Hamburg: Achtung! Mayor Inaugurates Brothel

In the 60s I used to subscribe to a much respected journal from England, "Encounter', edited by an equally respected and controversial poet-editor Sir Stephen Spender. He was known as a great champion of class struggle and crusades against social injustice. It was an elitist magazine, which was supported partly by donations, as the circulation was not very wide. However, all great contemporary minds used to write for this journal. So, I was greatly surprised (or should not have been surprised), when a lady contributor wrote about her eye witness account, of how the Mayor of Hamburg himself inaugurated Germany's first 'brothel'. Such a happening would excite curiosity of any, at least in the days of my youth. I was keen to see this state-sponsored brothel. I resolved to find out first hand, more about this curiosity, during my next visit to Germany, which was frequent. Well, brothel it was certainly not! There were no 'madams' and no pimps, who showed you photos on the sly. None of these to cheat the poor girls, out of their fair share of earnings. No big time involvement of mafia in human trafficking or drugs, with the poor girls getting involved in both.

When I went on my next business trip to Hamburg, my German colleague picked us up from the airport. While driving us down to our hotel, he was also firming up that evening's program. Before we could say anything, he on his own said, 'Let's have early dinner and then we go to Reeperbahn!' With hidden glee, I agreed. To cut a long story short, there we were the four of us at the reception of Eros Zentrum. We walked into one of the two huge bars and settled down. All the waitresses were topless and wore string panties. The whole place had a bright Five Star hotel look. Nothing seedy about it! No whispers, no ' I get you best girl. Satisfy you every way, etc.' Girls book rooms directly with the Zentrum management. They have to necessarily display their health certificates. There are house detectives and alarm systems, so that the girls are always safe. My friend asked me to take the elevator to the top floor, and explore each floor and walk down from floor to floor. 'If the ladies are with you, no girl will talk to you!' So he and our wives waited in the reception, as I went up with the elevator. I came out of the elevator and cast a quick glance in all directions. Doors of lots of rooms were open and in each open door, was a scantily clad girl, poised in most seductive manner. My introduction to this world of Eros was most amusing! Against the very first door, was a matronly Black American, scantily dressed lady. 'You blackie, just don't come any where near me!' she shouted at me. What an amusing welcome to the Eros Zentrum! The others were doing every thing, to appear as alluring to me.

You want me to call my girl friend, also. Then three of us have a good time, just DM 200,.--!' Uniformly the rate was DM 100,-- per hour. Some of these girls were college students, who were there more for kicks, for they did not seem to be pressed for money. All the rooms had TV and a large selection of xxx videos. Very erotic subdued art works decorated the walls. There were bored married women and so on. Then of course, there were those, whose daily bread came from selling their bodies. What intrigued me the most, was a girl, who had a large framed photo of a happy beaming family, which I could see from outside. 'Is that your family', I asked. 'Yes'. 'Then why are you here?' 'I want to surprise my husband with a new big TV, as Xmas gift! Shades of O. Henry's 'Gift of the Magi', I thought. Well readers, what do you make of this?

By the time I was back in Germany, every town had its Eros Zentrum. In fact, in Munich it was just two blocks away from our company's guest house. I think, from the girls' point of view, there could be no better, safe and harassment free way to earn her money through sex. Most of all, this gets many prostitutes off the street and into a controlled environment. On this whole issue, I am very non-judgmental and my own thinking on the subject is quite fuzzy. If I have to think aloud on the subject, these would be my thoughts:

It is not for nothing that prostitution is mentioned in the Bible as 'the world's oldest profession'. It is more with mystical adoration, than a self-righteous scorn that we too look up with affection to the stories of Amrapali, who fell at the feet of Buddha and Umrao Jaan, in our own recent history. When we think of her fate, we commiserate with her, rather than scorning at her. The Geishas of Japan, though of a slightly different class and the courtesans and exalted Devdasis of India, were also looked upon as the guardians of fine arts and youngsters of the family were sent to them, as a 'finishing school'. Those countries, which have legalized it, do not have the whole wide range of unsavory crimes, human trafficking, extortion, etc. which are otherwise associated with the profession. No doubt, these crimes to a much lower extent are evident in these countries also, because of illegal migrants, who cannot be covered under the benevolent laws. Suppressing it legally or just playing the ostrich makes matter worse for these hapless girls.

There is deep in the interiors of Nepal, a very inaccessible area, closely guarded by mafia. It is marked by its absolute poverty. Mafia agents from Mumbai, buy very young girls for a pittance, from their poor parents. An intrepid BBC reporter with his hidden camera risked his life and entered the protected ring. He acted as an agent of a European ring and earned the confidence of the guards. What he has caught on his camera is heart rending. Money changed hands. Now the girls were condemned to the tribulations of a seedy life, the puppet's strings being pulled by the dons of the underworld and their hirelings, the 'madams' and the pimps. This is the same story all over the world, where there are pockets of acute poverty.

In Indian metros, another parallel phenomenon is emerging, which was covered by a half page article in Times of India. Housewives, disappear from home, when the husbands are away at office, for example to the hotels in Juhu in Mumbai, and are back with a few thousand quick bucks. Not because they could not make both the ends meet, but they were driven by the consumerist frenzy of - 'buy this, possess this' or expensive visits to beauty parlors and health spas!

For me the worst part is that while our society condemns abuses and taunts these wretched children of fate, the men and particularly the big wigs of society, who use their services, continue to be respected members of the same society. If it is a crime, then why are these men not equally punished? For a very liberal and humane view on the subject, you may like to read an article, from a most unlikely source - our fellow CP, RM Gal. She and her husband are very advanced meditators and closely associated with the Maharishi University of Fairfield, Iowa. You may like to read her article on this link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/681325/legalize_prostitution_in_the_usa_free.html