Pondicherry turns hub for sex tourism

Dance bars in Mumbai may have been closed down due to public and political pressure, but in Pondicherry porn is still big business.

While the chief minister insists that nothing illegal is happening in the city, an NDTV investigation discovered strip shows at several hotels.

For decades Pondicherry has attracted tourists searching for a spiritual experience but now it hosts a very different kind of customer.

Sex tourists are making a beeline for the city. Over the weekend it is impossible to get a room here as clients descend from all over south India and even as far as Mumbai.

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As the above link is not working/ or the link has been removed, i am adding an additional list from a different site

http://autofeed.msn.co.in/pandorav3/...d0ac7d889.aspx

Full news is here....( pasted from actual article )

Pondicherry, Feb 17: Dance bars in Mumbai may have been closed down due to public and political pressure, but in Pondicherry porn is still big business.

While the chief minister insists that nothing illegal is happening in the city, an NDTV investigation discovered strip shows at several hotels.

For decades Pondicherry has attracted tourists searching for a spiritual experience but now it hosts a very different kind of customer.

Sex tourists are making a beeline for the city. Over the weekend it is impossible to get a room here as clients descend from all over south India and even as far as Mumbai.

Brisk business: The Mass Hotel is owned by Bala Subramanium, the sitting MLA from Muthialpet in Pondicherry.

Tickets here cost between Rs 250-300 depending on the day of the week. Women emerge through a small door at the end of the hall as a live band builds up the tempo.

But clearly music is not all that is driving the evening. Egged on by the 300 strong high-spirited crowd, the women begin shedding their clothes.

Each day some of the hotels hold three shows at 6:30 pm (IST), 8:30 pm and 10:30 pm. In an hour and a half, these hotels manage to pack in 200-300 customers and earn close to Rs 1.5 lakh a day.

The next stop for the NDTV team was the Blue Star Hotel. Being a weekend, the hotel is packed with many more customers than usual.

Inside it is a similar set up as the women parade on stage.

Little option: NGOs in the city say most of the women have been trafficked from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and are held against their will.

Once inside this world, leaving is not an option and the strip clubs end up being a front for a highly organised sex trade.

"There is no way that the women can leave. They often take loans which they have to pay back and also there are physical threats to deal with," said Shyamala, Member of an NGO working with sex workers.

Pondicherry is fast turning into a haven of crime. With cheap alcohol available, many head to the city over the weekend and it has become a focal point for the sex trade.

Nude dances by women are completely illegal in India but these clubs end up being centres of prostitution where every year thousands of women are forcibly sold off.

Crackdowns by the police have been stalled as these clubs managed to get a stay from the Chennai High Court on grounds that they were only holding Kalaedchees or traditional and cultural shows.

But in a state with a population of just 10 lakh, it seems there are few secrets.

"This used to happen in the Mass Hotel. Philo Hotel had it too. But it was shut down. Nude dances do take place. But I have not seen any," said a local.

Govt aware: Chief Minister N Rangaswamy however, seems blissfully unaware of the emerging industry.

"There is no sex tourism here," he said.

The porn industry is clearly big money and with politicians directly involved in the trade, it may be difficult to crackdown on the growing menace.

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The same evening, NDTV showed footage of a life strip tease show. There is a room with about 200 - 300 men. From a small door, women enter wearing shawl around them. Then, they play cheap local tamil music - called peta music or gaana paatu ( tamil version of bollywoods item number ). The women do a dance for this, and once in a while take off the shawl around them.

There are 3 shows in most hotels - Philo, Mass and Blue star at pondicherry - 6.30 pm, 7.30 pm and 9.30 pm..it think. For all these 3 shows, each hotel earns about 1.5 L per day.

Perverts

Where is Pondcherry?

webpage is blank for this link

Is Google censoring India too?

Down, boy... down!

The other day Somnath informed that Ghutyari Sharrif a village in the 24 Paraganas which was once famous for the weekly congregation of Sufi & Baul musicians & philosophers have turned in to a red light area & now lonelyaztec informing this, good, India is shining!

I'd like to read the story, but it's a blank page....

http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmor...or+sex+tourism

Disgusting.

considering that it is the town of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, with Auroville near by.

Then the French haven't completely quit Pondicherry after all!?

This is what really annoys and worries me about some places in India.
They are just not what they seem to be. I'm afraid to say the way the country is developing its not always in the right places. Even religious pundits have been known to do as they please and whenever theres signs of $$ all the morals seem to disappear! sad, very sad.

oh my god..I am leaving for south in april end...

I just spent 6 months in Pondy and maybe I'm an idiot, but I saw no signs of this crap. You really have to be looking for this sort of thing...

The righteous zealots need to point out and magnify any attack on the morality of the masses, the reason for this is that even perceived attacks accomplish the blind servitude required

So entertain'