Give Me a BUZZ

According to Mumbai Police estimates, the city is home to about 50 such cliques, many of them fronts for clandestine sex rackets, promoted through ambiguous advertisements for party planners.

Once inducted into the fold, a variety of services are available to the caller8212;phone sex, massages, even erotic entertainment on call. Weekend parties at three-star hotels are the perks. 8216;8216;It8217;s purely voluntary. There8217;s a lot of loneliness in this city, we just provide a platform for people to meet,8217;8217; says Rima.

The couple willingly agree to meet me, eager to initiate a new customer. 8216;8216;I always like to judge what kind of people we take in,8217;8217; she says. The appointment is set for Sunday evening at a suburban mall.

Memberships range from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000, although many clubs enlist women for free.

One such enterprise is Pune8217;s Royal International Friendship Association, which has 16,000 clients. Mumbai, Lucknow and Kanpur, say its proprietors, are their most profitable markets. A large chunk of the customers are businessmen who pay Rs 2,000 for a three-month enrollment. 8216;8216;Earlier we used to charge ladies too, but then they began to leave and consequently male membership started to diminish,8217;8217; says associate Rahul Saxena.

Forty five-year-old Raman, married with two children, is one of Royal International8217;s newest members. 8216;8216;I can be contacted any time between 10 and 6, because that8217;s when I8217;m at work,8217;8217; he grins. Raman maintains his partner doesn8217;t excite him any more. He prefers the under-30 segment8212;I8217;m his first respondent since he deposited the money in a bank account three days ago. Though a newcomer to the coven, he8217;s already joined two clubs8212;the other one is Mr Sharma8217;s Tiger Friendship association.

A dignified voice answers in English. Sharma runs a language institute in Bandra, and operates from a room in Bhayander in north Mumbai. He promptly offers to send his secretary to meet me the next day, provided I pay in cash.

Over a cup of milky tea at a railway eatery, his assistant Mita slips me a neatly compiled list of 10 numbers in return for a crisp 500-rupee note. Draped in a white floral sari, a dash of maroon sindoor melting on her perspiring forehead, she digs into a plate of sandwiches. 8216;8216;If you need more numbers, it8217;s ten rupees each,8217;8217; she adds. For Rs 6,000 a month, she8217;s on her feet travelling around the city daily, meeting new clients and delivering lists. 8216;8216;They8217;re all very happy with my polite demeanour,8217;8217; she smiles.

But a dedicated set-up like Sharma8217;s is a rarity. Most societies are run informally from homes or simply off the street.

Twenty-three-year-old Mohit has been managing Elite club from a cellphone for nearly three years. His first greeting on the phone is an enthusiastic 8216;8216;Mujhse dosti karoge?8217;8217; An hour later, confronted by a journalist for the very first time, he8217;s shaken and bursts into tears. 8216;8216;I8217;m only doing this to support my family,8217;8217; cries the bespectacled youngster.

Call timings are clearly listed on his adverts8212;11 am to 7 pm8212;because his parents are unaware he even owns a cellphone. In the 30 minutes that we speak, he misses 31 calls. 8216;8216;I receive about 500 every day,8217;8217; says Mohit. The Hinduja College commerce graduate, who started off as an odd-jobs boy, claims to have seen it all. He says the industry survives only because the authorities are involved. 8216;8216;I8217;ve seen the movie Page 3 four times, and that8217;s exactly the way this underworld operates,8217;8217; he says.

The week8217;s gone by and it8217;s time to meet Rima and Rakesh. He8217;s a lanky paan-chewing man with a light brown mop of hair; she8217;s the seemingly docile housewife, clanging chudis, mangalsutra and all. Rakesh would rather not look me in the eye as Rima proceeds to talk shop. 8216;8216;We8217;ve categorised our members8212;some just want to be phone friends; others may want a friendly physical relationship. What do you want?8217;8217; she asks.

It8217;s a world where the boundaries of camaraderie are limited only by a lack of imagination.

Rima doesn8217;t think her venture falls on the wrong side of the law, and is not flustered when she learns I8217;m from the media. 8216;8216;I also have friends in the police, who warn me when it8217;s unsafe to advertise,8217;8217; she confides. Predictably, Rima8217;s not even her real name, just a pseudonym adopted to avoid complications with the in-laws. They8217;ve never encountered the authorities, but she keenly follows all minor alterations in print laws and even cites the recent Mumbai High Court order forbidding the demeaning of women through coded ads.

The carrot, of course, is the easy cash. Mohit manages to make Rs 10,000-12,000 a month, while Rima and Rakesh earn around Rs 15,000, though she worries about their son discovering where the extra money comes from. 8216;8216;But I don8217;t have to move a finger nor am I answerable to anyone.8217;8217;

Though a no-strings attached relationship is the most sought-after offering, a small percentage of people are genuinely interested in making friends. Thirty-year-old Sanjay Shah was drawn to a classified that promised to introduce him to 8216;8216;new and interesting people8217;8217;. 8216;8216;I find it difficult to talk to people face-to-face. Do you have friends? I don8217;t,8217;8217; says the diamond dealer.

Nineteen-year-old Shruti, who met her boyfriend through the Tiger Friendship Club agrees. 8216;8216;I8217;ve made so many great friends. Since they can8217;t see me, I can tell them virtually anything.8217;8217; A matter of some pride for Rakesh and Rima is the fact that two of their members even got hitched.

Lonely singletons apart, phone-a-friend clubs are a motley mix of sex workers, bored housewives and straying spouses. 8216;8216;In fact most of these men are jugglers gigolos, and the women call girls,8217;8217; says Mita.

Atish, a 24-year-old marketing consultant, earns his extras by giving 8216;8216;sensuous8217;8217; body rubs. He8217;s even completed a course in herbal therapy and charges Rs 1,500 for a session. 8216;8216;On a good night, I manage to entertain two clients,8217;8217; he says. According to him, 75 per cent of his clients are married women. 8216;8216;They say their husbands don8217;t pay attention to them, I give them what they want,8217;8217; says Atish, who8217;s 8220;58217;98221;, 70 kg, with muscles8217;8217;.

Some female callers simply ask for entertainment programmes. 8216;8216;A programme means sex for money,8217;8217; explains Mohit. One of Atish8217;s clients is 35-year-old Radha, a lady he describes as 8216;8216;high society8217;8217;. 8216;8216;Her husband is often away on work, so she calls me to talk on the phone. Once, I went to give her a massage at three in the morning,8217;8217; he says.

On the other hand, 21-year-old Tarun, a college student, enjoys the suspense of having a phone friend. Most of his nights are spent with the receiver, getting intimate with women he knows only by name. 8216;8216;There are so many things you can say on the phone that I was never able to tell even my ex-girlfriend,8217;8217; he says.

These outfits have short life spans, regrouping every few years. Only Royal has survived the seven-year itch. 8216;8216;Usually operators change numbers periodically to avoid getting caught,8217;8217; says Mohit.

Calmer after a good long cry, Mohit vows that this day is his last in the industry. 8216;8216;My mother has been seeing girls for me, and my wife should never have to suffer this burden,8217;8217; he promises, touching a photograph of Lord Ganesha to his forehead.

Some names of people and clubs have been changed on request