Officials from the railways demand improved coordination

SURAT: A visiting card placed on financial advisor Saloni Shah’s car by a youth gave her the shock of her life. She did not know how to react on seeing the card. “I was sitting in driver’s seat, waiting for my friend who had gone to collect some items from a nearby shop. I took the card left by a youth and it was about male escort services,” Saloni (30) said. The youth, who placed the card on the car’s windshield, which had his contact number and age, left the spot in a swanky car. “I had heard about such things, but was shocked to come face to face with this reality. I told friend about it and then we contacted him on the given number. The youth did not talk, but communicated through a SMS,” she said. So far, male escort service in the city was only limited to a point of discussion among some people. It seems now the activity is lunging towards an aggressive stance with men involved in it not averse to approaching even a stranger and that too with visiting cards. The printed message on the card said, “If you are not satisfied with your life, I will give you 100% satisfaction and fun.” The mobile contact number was handwritten. When the youth was contacted consecutively for three days, he agreed to meet and demanded Rs 5,000 per visit. He shared his biodata and pictures on mail so as to finalize the deal. “Many times during evening walk, some youths had approached me offering escort service. I had to stop going there as it had become a meeting point for male escorts. I thought of approaching police, but my family stopped me,” a resident of Ghod Dod Road Tina Patel, who used to go for walk near Gandhy Engineering College, said. (Names have been changed to protect the identity)