The Body Electronic

While these are really explicit websites, some others are only slightly subtler but could be offering the same services. Mumbai's www.mumbaiglamour.com promises beautiful, intelligent, open-minded and friendly Indian girls with "good reputation" and "big experience" for reasonable prices. "Any age you want, any size you want, any time you want" is its confident declaration. Delhi has www. purnimabhat.com, which ostensibly belongs to a 23-year-old, Srinagar-born girl pursuing B.Com Hons in Delhi University. Bhat claims to be "an all-natural 36B-26-34" blessed with "good genes", a "spell-binding exotic look that will melt your heart with desire", and a smile "that can tame the fiercest tiger". She also talks about like-minded friends looking for "that extra fun and cash too". Bhat, however, is in-principle against bachelor parties, dance, videos, role-play or domination.

Some readers may find something fishy about some people surfing the numerous sites that offer escort services or dating opportunities. I found them smelling, in a manner of speaking, like a stale-fish market. Kumar, listed at www. escort.sexcia.com/delhi, is as direct as they come: "I am a young dynamic male gigolo. Ladies who wanna unlimited pleasure for quite affordable price contact me (sic)." Assuming that the visitors to dating sites have sterner stuff on their minds than old-fashioned friendship, the likes of Savitha Karan have infested the Live2 Love pages of www.indiatimes.com. Karan describes herself as a 27-year-old lady from Vishakapatnam "who can be very accommodating and sexy in the right company" and "open to anything as long as the reward is right". Giving her company is madam_ xxx, who warns that she is "too hot to touch...jal jaoge (you will get burnt)".

A registration at the indiatimes.com dating site in Kashyap's name (Is Outlook ready with my bail money?) led me to Arun, available at 098218-44021. "I can sure provide the service in Delhi. Just call me two hours in advance," he said. Based in Mumbai, he needs just an hour's notice there. But is it secure, I asked diffidently. "Oh, you don't need to worry," he assured. How much? Rs 5,000 for 3-4 hours. I pressed a little more: "Where do these girls come from?" The salesman raised the quality pitch: "Most girls are from decent families. We catch them from discos in five-star hotels." Even the message/discussion boards of otherwise respectable sites are not spared. For instance, the discussion board of the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's website has a message posted on September 16 last year that talks about escorts who will "give you everything you need to have a great time".

My intention is not to raise awareness about Sameer, Arun, Purnima, Robert, Ashok, or their websites. I wouldn't dream of doing that in a magazine that's read by my mother. My honest intention is to make cyberspace a little more worthy of our kids' eyeballs. So I spoke to the cbi about it, whose spokesperson expressed surprise and wanted the addresses of these websites. However, in a somewhat unsure manner, he also advised me to speak to Delhi Police. But then the investigating agencies need a complaint to proceed. "Suo motu, it is very difficult to take action," said the cbi spokesperson, even as he emphasised that "it was definitely punishable".

But punishing the offenders won't be easy. It is almost impossible to access the backend of these websites. My research with www.bombaysexguide.com ended with Network Solutions, which provides the database for the site but "does not guarantee its accuracy"; the person who registered the site is Cosmos: lrujkxjiwd (try assigning a gender before you search further) and the administrative contact is Cosmos: qviopxmrwo. The site, registered on January 20, 2003, does not expire before January 20, 2009, but it will be difficult to prosecute Mr Cosmos lrujkxjiwd or Ms Cosmos qviopxmrwo.