Sex, no bar

Mumbai Mirror

Many men are celebrating the lifting of the ban on dance bars. Especially the ones who work as bar dancers, says Bhushan Korgaonkar

Once the dance bars are back in business, Deepak Saravde (24) will resume his old routine. At 9.35 pm he will wait for his regular cab pick up outside his house in Bhandup. En route, Rashid Sheikh (27) will join him. Both will arrive at a Thane dance bar after a 50-minute drive, and emerge from the taxi, not as Deepak and Rashid, but as Deepika and Rashida. Inside the cab, on the busy streets of the eastern suburbs, they will transform into bar dancers.

Welcome to the world of bar girls who are actually boys. There are more than 50 of them in Mumbai.

Saravde, who used to perform at a bar 20 days a month, says, ?I am relieved that justice was delayed but not denied. The ban was detrimental for genuine dancer girls and guys. I can?t sing in an orchestra and I don?t feel comfortable about prostitution.?