It is past midnight but I cannot sleep. In spite of the incessant rain and the thunderstorm, power is there and the phone line is also working. I start the computer and get connected to the web. It is not easy to get connected to the net in this god-forsaken place. A v sat has been installed in the divisional forest office and the dish antenna atop the green office building is my link to the rest of the world.
Luckily the local area network that connects the computer in my home to the v sat in the forest office through the residence of the divisional forest officer (DFO) and my office is working. I feel aroused and start watching iss’ websites.
Among the numerous females advertising themselves on the Internet, one stands apart. She is Purnima Bhat. The website describes her as ‘a breath taking 25 year old beauty born in Srinagar, India.’ Blessed with good genes she is stunning 5’5 with a spell binding exotic look that will melt your heart with desire. I have watched her website for almost two years now. She must be real for she was twenty-three years old when I first saw her website two years ago. The increase in her age during the past two years has been precisely two years. A flame leaps through my loins as I watch her pictures in the portfolio menu of the website. Watching her portfolio and masturbating before the computer monitor is something I have done with regularity. That was all I could do, for Purnima was too expensive given my modest means.
The transfer a few weeks ago to Dandeli however changed everything. Suddenly Purnima is within my reach. I can send e-mail and request a meeting. I can visit Delhi over the weekend and enjoy her. I can visit Delhi either on 14th and 15th August or 20th and 21st August, as both second Saturday and third Saturday are holidays. But going on 20th and 21st August shall be the most suitable because I am one of the prominent citizens of the place and I do not want to be conspicuous by my absence during the district level Independence Day programmed here.
I send the following e mail: Are you available for an overnight encounter on 20/21 August at Delhi? Will hotel Le Meridian be suitable? I want to be seen as a rich man. I suggest what I think is the most expensive hotel in Delhi. The v sat stops working after a couple of days. The agency in Hyderabad that runs the v sat is demanding huge outstanding arrears but the concerning government authorities are unwilling to pay. The issue gets mired in red tape and is never resolved. I never get connected to the Internet through the v sat again. I am not sure if one can get connected to the Internet through phone in this place or not. All I know is that Internet in available in the nearest big town, Junglepur. This place is however 170 kilometers away.
I visit Junglepur on 5th August. I buy a new suitcase- this is essential because I shall be meeting Purnima in a five star hotel and they won’t let me in if I carry my torn old traveling bag with me. I buy VCD’s of latest films and provisions and return home. I also get a rail reservation to go to Delhi on 19th August. However, I do not find time to surf the Internet.
A get another opportunity to visit Junglepur soon after that. The boss has called a meeting on 12th August. The lout complained against me to the authorities in the state capital when I proceed on leave in June although he had asked me not to. I listen to the rough words he has for me. At the end of the meeting when all officers have moved out, and the boss is alone, I walk in and hand him an envelope containing Rs 15000. That buys me peace for the next few months. His manner of speaking changes and he never shouts at me.
The meeting over, I rush to the nearest cyber cafe. I am anxious to know what message Purnima has for me. The message is there-it was sent way back on 27th July itself: Well yes I am free as of now.
I get excited. I have so much to say. However I make the e-mail businesslike as if I were having some official appointment with Purnime Bhat. Who knows- some police official may be eavesdropping our secret messages. I type the following words and click on the send button:
I confirm that I shall meet you on 20/21 August night from 9 PM to 9 AM. My phone number is 07644 234029 R and 07644 234312 O. If you are busy on 20/21 August, can we meet on 19/20 August? Will Le Meridian be suitable or Hyatt regency? Or suggest any other suitable hotel where they may allow you to check in as my wife a few hours after I check in. I shall book the room in the name of Mr. And Mrs. Pradeep Vasudeva. Apart from the amount specified in your website what gift do you expect?
I get the reply almost instantaneously a few minutes after. So she is online! The reply as usual is brief. Only one of my queries in answered.
Can you make it to Park Royal in Nehru place?
My queries have not been answered. I repeat
Should I get a room booked in park royal? Is our appointment on 20/21 confirmed? What is your contact number?
I wait for a few minutes, expecting another instantaneous reply. When no new e-mail comes me logout and start the return journey. I reach my place at 1:30 AM. The next morning I desperately want to connect to the Internet. One of my subordinate officers is going to Junglepur I know. I tell him that I have to go again to Junglepur. Once again on 13th August I reach Junglepur in the afternoon traveling in the subordinate official’s vehicle. Purnima has once again sent a one liner:
Do you have any contact number?
