THE DUBAI CALLER

THREATENING CALLS WON’T STOP THE DOUBLE OFFER FROM BEING PUBLISHED


By Flynn Remedios (author of The Double Offer and of this blog)



Since I put up excerpts from my yet-to-be-published book The Double Offer on this blog and since it was highlighted by Buzz18.com (Thanks a ton CP – you are really a darling) and IndiaFM (Thanks a million all at IndiaFM), I have got as many bouquets as well as brickbats.


Well, I don’t mind the bouquets and brickbats – I have long known that it’s part of being an ‘outspoken’ journalist.


But what has disturbed my family and me are the half-a-dozen-odd crank and threatening calls I have got in the last two days - two of them from a Dubai cell number. The Dubai caller called twice and first abused me with the choicest gallis. The second call was more direct. He said that if the book was published mentioning names, I would pay for it with my life. He didn’t have a problem though, if names weren’t mentioned. He even offered me a big gift if I deserted the book.


He said that one of the “item girls” I was vaguely referring to in the excerpts published online, sounded or felt like his legally married wife. When I asked him what the name of his legally married wife was, he said that he had three wives and it was none of my business to know their names. When I asked him who he was, he said he was one of the biggest ‘private party’ organizer in the Gulf region and that most ‘item girls’ from Mumbai were his ‘girl friends’.


Buoyed by that response, I then asked him if all his three wives featured in my work as item or call girls and that’s when he lost his cool. He said that if the book was published, and if ‘his wife’s name’ appeared in it – as he felt he was sure I was referring to his wife who no longer is a ‘call girl’ and had turned a new leaf – he would personally kill me.


He actually admitted that the woman was earlier sleeping around, but now she is “just doing some small modeling work” and is completely reformed.


But he unknowingly gave me an interesting bit of information - many entertainment journalists and industrywallas already know about this – He informed me that about 80 per cent of the item girls and small time models who perform in Dubai at private shows also sleep around (some of them voluntarily) to make an extra quick buck, during their stay in Dubai or the other Emirates. He said that most managers who arranged and co-ordinated shows for Dubai and other middle-east performances were told to send girls who were willing to do double shifts. The girls expect to do some shopping which they can barely afford to with their official fee. The only option for them to make some extra money is to accept "the double offer" and come back with their bags loaded with clothes, jewellery, electronic goods and much more. Their patrons take them shopping and treat them like queens.


He told me that many girls ‘go to bed with the organizers and patrons’ of their own free will. They not only sleep around, but even keep in touch through SMS later on. Their patrons shower them with gifts throughout the year and in case they happen to be traveling to India, their favourite girls are called to ‘perform and satisfy them’.


In fact, he chided me for making this an issue because according to him it was a symbiotic relationship betwen the item girls or stage performers and their patrons.


Then there have been other calls from PCOs around the city wherein the callers have dared me to publish the book. Besides, there were a few SMS messages sent from free websites (which offer Web to SMS services and which rarely track the IP addresses of the users sending SMS messages from their servers) that called me names and cautioned me not to put up any more articles on my blog. They all ended with the same thing – that I would have to pay a very heavy price.


I just want to tell all these callers that the book WILL BE PUBLISHED. I am just doing my job as a journalist reporting and writing what I have seen,heard and found out after a lot of ‘probing and digging’.


At this juncture, I want to thank my parents for their support and a very special and dear friend whom I shall only identify as AC (for she isn’t on talking terms with me right now for some damn reason only known to her) who has been a source of great inspiration and strength. THANKS A TON ANGEL.