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...
[ Laughs ] That is an interesting way of looking at it!
ReplyDeleteThe post was an interior monologue, Renard. I put it up here on an impulse.
Delete:) Cool.....still laughing...
ReplyDeleteGlad I could make you laugh, Prasad. But our pollsters must be making you laugh more.
Delete:D
ReplyDeleteGlad for you, Anil.
DeleteMake it look like promising the paradise.....amazing way of looking at it. Statistics,media and politics go hand in hand. What is revealed to us is the adulterated version of the actual statistics and then we have to put up with debates about those statistics and then also how great a leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi is.
ReplyDeleteMost statistics are manipulated in one way or another, it seems, Athena. Each pollster must be supporting one party or another, and make convenient predictions.
Delete:-D :-D..
ReplyDeleteHappy to have entertained you, Maniparna. In fact, much of Indian politics is a good entertainer.
DeleteNow that's an interesting way to look at it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I second your perception. :)
We can console ourselves when we learn to see the funny side, isn't it, Nikhil?
DeleteTrue that Sir!
DeleteThat's the best we can do at times.
Good to know you have a raunchy side as well! :)
ReplyDelete... kept under control, Sid. :)
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ReplyDeleteThat's interesting and funny...And yes as you mentioned...Indian Politics is quite an entertainer...
ReplyDeleteAren't we lucky to have such free entertainment? :)
Deleteha ha :-))
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing my joy.
DeleteI love the Naya Chanakya's take - promising paradise :D
ReplyDelete... false paradises, Sangeeta.
DeleteWell the way we use statistics is like a drunken man using a lamp post, for support rather than illumination. With so many opinion polls sprouting up, with unknown backers, I guess it is a case of politicians using these statistics for support. Hence the wild variation.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Sabyasachi
Loved your comparison to the lamp post and drunkard.
DeleteBrilliant Naya Chanakya..hehe
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bushra
Delete