Bar girls in the Gulf are homesick

DUBAI: Bar dancers from Mumbai who took up menial jobs in Dubai following the ban imposed on their profession last August are looking forward to hitting the dance floors again.

Rekha Sheikh, 28, who worked as a dancer at Night Lover Bar in Andheri, said that after the ban was imposed, women with contacts succeeded in getting visas to the Gulf. “I have been in touch with the Bar Girls’ Association in Mumbai,” she said.

“I think I will be able to go back very soon.” Sheikh came to Dubai just two months ago.

The ban had rendered more than 75,000 dancers jobless overnight, according to one estimate. Over 7,000 came to the Gulf for work. Sheikh, who works as a waitress in a hotel, earns Dh1,500 (Rs18,000) a month.

But in Mumbai she used to earn up to Rs1,200 a night. “The amount used to be greater on weekends,” she said.

Kajal, 25, who works in Ajman, UAE, is thrilled that the ban is being scrapped.

“The manager of the bar where I used to dance asked me whether I wished to return,” she said. “I said yes.”  Kajal used to dance in Sargam Bar on Saki-Vihar Road. “After the ban, I worked in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, and even Shimla before coming here,” she said.

“I could barely feed my family, but now I am comfortable.” But she is earning considerably less than what she used to make in Mumbai — Rs200-250 on a five- to seven-hour shift.

“In Mumbai, it is all about knowing the right people in the right places. Two of my colleagues managed to go to Singapore for work,” she said.

“Most of us keep good relations with travel agents as they play a key role in getting us jobs overseas,” said Komal Pandey, 31, who used to dance at the Ruby Bar in Marol Naka, Andheri (East).

Today she is a helper in a beauty parlour in Dubai. But like many of her colleagues here, she plans to go back to Mumbai. “We just know how to dance,” she said. “We are not skilled in any other job.”