Are we, Indians, averse to using condoms? Does it affect our performance? Does it hinder pleasure? In a country like India such misconceptions abound. Having been associated with gays, sexual health and HIV, we at Naz Foundation were keen on finding it out for certain.

An opportunity came our way in 2000. Developmental Fund for International Development, a fund set up by British Commission, came up with a programme for working with truckers who have traditionally been seen a high risk group. The commission was funding 35 such projects across India then. Over a period of one and a half years, we did a project among truckers in Azadpur Mandi in Delhi. The idea was to study their sexual behaviour and promote safe sex norms.

To say that Indians don't use condoms is simplistic. While one agrees that much of it has to do with our cultural orientation, to ascribe the whole of it to this one factor is grossly misplaced. In the years we worked with them, we were able to gain their confidence to a great extent.

But the initial months were tough to crack. These truckers are very edgy about such projects, primarily because there have been a number of cases when quacks have cheated them. Many have resulted in deaths. Most of these death cases occurred when delivering them injections. If an air bubble goes in while injecting it eventually leads to blood blockage resulting in deaths.

In fact, the most prevalent notion was that Government was out to kill them. Gaining their confidence was the toughest. But once that was achieved things were much better. Then, this is a very marginalised group.

Our outreach team, basically a team of counselors in the field, began by chatting them up. We'd talk to them about Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). We cajoled them into frequenting our clinics. Slowly they started visiting our clinics and with time the follow-up cases only increased.

We kept a check on their treatment but there was another problem. Truckers are always on the move. So keeping a tract of their medical progress was absolutely impossible. We decided to give them a cluster of antibodies to cure any STD, whether it was Syphilis, Chancrold, Genital Herpes and Gonorrhea. We would give them medicines for their wives as well. In most cases, the truckers while visiting their families do not reveal their status to their wives.

It was through these STDs sessions that we would push condom usage. We'd have counseling sessions where we would give them a condom demo. We would often try and probe whether they used them or not. Invariably they say they didn't because it was not like the real 'thing'. But discussions on STDs were generally welcome. They'd say: 'Gear box (penis) mein kharabi hai.'

We would try and convince them to using it by applying simple logic - we would try and convince them into believing that condom usage was more about habit. When you do it once, you wouldn't enjoy but doing it consistently is another matter.

Invariably, we'd be faced with the dilemma that it comes as an interruption. As it works one is supposed to wear it seconds before you enter a woman's body. That breaks the momentum. Most said by the time they wore it the erection would go.

The only way to counter this line of thinking was to convince them with a counter argument. We would tell them that by using condoms they were at a distinct advantage. Their ejaculation time would increase.

Yet, wearing a condom meant friction was less. The condoms weren't thin enough for sufficient sensation to be felt. We would say since wearing a condom and entering meant the time taken for ejaculation would be longer, it would mean your ejaculation time would automatically increase. They'd say: khada nahin hota hai. Condom pehente pehente, ling jhad jata hai."

But there was another problem. Most of these sexual encounters happened in crowded places, time is invariably short. So, naturally foreplay is out of question. Invariably it meant hurried encounters. Tensions would be high and that meant ejaculation was faster. There are so many misconceptions about sex. For instance, it was commonly believed that early ejaculation is a disease. We would bring them around by giving them the condom sop.

Did condom usage go up? Well, there weren't any certain way of knowing this. Any conclusion was to be syndromic. We would have to make indirect inferences. At our clinic called Top Gear, in a village close by, we saw that follow-up cases increased, frequency of same person coming back with re-infection were less, condom distribution had increased and most people acknowledged that we were doing a great job.

Another very common misconception was that masturbation is harmful and was hence a big 'no'. There is the belief that they would develop weakness, would not be able to impregnate their women or that if they did it their penis or 'ling' would be bent. We would invariably talk to them about alternate ways of having sex, be it non-penetrative sex, breast sex or even thigh sex.

There's another very common excuse truckers would give for not using condoms. They would say that their partners didn't like it that way. That they wanted the 'garam masala' or hot semen inside them. It was their inability to forge an inner relationship with women which led to much abuse.

Finally, they would often say that their wives suspected foul play if they suddenly started using condoms. Why, they would ask, if they didn't use it before is there a need for them now?

Clearly, there were no straight replies for that one.

(Irfan Khan is Program Co-ordinator at the Naz Care Home in Delhi)