THE ESCORT (SHORT STORY)

This is a true story.

Recently, Reba was in news. She was arrested along with gang of other girls in a sting operation to uncover escort prostitution ring. I wish to share her story to you, so that if there are females working as an escort or contemplating doing it, they may know what they are up against.

She is 24 year old college student originally from the state of MP but now studying in a prestigious college at New Delhi. She is from a middle class family having lost her father eight years ago. Her mother took petty jobs in the neighbourhood to bring her up along with her two elder brothers. Of her brothers, none of them could study beyond school levels; the eldest started doing business of some kind and got separated from the family after marrying a girl of his choice. The other one is more of a criminal mind and keeps getting in and out of jail most of the time.

She herself was of a bit studious nature, wanted to make her life better so, after her higher secondary opted to come to national capital for getting admission in a college to finish with her studies and look for some job. But staying at Delhi proved hard for that so far mamma’s daughter, to make the ends meet. Besides food and lodging, the college fees also! While her peer group was busy partying after the college, she took up a couple of tuitions to help her out. It was while coming home from one such tuition that she met Afrida at Karolbagh bus stand. Afrida was approaching forty, it seems. She had curly hairs and must have been a thing to sooth eye-sores in her prime. As girls from small cities always seem to have this knack, she quickly got familiar with Afrida. Taking her sympathetic views as a cue for interest in condition, she even told her about it, exchanged the cell phone numbers and rode her way when the bus came.

After about a week from that, she got a call from Afrida asking her if she wanted to make quick bucks. Her interest was now sky high. And why it should not have been in her situation? Even a rupee was more than welcome to her. Afrida was in a hotel with a guy whom she introduced as her cousin. Cousin was more like a cheapo – middle-aged with deep penetrating eyes behind the specs. Reba could not face those scanning eyes for long, turned her face downwards and kept tying – untying the corner of her dupatta (Head Scarf) on her little finger for some good five to ten minutes. Afrida introduced her as Rabeiya, not Reba and quickly vanished from the scene on the pretext of fetching soda water for her aching stomach.

No sooner had Afrida been out of sight, that Abdul, the cousin of hers started behaving erratically. Reba wanted to run out but the door was locked from outside. The beast, seeing the situation got motivated, came out in his true colours, pounced on Reba, over-powered her and finally ended up raping her. Reba could not but only make feeble cries for help from outside – which was further muffled by the towel used by Abdul to gag her mouth. I don’t think any one passing through the corridor could have noticed her cries. When the beast was done, he dressed up and went out leaving Reba alone on the bed, semi-naked, with her tears and sobs. After about ten minutes she was awakened to her senses by a known voice. That was Afrida who had returned back and aghast; she was smiling cheek to cheek at her condition. Realising that, she was setup; Reba jumped at her with rage of a hurt lioness and brought her to ground. After she pounded her head 3-4 times against the ground, her strength gave way and she restarted crying, “…Why me?” Afrida had no answer she brought out a bundle of notes from her side, literally threw at Reba’s face and said thus, “Keep this and don’t cry. You require money.” Reba first thought to slap her hard but after some quiet and tense moments picked the money up and into her blouse. … Yes, she required that money! That evening she had a full meal and why not, rightly or not, she had earned that! It also came to her mind to call her criminal brother and get him repay Afrida in her own currencies! Thinking, her brother had enough of his own problems, she restrained her revengeful ideas. Besides, who knows whether he was in or out of jail at that time!

Then, that became a routine. Afrida used to call her for some clients, introduce her as Rabeiya, send her to some hotel rooms and used to take her and Abdul’s commission from total payments. Abdul used to help her in commuting in his own auto rickshaw. … Yes, he was a respectable auto rickshaw driver during daytime and not just a pimp! Reba had started going out of city also on calls. She continued this new business of prostitution and escorting for about a year. But, hold on, don’t we often get the news of rackets of such gangs being busted by police? What about that …? She thought she knew the ropes; the likelihood of getting busted was very low. She knew what to do and, if ever got busted; it was unlikely to cause her problems. She then got courageous and started putting ads on the Back pages of magazines and adult websites for escorting. Was she ever wrong?

