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Following a city-based NGO's unique experimentation of imparting training to sex workers from the pages of Vatsayana's "Kamasutra" on aesthetics of lovemaking, a senior UN representative had visited a red light zone of the city and was impressed by what she saw. She will submit a report about possibilities of implementing these procedures elsewhere in the world.

The Institute of International Social Development (IISD) started the workshop from August last on this experimentation to train the sex workers from the texts of "Kamasutra" on how to make the clients happy without sexual union, thereby greatly reducing chances of getting infected with the deadly disease.

Senior Inter-regional Adviser of OUSG and UNDESA and Project Co-ordinator of the UN's NGO sector Najet Karaboni yesterday visited Sonagachhi, the largest red light zone here and where the project has been started on an experimental basis, and inspected the entire process.

"I am very much impressed by what I have seen and, when I go back to the UN, I will report these to my high-ups and see whether the means can be implemented elsewhere in the world. I am satisfied with the techniques and I think it might be implemented to ensure better health of the sex workers," Karaboni said.

"The project deals with innovative techniques to handle those clients unwilling to use condoms. It's about entertaining the difficult clients by the sex workers with low-risk activities by resorting to safe-sex practises, including minimising of sexual unions yet making the clients totally happy," said Rajyashri Chaudhuri, Secretary General, IISD.

"This method may partially prevent vulnerability of both parties to STD, HIV and AIDS. Moreover, the sex worker will be at liberty to choose when she wants to have a child and will not be pressurised to go for biologically harmful repeated abortions," she said.

Chaudhury said with every sexual union, the sex workers were at the risk of conceiving, besides the risk of contracting AIDS, and they frequently had to go for abortions -- risking their lives. Again, if a woman did not abort, an unwanted child was born and most of time, after being rejected by the society, was trapped into the same trade.

Chaudhury said a baseline survey had shown the need for such a syllabus where presentation, aesthetics and attractive acumen of the sex workers, was developed, which could evade occurrence of high risk activities.

The project, which was conceived by eminent HIV and AIDS specialist Dr Sachhidananda Sarkar, aims to teach the Sonagachhi sex workers, each of whom handles about 10 to 15 clients a day, about the science and art of lovemaking and also what the clients want from them.

There are various ways described in the "Kamasutra" of entertaining the clients without going the whole hog and "we are just trying to follow those," according to IISD president Purshottam Kumar.

"We aim to create a major shift in emphasis in the world of sexual entertainment from mere physical short-lived joy to a more aesthetic long-lasting exprience," Chaudhury said. (UNI)