One night @ call centre

 

 

Lounging on the sofa in her ostensibly 'posh' three-bedroom flat, Tina – a team leader at a multinational call centre at Gurgaon – drops the bombshell after quite a bit of prodding: “Yes, I’ve taken escorting as a part time profession. So have some of my female colleagues and a few other friends in Pune and Hyderabad. We all have 'regular' customers.” Being a full time BPO employee and a part time 'escort' – a diplomatic term perchance for paid sex workers – may sound like a strange combination of career choices but for Tina, 24, and her friends, it’s a perfect mix of business and extra cash too, pleasure or no pleasure.

Tina’s philosophy is simple: “I did make out initially with one of my male colleagues. Sex, for all its overtones, was a great stress buster, nothing more and definitely not for money. After a few months, having a guy to go out with, became one of those things on my ‘must do’ lists. But somewhere along the line, the line stressed out, perhaps more because of my financial weakness. Today, if someone’s willing to pay me well for something, I might not decline the offer! Who knows when I'll lose my job. My friends already have. But with my 'part time' job, I’m saving at least a lakh every month.”

Call centres, where an estimated 1.3 million youth – mostly fresh out of college – are currently employed, are now said to be the new high risk areas of HIV and AIDS. Though data is still being collected and studies conducted on this subject, many experts – including doctors and AIDS activists – agree that HIV infection is increasing steadily among the IT, BT, call centre and BPO employees.

Dr Suniti Solomon, who detected the first HIV case in India in 1986, says that around five call centre and BPO employees from Chennai visit her every week to undergo HIV tests. “Call centre employees working nights have now become a great concern. They are young, they have the spending power, and they are sexually energetic. So naturally, they slip into this high-risk behaviour.”

In the Bangalore IT sector, the problem is far more larger in scale. Says Dr Satish B, a renowned AIDS activist, “If I get 100 HIV cases a week, IT contributes 20 per cent to it. Last week, I received 26 cases exclusively from the IT sector.”

The "Wall Street Journal" had warned of Indian call centres and BPOs becoming HIV risk areas back in 2006 itself! It referred to a study conducted in February 2006, which found that 11 per cent of the 1,100 workers at a particular call centre and outsourcing business in Noida have had more than five sexual partners. (By contrast, a separate study found that only seven per cent of 1,300 adults across the country said they had more than five sexual partners.)

Despite this dangerous trend, the concerned state agencies do not appear to be very much inclined to conduct a study in this area. When TSI visited Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society to get data on the growth of HIV and AIDS in the IT sector, the additional project director confirmed no such study has been conducted in the state so far. The society officials failed to furnish any details on the growth of the number of HIV infections in the state either. This despite the fact that Dr Suniti Solomon had written to the society – a fact acknowledged by KSAPS – warning them about the rise of HIV infection among young professionals. The increasing number of HIV cases among young, educated and financially independent people debunks the myth of illiteracy and poverty being the greatest hurdles in our war against HIV and AIDS. So what is it that drives these people to risky behaviour? “It certainly is not work pressure and it’s not like they know nothing about HIV,” says Harsh, an IT employee. “Mostly it is their chalta hai attitude. That, and the knowledge that everything is within easy access – even people who are willing to have sex with you!”

His statement is corroborated by Dr Satish who was invited to hold talks on HIV and AIDS during an awareness programme for IT, BT sector four years ago. “But everyone present there were well aware of the modes of HIV transmission and its consequences. The company had called me because their toilets used to get clogged with condoms!” During his interaction with the participants, he found out that while 10 per cent of the male employees preferred their spouse to be a virgin, virginity was not really an issue with 80 per cent of the female employees who felt ‘that’ could be easily fixed with Hymenoplasty, a hymen reconstruction surgery.

Saran, an IT professional from Pune, agrees that group sex is the new experimental trend in the IT, BT sector; at least, the boasts of having indulged in the same are quite regular, as Saran seemingly claims, “Having multiple sex partners has existed for some time now. But now, even group sex is gaining popularity. Weekends are devoted to such ‘experiments’ by promiscuous people, both married and single. An unofficial swapping club exists in one of the well known MNC where the members meet once a month, usually on Fridays, in resorts in the city outskirts. After cocktails, the game starts. All the wives sit in their respective cars; the cars are locked and the keys are put in a basket. Then, the blindfolded husbands pick the car keys. Which lady they take home for the night depends on the keys they get. After a night of fun, they return the cars and wives to their respective owners.”

Though this might be plain conjecture, a domain consultant of a well known software based company confirms of a number of such cases in the software and BPO sectors. “I cannot reveal the details for that would constitute breach of trust. But we cannot blame western culture or globalisation for this; every person knows his or her limits. Proper education at proper time can help control this situation. Unfortunately, our government is lagging behind in taking preventive measures. As for the companies, the efforts at educating people about this should not be mere tokenism.” While those engaging in this unbridled sexual behaviour may think their sexual nirvana will never end, Jithin Joseph, an IT professional, has a different tale to tell. Loaded with alcohol and money, Joseph and his friends headed to a resort to have ‘fun-filled weekend’ that involved unrestrained, and unprotected, sex. After his escapade, he returned to his normal life where hectic work schedule and deadlines soon made him forget the ‘wild times’ he had that weekend. One day he came across an article on HIV and decided to undergo an HIV test. He tested positive.

A day after Urvashi, an IT employee, got married, her husband Sanjay had to go out of the country. After three months, her ecstatic in-laws realised she was pregnant. However, their joy was short-lived. Besides pregnancy, Urvashi also tested positive for HIV. Accusing her husband of infecting her, she filed a case against him. Sanjay was brought back to India and the minute he landed in Bangalore, he was arrested. Meanwhile, Urvashi’s case was referred to Dr Satish. It was after she told him about her pre-marital affair that Dr Satish referred this case to Alternative Lawyers’ Forum, an NGO that settles family disputes free of cost. After one of the lawyers took up this case, he advised Sanjay to undergo HIV test. He was declared HIV negative.

Dr KV Emmanuel, MD and senior medical officer of ART centre, Osmania General Hospital of Hyderabad, says that though IT cannot be considered a high risk area, its possibilities cannot be struck out either. “Call centres and BPOs are the sectors that accommodate the highest number of youth. They are sexually active, and the lifestyle, odd working hours may contribute to it. However, since no study on this topic has been conducted, they cannot be labeled as high risk areas.”

Meanwhile, Dr Kughanamtham, project director of Public Health Managing Institution, believes compartmentalising BPOs and call centres as high risk areas is not going to improve things. “Our youth are a part of our system and if they are involved in self-damaging activities, we are responsible for that and it is our duty to educate them.”

Experts agree that HIV and AIDS awareness programmes should not be restricted only to rural areas; it should also encompass the ‘literate uneducated’ sections of the urban society. Unless this is done, India would soon be the country with the highest number of young HIV positive people.