Book Review Title: The Last Courtesan: Writing my mother’s memoir Author: Manish Gaekwad Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2023 Pages: 185 Writing the biography of one’s mother who was a courtesan is not quite a pleasant task. Manish Gaekwad undertakes that arduous task in this book and does a fairly eminent job with it. ‘Courtesan’ may not be quite the exact translation of ‘tawaif,’ which is what Rekha, Gaekwad’s mother, was. A courtesan is essentially a sex worker whose clients are wealthy men. But a tawaif is primarily an artiste, a singer of ghazals as well as a dancer. Sex is part of that job, no doubt. When a woman sings lines like Apna bana le meri jaan / Haye re main tere qurbaan [Make me yours, my love / I am your sacrifice] to a man, sex becomes a natural climax of the show. Rekha is a tawaif. She tells her own story in this book. The author writes the narrative as if his mother is telling him her life’s story. Towards the end of the narrative, Rekha asse...
good one:)
ReplyDeleteThanks. And this is real. From real life. Just from this morning's assembly.
DeleteMaximum things conveyed in minimum words :)
ReplyDeleteAnd of course shows how people function now a days ...
Cbse teaches us how to kill and achieve!
DeleteGood one, made me smile ear to ear.
ReplyDelete;) what a take on corporate politics and in few words ??
ReplyDeleteMarvellous!
ReplyDelete...better rise tithe standards ..., Matheikal?
ReplyDeleteMore appropriate maybe ... Better lower yourself to the standards ...
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terse.... yet says a lot !!
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