One day she got an email. It was from a prospective client. She accepted to meet him at a major hotel. Abdul drove her all the way to the hotel and she went to the room. She walked in, looked around and everything seemed in order. They started a little chitchat and neither of them was going to get to the point right away. Seeing her client struggle to maintain his breath in control and taking him as naïve, she decided to break the ice by saying, “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours” as she had done in the past. She unbuttoned her top to the skins and asked the man to loose his pants. The man dropped his pants and … bang! He had a hard on! She raised her skirt and dropped the panties. They, for some time, indulged in touching of private parts. This had been her modus operandi when she used to go out escorting. He told about his desire to have intercourse with her. She told like an expert it would be Rs 5000 for an hour and he would have to use the condom supplied by her. She always used the best of condoms. He gave her the money and she gave him the condom. Both of them got completely undressed. He asked Reba to lie on the bed and start by masturbating because he liked to watch that. So, she lied on the bed and started to masturbate. This went on for several minutes as she was enjoying the idea of entertaining him. Then all of a sudden, three men from the adjoining room came in with a thud and said, “You are under arrested for prostitution.” She was immediately handcuffed and was told to stand there. The police searched her clothes and purse while one of the cops took out the camera that was hidden in one of the corners of the room. A few more pictures were taken of her in nude while she was handcuffed. Then one of the cops said something into others’ ears. Barring one, they all went out. The guy standing there pushed her to bed, twisted her breasts, sucked her cheeks, lips and had sex with her like an animal. After he was done, he got dressed, went out and some one else came for the job. Reba was on the bed all the time thinking about whether there was any difference between these men and Abdul. After they were finished, they un-cuffed her, allowed her to dress, re-cuffed and led her out of the hotel into a police vehicle. Smiling cheek to cheek, they took her to the police station. There a press conference was called and she, along with other girls caught in different sting operations, was shown as prize catch with ‘V’ signs to the flashing camera lights. The next day the story was in the local papers, on the local television news and on their websites with all the details of her arrest and pictures with her face – either blurred or masked behind black squares. She was publically humiliated.

She was told of the charges against her at the court. She was charged with two felonies – one for prostitution and the other for harbouring a terrorist. … Harbouring a terrorist? Yes! Abdul and Afrida were also caught and they were booked by the police in some old bomb blast case to help save the face of otherwise failing investigating authorities. Reba chose neither to answer any question nor to contest the charges. Case prolonged for a few months. One day she was visited at her cell by no one else but her mother. Mamma’s little daughter then could not control her emotions. They both cried there full aloud so much so that guards had to rebuke them against making such noise. Her mother, while going out, told her that she would do any thing to get her out on bail. She was finally released on bail a week later; off course, it did cost her mother all her savings. The worse was yet to come.

Boosted financially by the savings of her mother and emotionally by her presence itself, she decided to fight the trials out. She hired an attorney who asked Rs 5000 per hearing for her case. But, what she heard next was enough to take the lid off on her. Attorney told that any evidence presented at trial is a public record and after trial anyone could get a copy of her video and pictures … much like a legalized pornographic material! She was sure to get 4-5 years in jail if convicted. The attorney offered to set a meeting for her with the judge who was hearing the case. He said she could get the charges converted into a case of misdemeanour and get lesser sentence if she was agreeing to give her ‘services’ to the judge! She, initially, was blown out of the water like a fish but her mother then persisted. She did as asked and came back to college after 6 months in jail.

Today she is back again with her ways though she had promised her mother to keep away from the escort business. She has also befriended a rich guy who was yet another of her client. She does not keep in touch with Abdul or Afrida and doesn’t know about their fate. She has now become very active in student politics at the college. And why not, she has to make her way up the social ladder!

Lastly, if any of you still want to follow her foot-steps, my best wishes are always with you.