br /><br />A man in his thirties cuddles a girl in the common area of the brothel while she plays a game on his mobile phone. She unwillingly leaves his company half-an-hour later when three or four men repeatedly express their desire to obtain her services.<br /><br />Once outside the brothel, this married man tells Deccan Herald that he visits this sex worker almost every week and the two have developed feelings for each other. Earlier he had offered to pay extra to be able to take the girl out for a movie. But an outing of any sort is banned for the GB Road prostitutes. “The girl said she wants to go out with me but can’t due to the rules. I don’t want to make it difficult for her and me,” he says.<br /><br />Believing this reporter to be a customer, he sincerely advises him to keep away from any misadventure.<br /><br />But the pimp Roshan learnt things the hard way. He shows several self-inflicted blade injury marks on his hand that have now healed. “I fell in love with a girl in one of these brothels about a year ago,” he says. Once the brothel owner learnt of the “setting” between the two, she banned him from bringing customers for them or even enter the place. It took him time to forget the girl and move on.<br /><br />He shares the story of another brothel where a prostitute was so much in love with a customer that she did not even compel him to use a condom during sex about a year ago, soon leading to her pregnancy. The customer suffered the usual fate. The girl was terribly harassed and made an example of. “But they welcomed the child and even closed the brothel for an entire day in celebration of his birth,” says Roshan.<br /><br />While many girls at kotha number 64 appear to be close to particular customers, they are aware of several eyes on them. These are of those manning stalls selling cigarettes, soft drinks and local beer – all at exorbitant rates - inside the brothel. Also selling snacks and fruit salad inside are street vendors. A tailor at one of the floors of this building takes measurements of a girl while several sex workers check out the items with cosmetics vendors.<br /><br />“These men keep an eye on the girls and customers,” says Roshan, who has taken a few hundred from this reporter.<br /><br />Customers are not allowed to take any photographs. “Photography not allowed. If caught, camera will be taken,” read several posters inside. But posters advising the use of condoms have been ripped out.<br /><br />Meanwhile, scores of men walk up and down the narrow and dingy stairs to pick up a girl of their choice. Some older and out-of-shape prostitutes try to solicit customers on the first floor, but their calls of “jaanu’ and “darling” are generally ignored.</p>