Once again all my queries have not been answered. I give my contact number. I call Park Royal and book a room for Mr. And Mrs. Pradeep Vasudeva giving my credit card details. “My wife shall be coming a few hours after I check in. Will that cause any problem,” I ask the lady in the reservations department. “No-no problem at all,” she reassures. The room booked, I send another e-mail.
I have booked a room in Park Royal. Do you expect any gift apart from the amount in your website?
It has been a wonderful day. Purnima has replied to my messages, I have obtained rail reservation and I have booked a room in a five star hotel. Strange feelings overwhelm me on the way back. I have booked two tickets for the return journey: One in my name and another in the name of my wife. This is to convince the hotel staff that the woman with me is my wife and we are traveling together. But what if the girl I plan to meet decides to accompany me during the return journey? Will she agree to travel with me to my place if I offer her to come with me and live with me as my wife? She is after all a prostitute and all the people whom she meets leave her after doing the sex act. Nobody wants to develop an enduring relationship with her. But I am willing to live with her permanently. Will she accept my offer? She can travel with me as I have an extra ticket. She will walk out of the air-conditioned train compartment with me on the morning of 22nd August. My driver Santosh will be waiting outside in the Gypsy. He will think that the lovely lady from Kashmir is my wife. We shall travel early in the morning in the Gypsy to Dandeli. The large house in which I live shall no doubt impress Purnima. No one in Dandeli has seen the woman I am married to. Purnima can stay at my place as my wife. Everyone will think that she is my wife. But what will happen if my wife decides to visit the place? Should Purnima stay with me as my distant relative?
I have spent the previous two days in travel. I get up late. The incessant ringing of the phone at 11AM startles me. My heart begins thumping wildly. Purnima has my phone number. It must be she. But as always it is some routine call from my head clerk. On the evening of 14th August I feel depressed- no call has come. The sight of the telephone instrument makes me feel angry.
I get up early on the morning of the Independence Day. I have to unfurl the flag in the office compound at 7:30 AM. Getting up so early is difficult for a later riser like me. But the fact that I shall have the privilege of unfurling the flag in my office and watching the district level Independence Day function in the company of the Collector, the Superintendent of Police and the DFO sitting in the front row, makes me forget the inconvenience.
The celebrations over me traverse the entire length of the local market looking for a cyber café. There are quite a few shops with signboards advertising Internet facilities. But either the shops are closed or the shop owners say that the Internet is not working. GO AROUND DINDORI AND WRITE DETAILS. I finally locate a shop where the Internet is working.
“What is the rate of surfing the Internet for an hour?” I ask. “You can surf for an hour. Nobody comes here to surf the net. It is so expensive. All we do is use the net to tell students their board exam results.” Reluctantly the man allows me to check my e-mail for Rs twenty provided I do so quickly.
My efforts are not fruitless. As ever Purnima Bhat has replied all my queries. As always all her replies are one liners, because she has sent three different e mails in reply to my three queries.
The first e mail reads:
No I don’t expect anything apart from what is at my site. The second e mail is:
Hi the phone number you gave is of which place?
The third in reply to my message that I have booked a room in Park Royal is:
OK
She has not called me or given me her phone number even at this stage. I too decide to send a one liner giving details of my place:
Dandeli, near Junglepur
I spend the next day checking lots to be sold in the next auction. DETAILS MAY BE GIVEN. Back home in the evening I rush to the Cyber cafe. But I am told that the Internet is not working. No phone call comes. She won’t call even after knowing all the details from me. I search for ‘escort service’ phone numbers in the classifieds columns of an old newspaper. One number 9810664651 has the heading Indian Beauty. Purnima’s website also advertises her as Indian Beauty. As she won’t give me her number I think of a way out. I shall send this number by e-mail asking if it is hers. On 17th August morning I visit the cyber cafe again. Luckily the Internet is working this time. She has sent a one word reply to my latest e-mail:
Thanks. I send another e-mail. This is my final:
Please give me your contact number so that I may contact you on reaching Delhi on 19th. I am leaving this place tomorrow for Delhi. Is 9810664651 your contact number? I leave for Delhi in my official vehicle at 5:30 PM on 18th. I have planned to reach Delhi a day in advance so that I may have rest and am able to perform well. The train leaves Birsinghpur railway station at 8:10 PM. I cover half the distance in an hour. Birsinghpur is now only 40 kilometers away. But the road ahead is un metal and full of potholes. It is an hour before I cover the next twenty-five kilometers. We ultimately reach a place where a river is flowing over the road. We have to turn back and take a circuitous route. Time is running fast- the road seems endless. We reach a crowded bazaar. We make several enquiries about the location of the station. I feel restless-it is time for the train to depart from the station. I feel like weeping. My chauffeur is not familiar with place. None of my predecessors ever choose to board the train from this place. All preferred Junglepur although Birsinghpur at 80 KM is much near.
