Sowbagyavathy V R, Greetings.
I refer to your message in post #456. I pondered on your ponderings.....
1. she was middle aged. A point not in her favor!
Men prefer young women - if not virgins(!)
That was the most important point. That's why I mentioned that. Had she been young, she would have been booked up without gap. She would not have been on the street trying to score a hit. This woman was middle aged; so obviously didn't have a pimp, she had to do the hard yards. The odds were not exactly stacked high in her favour.
2. She was flat with rejections.
She would have been flat with acceptance also!
I am sorry, I am not enjoying this humor. It sounds more like sarcasm to me. Physical rejection to any woman is very much demeaning. For a prostitute every rejection is a death toll for her career. In the case of middle aged sex worker, the rejections are suspense... is this the day I get booted out of this profession? Am I going to beg for the rest of my life?.. she faces such very hard questions with no one to comfort her.
3. She should charge "Talking fee" - like the Waiting Fee of the autos-
so that guys won't waste her time talking to her!
If she was young, she would have charged not only talking fees, even fees for just looking at her. Desperate people can't be demanding. She was almost at that stage.
4. I though by "Shawl uttaa sheel" she had meant that :decision:
she can cover her body either with a shawl or with with the seelai.
'சால் உட்டா சீல்' was her terms. She explained them. You are free to think what you like. She clearly said what she meant.
5. Isn't 7-30 P.M. too early for the man-hunt?
No. I have been approached as early as 2 Pm at parry corner and near Chennai central station. Actually, 7.30 PM is quite late to score a 'all night' hit.
I was 19 years old when I came across this sex worker. At that time I just saw her as a human being. My friend was about 23-24 years old. We respected her as a fellow human being, that was why she was comfortable talking to us. She was just practicing the only trade she knew. Just like any other trade, when the person gets towards retirement, he/she desn't get considered for engagements. Both of us were tradespersons; both of us knew of her plight. She didn't make enough money to buy few young girls to own her own brothel. that was all. I could compare myself to her. I didn't make enough money to own my own factory when I was a tradesperson; I had to seek a job when I was 50, I knew my chances were remote. I was smart enoughto change my career. Not that lady. She was confined to suffer a slow rejection from her only known trade; she would have ended up begging after few years. We could see so much while we were watching her.
6. Hunger made her optimistic and also forced her to persevere I guess.
She was optimistic and she had perseverence. She had top qualities. Hunger? Yes, she had hunger. But she did not reduce herself to beg. She knew we youngsters were kind of sympathetic to her. We could see she liked talking to us because we were treating her like a human being; but, if she was seen talking to us, any potential customer would go away thinking we were negotiting with her. So, she didn't talk much to us. She knew she could have asked us 'கண்ணு, கொஞ்சம் நாஸ்தா வாங்கி குடுப்பா'., we would have bought her some food. But she had the self-respect not to beg.
We saw her as a decent woman with self-respect who was trying to make a honest living by practising the only trade she knew. I respected her for the optimism, self-respect and peseverance. That's why I remember her even today. ( By the way, my wife heard of this sex worker. She loved it. That term 'சால் உட்டா சீல்' is often used between us. We didn't have to explain that to anyone so far though.
Cheers!
ray2: 
