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Soliciting on the Metro

On the face of it, there's nothing new in women soliciting passers-by and passengers of public transport. What has upgraded…

Soliciting on the Metro

Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images)

On the face of it, there's nothing new in women soliciting passers-by and passengers of public transport. What has upgraded is the use of changing technology, particularly mobile phones, conference calls and centralised pool system. It's not unusual to see well-dressed young women scouring for potential customers on the Metro, a colleague said. They appear to be engrossed in their mobile phones but enter the "right" man and they flash their presence ~ an imperceptible nod of their head, a furtive glance or some other such signal.

An acquaintance, who daily drives down to the Metro station to pick up his wife coming home late from office, recounted how he has often been solicited. Since he waits in his car, he switches on the parking lights, which is mistaken as a "signal". Often girls come and stand on the pavement, indicating with their mobile lights. In one instance, he was surprised when a girl walked up to the car, tapped on the window and asked if he wanted to go to a nearby restobar.

Another seemingly innocuous manner is via call-centres. One is often irritated by calls offering credit cards, change of phone plans or various insurance policies. But there are instances of these girls then offering "other services", claiming they would be very discreet! A colleague, returning home on the Metro a little late one evening, noticed a group of four girls. While one appeared to be a "minder" as she was well-built and muscular, the other three were dressed as if going for a party. Each girl occupied a corner of the ladies compartment and promptly began uploading selfie videos. The colleague overheard one of the girls, who was sitting next to her, as she seductively spoke to someone. Nothing strange in that except that there were several such conversations. Though her phone did not ring, she appeared to be picking calls sent from a central pool. Looking around, she noticed the other two girls doing the same thing. Certainly technology has not left any sector untouched!

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