IS KALIMPONG FLESH TRADE FREE??? THINK AGAIN !!!!

IS KALIMPONG FLESH TRADE FREE??? THINK AGAIN !!!!

WORLDS OLDEST PROFFESSION MAKES NEW ENTRY IN KALIMPONG

By Sandip C. Jain

In a region where good job opportunities are as scare as the water available for drinking, any earning opportunity from any profession that a youth can get, should be a welcome one. But not so for this profession, which though considered as the oldest profession in the world, is not one which anyone would or should recommend to any one.

Despite the stigma attached to the profession it has become an attractive one for a section of the girls of the hills. Prostitution, whether one would agree or not has become a major problem in the hills. A few physically smart and fashion conscious girls of the region with limited resources and almost no technical knowledge have started to resort to selling their body in an effort to mint easy money. While much of it is still under wraps several incidents in the last few months have blown the lid off this racket. Himalayan Times in an effort to make the public and authorities of Kalimpong more aware of this grave problem tracked down several of the girls involved in this social menace to analyze the problem.

22 years old, Sneha G. (name changed to protect identity) is a school dropout from a local reputed school. Having lost her father at the age of 13, Sneha’s mother could not handle the financial pressure of letting Sneha repeat her studies in Class 8 when her daughter failed to pass in her annual examination. Having no education to back her up she eventually entered the flesh trade at the age of 19. “Without any regret or any scruples she say “I entered this trade as because I was not qualified to do anything else and of course because the money is really good. I have three people who look up to me for their survival and I had to do something.” She really has no hang ups about what society thinks about her. She is extremely clear in saying “where was the society when I needed education, where was the society when I needed a job. So why should it poke its nose into what I am doing today??”

There are at least a dozen of such Snehas in Kalimpong today. After all entering the flesh trade does not require any qualification as such. Payal K. (named changed to protect identity) all of 20 years says “I am into this trade for the simple reason that I needed the money. All I needed to enter this profession was a mobile phone and the mental strength required to shut out the voice of my conscience .”

25 year old Nima D. (name changed to protect identity) a six year old veteran of this trade, walks about in Main Road as if she out on her weekly shopping trip. With a natty cell phone in hand and casual jeans and Tee-shirts, she looks like any other ordinary girl waiting outsides a restaurant for a friend. Little does one know that after having worked out the business details from her trendy Nokia mobile, she is waiting to be picked up by her client at a pre planned spot. The red hankerchief on her right hand signifying she is the person who the deal has been struck with.

This writer having made an appointment with her met her at her residence at 10th mile. She has this strange logic to justify her profession which seems to have enabled her to buy all the latest gizmos of the present times that stud her two storied house.

“Had this profession not existed, the streets of our town and else where would become too dangerous for any girl to venture out on them.” “Rape and molestation would become as common as common cold,” she says. Baring her life story she says “I used to work in a beauty parlor in Siliguri which actually was only a front for the flesh trade. I had to move out of Siliguri as new initiatives by the local administration there had made it too risky for professionals like us. Operating in and out of Kalimpong is much easier and safer as there is less Police pressure here.”

While it may not be too evident on the surface but those in the know-how of the rapidly with which this trade is inciting the girls of the hills, are extremely alarmed with the developments. It is hence not suprising that a substantial percentages of the call girls in Siliguri are from the hills. A raid by the Siliguri Police at several places in Siliguri some months back netted a dozen girls working in this trade, most of whom were from the Hills but the matter that concerns us is that the kingpin of the entire operation was from Kalimpong. Of course its another matter that by this time all or most of the girls are out in the open and in most probability back to walking the streets. These are the type of girls who have become role models for many of the other girls from their locality. Their affluent life style and prosperity is an attraction for others in their towns and villages to tread on their foot steps. The other aspect to consider, is that these girls are taking up this profession these day out of their own free will. Today’s girls in this trade are no prisoners kept confined in dingy one room apartments, they are masters of their own destiny and decide on their own which person they want to transact business with. Gone are the days where the pimp was the lord of the lady. No pimps or middlemen are now in between the girls and the client and the girls. The new middleman or the pimp, if there is any, is the modern day wonder box called the mobile.

Nima D. says in this regard “we are like any other professional working women. No one should have any reason to take away our work or stop us from earning with the absurd theory that the girls are being exploited. Where is the question of being exploited when we operate independent of anyone and when are have not been forced into this trade by anyone??” “Had we been in Netherlands or any other country where are trade is legal we would be doing something perfectly legal.” She adds.

How much ever weird her logic may be but the fact remain that this problem is acquiring serious proportion in the hills and things are angling to get out of hand, if something is not done about it.