It
was a moonless dull sky, and our moods were as gloomy as the weather outside.
The clock showed 2140 hours. Roshan was busy with his office work and Riya was
tired and wanted to sleep early. Me and Vinay decided to go out to eat ice
cream🍦 which would atleast make our moods right. Vinay said we will call up
Saurav and ask if he would want to join us for Ice cream. Saurav was already on
his way to our place as he was bored too, he said he was the only one staying in
his backpacker’s hostel for the night and didn’t had any company.
We stepped out of the house and the chill of the night hit us, the weather was pretty cold and gloomy. We met Saurav around the end of the road. Our plan was to find out some good Ice cream place and chill out there for a while and return back. 😊
Oh yes, I did not tell you about the people I have mentioned above. Let me give you some background. Three years back, on 2nd December I met Vinay for the first time through a common friend of mine. He is an avid traveler, a fitness freak and he was talking about his travel plan to Rajasthan which he had planned for the second week of December.😮 Hearing Rajasthan I could not sleep that night, the colorful streets and the vibrant culture of Rajasthan has always attracted me, tough I had been to Rajasthan twice before, I could not resist at the mention of that place. Next morning once I was in office, I walked up to my manager and asked for 7 days leave for the next week. With a bit of difficulty I managed to get the leaves approved. I asked myself, Chaitra you want to go to Rajasthan and you have only 8k savings and what about your Ladakh plan? I answered myself, for now Rajasthan, I will save for Ladakh next year..!
I took Vinay’s number from my friend and texted him to ask if I can join him for the trip. He had planned the trip with his girlfriend and his best friend, he happily told yes you can join. He added me to the whatsapp group “Hum Rajasthan Chale” immediately. Their plan was simple, Flight to Delhi – Stay at their friend’s place for a day – Jaipur for 4 days (stay at Vinay’s friend’s place) – Then decide what to do further. I had some Yatra credits which was sufficient for my flight to Delhi, which I booked instantly. And there I was ready for my next trip..!😄
Fast forward one week, me and Vinay are in Jaipur. Vinay’s both friends dropped out due to some personal emergencies. We stayed at Vinay’s friend Roshan’s house. Roshan was working in Jaipur. He stayed with his sister Riya.
First day in Jaipur, I and Vinay were sitting near Jal Mahal, a guy walked to me and asked me to take a picture of him. That’s how we met Saurav. He was a solo traveler crunching numbers and pivot tables during weekdays for money and travelling during weekends for his soul.
Now that you know all the characters we will return to our moonless night. Saurav joined us for ice cream that night, and we were walking on the empty streets. To brighten up our moods, Saurav said we will run a race till the corner of the road (that road was a pretty long stretch, around half a kilometer there the road ends) the loser will be sponsoring ice cream for everyone tonight. I said don’t count me in, am in no mood to run. He said me and Vinay will run (Poor guy 😛 he did not know that Vinay was a marathon runner) they both ran with all the enthusiasm for a free Ice cream, I would anyways get free Ice cream without any efforts.
I was walking in the cool breeze enjoying the solitude, the road end was visible and I could see Saurav and Vinay surrounded by three girls. I paced up my speed. As I approached them two girls walked away, Saurav was talking to the other girl. Vinay started walking towards me. The girl seemed to be in her twenties and she was very pretty all dressed up, looked like she was going for some party.
But my guess was completely wrong. As Vinay walked towards me I could see some tension in his face, what he said next left me blank for a moment. Vinay said, “You know what, she is a prostitute and Saurav wants to talk to her for some time. We both will go, let him stay back here and do whatever he wants to do” I had never seen something like this, I took a minute to sink in the situation. I said Vinay, yeah we will go back. Saurav called out at us and came running leaving the girl there.
Sometimes Travel leaves you in the most unlikely of places, makes you experience some hard realities of life which you would not even have imagined that it existed in the first place. The same thing happened with me here, I was of an opinion that such things happen only in movies, that is not reality but a fiction.
Saurav said I am planning to take a documentary for my Youtube channel about prostitution in India and this is a good opportunity for me to talk to her and understand things better. I want you both to accompany me. I looked at the girl, her eyes were expressionless. I could not comprehend anything at that moment. Vinay asked me if I was ok going with them, if not we will go back he said. I said a half-hearted Yes as I did not want to stop Saurav. I dint even know how this would turn out.
I understood that those at the brothels were in invisible shackles. Their movements were restricted. There were eyes following them wherever the girls went. They were not allowed to go out into the city or mingle with outsiders. The goons controlling the area ensured total isolation of their business assets from the society. Most of the times they would get customers coming by themselves, they are very rarely sent to stand on the roads looking for customers. This was one such day they were sent on roads.