At Delhi on 19th I have two messages waiting for me. The first sent on 18th August is in reply to me e-mail:
No that number is not mine. Please don’t call on that. The second message is the first sent by her on her own, suo moto and not a reply to an e mail from me.
So are we meeting tomorrow?
I instantly type the following words:
Yes I am already in Delhi. We are meeting tomorrow. You may come to Park Royal Nehru place anytime after 6 Pm for a 12 hour meeting. You may contact me on mobile 09827278167. I am in Hotel Tourist. I shall move to Park Royal between 1 and 2 PM tomorrow.
Once again she is online! He reply comes lightening fast.
Make it 9PM. Will it be OK?
Now I realize that she will never give me her phone number. So she must be real. Also I do not need her phone number at all. I send the following message: I will send you my room number in Park Royal after check in. Please check your e-mail between 3 PM and 5 PM tomorrow to find me room number. You may not give your contact number.
The message sent I walk down to the Connaught Place. As ever I saunter to the book stalls near the Plaza cinema. I buy a copy of Khushwant Singh’s novel The Company of Women. That is the ideal book for a person who looks for extra marital sex. I have drinks and dinner return to my hotel eat a sleeping pill and try to get rest. Finally it is D-day: the twentieth of August. I take a local train from New Delhi railway station to Okhla railway station. He train stops at Hazrat Nizammudin railway station. Standing in the crowded compartment I feel odd. I am going to spend the day in a five star hotel. Yet I have chosen the cheapest possible mode of transport: a local train. Somehow I cannot rid myself of middle class miserliness. Minutes continue to pass- the train does not move. I become restive, move out of the train and get an auto for Nehru place.
Park Royal is indeed a grand royal hotel. It is called Intercontinental eros these days. I walk with confidence to the reception. I girl wearing a long dark coat is on duty. “Is there a reservation in the name of Mr. And Mrs. Pradeep Vasudeva?” She replies in the affirmative and places a folder containing a computer typed piece of paper in front of me. It contains all the details about me. Some details have to be filled in however. The form filling completed, she asks me to deposit Rs 10,000. That is more than what I am ready to pay. The room costs Rs 6000. In addition to what I have to pay to Purnima, I have only Rs 8000 with me. I pay the advance by credit card. I am given room no 801. An executive escorts me to the room. No inconvenient questions are asked- nobody asks me why my wife or companion is not with me. I am shown the wines kept in the mini bar, the television set, the locker and the toilet. I ask for Internet access. It can be accessed from the business center. The man leaves the place.
The room is indeed wonderful. There is a large window on one side of the room. On drawing the curtains I can see the beautiful lotus shaped bahai temple. A study table with some papers, writing pad, a pencil, a pen and a telephone is placed at a corner of the room near the large glass window. The toilet is on the opposite side. A glass screen separates the toilet and the room. On the other side of the glass screen, by the side of the passage to the toilet is a closet containing a dressing table and some shelves where the attendant has placed my luggage.
Tucked in the corner is a small fridge. On the top of the fridge are some shelves containing exotic drinks both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. The refrigerator is also full to the brim with alcoholic drinks and snacks. Moving in from the merciless hot summer sun, I feel thirsty. I instantly pick up a can of Heineken beer and gobble the wonderful stuff. It indeed tasted wonderful! I take out my copies of The Company of Women and How to become The Sensual Man and start reading. The coolness of the room makes me feel energetic as start reading ‘sensuality exercises’ to brace myself up for the sensual evening.
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