Octogenarian Sardar Boota Singh is proud of his pornography collection. Singh also likes to recount his sexual escapades in lurid detail. “Sex is the most potent force in our lives and governs most of our actions,” the good Sardar tells a friend, going on to enumerate the many names in Hindi and Punjabi of the male organ, and its role in the different stages of a man’s life.

If smut be here, can Khushwant Singh be far behind? Boota Singh is a character in his new novel released earlier this week. The Sunset Club, with Boota as its protagonist, is said to be loosely based on the writer’s life.

“My readers may find what I have written to be in bad taste — unacceptable in polite society,” says Singh in his foreword. “So be it.”

So be it, some others are echoing across the country. Last week, people who like their pornography and erotica, got a boost when the Bombay High Court ruled that the act of privately viewing a pornographic film in a bungalow did not amount to public exhibition. The court quashed proceedings against customs officials who have been booked under section 292 (obscenity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for watching pornography at a party in Lonavla near Mumbai in 2008.

It’s not just the officials who’ve been given a breather. Pornography in the country, a snap survey conducted informally by The Telegraph indicates, is a veritable part of a city-goer’s life these days. Ninety-six per cent of those surveyed in New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Calcutta have watched or read pornography at least once. Seventy-two per cent say they still watch porn.

Says Mumbai-based sexologist Prakash Kothari. “Many people use porn as an aphrodisiac. Couples often tell me that they read erotic literature as it improves their sex lives.”

While some would argue that there’s a thin line between erotica and pornography, the demand for both has been growing over the years. Also, there seems to be an increasing acceptance of erotica in public space. For instance, Electric Feather: The Tranquebar Book of Erotic Stories, edited by writer-filmmaker Ruchir Joshi and released a few months ago, has been widely acclaimed. To top it, pornography is going mainstream, as is evident from a new film being made on the life of south Indian sex siren Silk Smitha. Titled The Dirty Picture, the film is being produced by Ekta Kapoor and stars Vidya Balan. “People can frown on porn all they want but after the spread of the Internet there is no way of stopping it,” says Ruchir Joshi.

The popularity of pornography today can be gauged from the success of an Internet porn cartoon strip called Savita Bhabhi. Initially a free site, it was banned by the government last year. It has now moved to a new domain and requires a subscription fee to be viewed.

“Savita just can’t get enough sex, and the sexual experiences she has narrated to me have always got me hot. Owing to social issues (she is married) she was not willing to expose her true identity,” her website breathlessly pants. The strip, earlier in Hindi and English, is now available in many languages, including Bengali.

According to data provided by Google Search Volume Index released last month, Savita Bhabhi enjoys the No. 2 position when it comes to Google searches in the subcontinent, just behind Bigg Boss, a reality show known for its bawdy language and scenes.

“These figures show the need for Internet porn in India,” says Ashish Sinha, founder of pluggd.in, which analyses the Indian Internet and mobile industries. “Indians are opening up to try out more digital formats (like 3D) in pornography,” adds Sinha.

They are also sharing information about pornography. About 64 per cent of those polled say they discuss porn with friends while 56 per cent admit they share information about sites and books related to pornography.

And they are not doing anything illegal. While aspects of pornography are still barred in India, watching it in private is not. According to Section 292 of the IPC, one can be booked under obscenity charges if found to be selling or distributing obscene material. However, it is not an offence when the material is used for the “public good, art, learning” or other purposes of general concern. “The law is still ambiguous as watching pornography in private is legal whereas doing so in a public place is illegal. And often the boundary between private and public is blurred,” says Supreme Court lawyer M.N. Krishnamani.

Some have for long been urging the Indian government to accept pornography. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has been an old proponent of porn, and joined the late director and former censor board chairman, Vijay Anand, when he called for movie halls dedicated to pornography in 2002. “ Porn is not an invention of modern man. Our ancient history and culture show it explicitly. When all of us see it in public without any hesitation, why can’t we watch porn or read porn material,” asks Bhatt, whose 2005 film Kalyug was based on the porn industry in India.

Again while it was once the domain of men, women too have joined the porn-watching brigade in recent times. “Five years ago, women barely discussed porn in counselling sessions,” says Hyderabad-based andrologist Sudhakar Krishnamurti. “Now four out of 10 women openly talk about it.”

Those polled by The Telegraph second the contention, with 92 per cent saying that society is more open about pornography today than it was a decade ago. “The fact that sex toys are now freely available shows that society is in a state of flux,” adds Delhi-based curator and art critic Johny M.L. “Whenever I put up suggestive pictures on my blog or art, my readership or viewership doubles.”

Not everybody is happy about it. The easy availability of pornography on the Net has left people in the porn industry cash-strapped. The indigenous industry, says adman Prahlad Kakkar, is worth Rs 50 crore, while the overall porn market — which consists mostly of imported material — is worth Rs 10,000 crore. And, insiders stress, it is the local industry that is going under.

“Also, the demand has gone down with the decline in the number of single screen theatres,” rues Mumbai-based filmmaker Kanti Shah, who has produced more than 25 sex films and calls himself an “adult” filmmaker.

Shah thinks pornography should be made legal. Bhatt believes dedicated movie halls showing erotic films will stem prostitution. “People should have an outlet to see porn. If they get it, they would stop going to red light areas.”

Not everybody agrees. Thirty per cent of those surveyed reject Anand and Bhatt’s proposal. Even Kakkar feels that Indians are not ready for public screenings. “We are a bunch of hypocrites. Even if we watch porn in private, we will hesitate to go and watch it in cinema halls in public,” says Kakkar.

Kakkar believes that the Indian porn industry needs to be more professional to be in demand. “Our production is mostly low-end with exceptionally ugly models featuring in it,” he says.

In fact, television channels have been complaining about decreasing eyeballs for late night adult-viewing shows, thanks to the Internet. “We do not show ‘A’ certified movies. We get better TRPs with programmes meant for family viewing,” says Bhagyalakshmi Ramesh of Sun network, which owns the Malayalam channel Surya TV, once known for screening adult films.

But while the porn lobby has its share of supporters, experts warn that it’s not without its downside. Sometimes, it leads to low self-esteem. “People ask me why they can’t perform as actively as the characters in a porn clip,” says Krishnamurti.

An overdose of porn can also lead to over-expectations in personal lives. More than 50 per cent of those surveyed admitted that pornography had affected their normal lives. “Some female clients complain that their partners would rather watch pornography than have sex. One should understand that porn is fake and exaggerated,” warns Krishnamurti.

What’s clear though is that porn is here to stay. For some, smut may be a four-letter word. For others, filth is in the eye of the beholder.