What I experienced next is a heart wrenching reality that happened in the life of this teenage girl that left me in tears. This left me disturbed for days to come. As I narrate this incident I could still feel the pain of that unfortunate girl.😢
There, I and Vinay sat on the roof, the cold breeze made our bodies shiver. My mobile vibrated, it was Saurav, and he had bought the girl with him. My mind was still in a Trans trying to comprehend what we are doing. It was 2250 hours.
We stepped out of the house and the chill of the night hit us, the weather was pretty cold and gloomy. We met Saurav around the end of the road. Our plan was to find out some good Ice cream place and chill out there for a while and return back. 😊
Oh yes, I did not tell you about the people I have mentioned above. Let me give you some background. Three years back, on 2nd December I met Vinay for the first time through a common friend of mine. He is an avid traveler, a fitness freak and he was talking about his travel plan to Rajasthan which he had planned for the second week of December.😮 Hearing Rajasthan I could not sleep that night, the colorful streets and the vibrant culture of Rajasthan has always attracted me, tough I had been to Rajasthan twice before, I could not resist at the mention of that place. Next morning once I was in office, I walked up to my manager and asked for 7 days leave for the next week. With a bit of difficulty I managed to get the leaves approved. I asked myself, Chaitra you want to go to Rajasthan and you have only 8k savings and what about your Ladakh plan? I answered myself, for now Rajasthan, I will save for Ladakh next year..!
I took Vinay’s number from my friend and texted him to ask if I can join him for the trip. He had planned the trip with his girlfriend and his best friend, he happily told yes you can join. He added me to the whatsapp group “Hum Rajasthan Chale” immediately. Their plan was simple, Flight to Delhi – Stay at their friend’s place for a day – Jaipur for 4 days (stay at Vinay’s friend’s place) – Then decide what to do further. I had some Yatra credits which was sufficient for my flight to Delhi, which I booked instantly. And there I was ready for my next trip..!😄
Fast forward one week, me and Vinay are in Jaipur. Vinay’s both friends dropped out due to some personal emergencies. We stayed at Vinay’s friend Roshan’s house. Roshan was working in Jaipur. He stayed with his sister Riya.
First day in Jaipur, I and Vinay were sitting near Jal Mahal, a guy walked to me and asked me to take a picture of him. That’s how we met Saurav. He was a solo traveler crunching numbers and pivot tables during weekdays for money and travelling during weekends for his soul.
Now that you know all the characters we will return to our moonless night. Saurav joined us for ice cream that night, and we were walking on the empty streets. To brighten up our moods, Saurav said we will run a race till the corner of the road (that road was a pretty long stretch, around half a kilometer there the road ends) the loser will be sponsoring ice cream for everyone tonight. I said don’t count me in, am in no mood to run. He said me and Vinay will run (Poor guy 😛 he did not know that Vinay was a marathon runner) they both ran with all the enthusiasm for a free Ice cream, I would anyways get free Ice cream without any efforts.
I was walking in the cool breeze enjoying the solitude, the road end was visible and I could see Saurav and Vinay surrounded by three girls. I paced up my speed. As I approached them two girls walked away, Saurav was talking to the other girl. Vinay started walking towards me. The girl seemed to be in her twenties and she was very pretty all dressed up, looked like she was going for some party.
But my guess was completely wrong. As Vinay walked towards me I could see some tension in his face, what he said next left me blank for a moment. Vinay said, “You know what, she is a prostitute and Saurav wants to talk to her for some time. We both will go, let him stay back here and do whatever he wants to do” I had never seen something like this, I took a minute to sink in the situation. I said Vinay, yeah we will go back. Saurav called out at us and came running leaving the girl there.
Sometimes Travel leaves you in the most unlikely of places, makes you experience some hard realities of life which you would not even have imagined that it existed in the first place. The same thing happened with me here, I was of an opinion that such things happen only in movies, that is not reality but a fiction.
Saurav said I am planning to take a documentary for my Youtube channel about prostitution in India and this is a good opportunity for me to talk to her and understand things better. I want you both to accompany me. I looked at the girl, her eyes were expressionless. I could not comprehend anything at that moment. Vinay asked me if I was ok going with them, if not we will go back he said. I said a half-hearted Yes as I did not want to stop Saurav. I dint even know how this would turn out.
I understood that those at the brothels were in invisible shackles. Their movements were restricted. There were eyes following them wherever the girls went. They were not allowed to go out into the city or mingle with outsiders. The goons controlling the area ensured total isolation of their business assets from the society. Most of the times they would get customers coming by themselves, they are very rarely sent to stand on the roads looking for customers. This was one such day they were sent on roads.
What I experienced next is a heart wrenching reality that happened in the life of this teenage girl that left me in tears. This left me disturbed for days to come. As I narrate this incident I could still feel the pain of that unfortunate girl.😢
There, I and Vinay sat on the roof, the cold breeze made our bodies shiver. My mobile vibrated, it was Saurav, and he had bought the girl with him. My mind was still in a Trans trying to comprehend what we are doing. It was 2250 hours.
To be continued..........!!
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