I – Sharmi – Diamond
- Me
A kiss from Sharmi feels like twelve volts of electricity coursing through my veins, lighting me up.” If Sharmi kisses, it will. After a kiss like that, if she sits on my lap and asks, 'Won’t you even do this little theft for me?' and you say no… then you're a better man than I am.” Still reeling from the electric shock of her kiss, I'd blurted out, 'I'll do anything for you.' Now, I'm standing in front of Chennai’s most exclusive diamond store." The result of saying “I will do anything for you” without coming out of the shock-induced kick is that I am standing in front of Chennai’s most important diamond store for the super-rich.
I first saw Sharmi at a private party in ECR. It was an exciting party exclusively for women. Except men other than us other men were not allowed. We were sent from a popular callboy network in Chennai: Rahul, Kandasamy, and me, but he has been told to be called Rakesh during such assignments.
Some of you might recognise us. We would stand in groups of two or three at key spots along ECR: at cafe entrances, outside Chennai’s top hotels, and at the exits of their discotheques. Any guy would have just assumed we were drunk and hitting on his girlfriend before moving on. But they know how to correctly identify us.
Mostly middle-aged women, between thirty and forty Even in the middle of the night, when they leave the disco, they go to the restroom and put on lipstick, making their lips red. We are their target. I got into this by accident. I'm not highly educated, but you wouldn't know it. I'm fluent in English. During my college days, I used to chase girls at coffee shops and the Sathyam and INOX cinemas, and I got pretty good at charming them. I don’t have a big background. I have a sister. That’s all. I only know she's a nurse at some hospital. It was often convenient for her to only go home to sleep at night. A ‘Mama’ has been around for the past three months. I don’t know how many more months.
Since this 'mama' arrived, even getting money for my expenses became very difficult. I found it very hard to rely on my sister for everything. The only jobs I could find were night shifts at call centres. I didn't like working all night and sleeping during the day. I thought I'd lose sight of anything other than the night.
That's when I saw an advertisement in a newspaper. The ad read, “Get New Friendship and New Life,” and included a contact phone number. A sense of eager anticipation began to bubble up inside me. It was a Delhi number. When I called after recharging, a woman answered in clear English. After asking for details about me, she asked, “What kind of package do you want? Just enjoyment? Or cash + enjoyment?” I was very shocked. While I was thinking, 'Is something like this even possible?', the voice on the other end asked again, “What are you thinking?” I said, “Cash + enjoyment.”
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