Nobody can love you more by Mayank Austen Soofi

I have been following Mayank on twitter for a few weeks. He writes about Delhi on his blog The Delhiwala. I picked up this book while browsing at The Full Circle bookstore at Khan Market (one of the best bookstores in Delhi).

Soofi spent 3 years at G B road talking to the prostitutes and kothe malik there and this book chronicles their life. It is written practically without a emotional touch. We are not asked to sympathise with them and neither is there disgust.

Their lives have a touch of humanity along with cruelty. Like any of us. I like how Soofi juxtaposes his life against theirs. Like, how he escapes from the dirt and filth of G B road to a high class party in South Delhi. He has to overcome his disgust to earn their trust. Because if he can't share their food, how can he expect them to share their lives.
The writing is very honest. It is rare to come across writers who are aware about their privilege and pretension.

I recommend this book highly. It has an underlying nostalgia that only books about Delhi can evoke.

Comments

Lipstick under my burkha

I was extremely happy when this movie released after so much struggle with the censor board. I had decided to not miss it in the theatre and we went for the 10 am show today. Was happy to note that the theatre was almost full at that hour. The movie stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak, Aahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur, Sushant Singh, Vikrant Massey and Shashank Arora. There is so much I want to say about the movie. Yes, it is a "lady oriented" film, whatever the censor board means by that. I guess it means that this movie realistically portrays women of all ages and that is reason enough for it to get most men's and some women's knickers in a twist. *Spoilers ahead* A 50 year old who reads erotica??? OMG. And wants to have sex? With a man half her age? How dare she!!! That is ridiculous. Whoever heard of people having sex with other people half their age. There is a woman having an affair with another man while her mother has arranged her marriage agai...

Muramba

Muramba is a Marathi movie available on Netflix. It stars Sachin Khedekar, Mithila Palkar, Amey Wagh and Chinmayi Sumit. Alok and Indu have been dating for years and are on the verge of getting engaged when they break up. Alok's parents are concerned. The movie is about Alok narrating to his parents the differences between him and Indu and why they broke up over a period of one day. It is funny and sweet and brushes against some serious issues but does not delve deeper into them. Loved it. I would highly recommend this flick.

My watchlist on Amazon Prime

I've read Neil Gaiman's book American Gods but wasn't impressed. He couldn't tie all the loose ends and the climax wasn't half as good as the build up. I wish he had written a sequel instead. The Amazon original series based on the books is stunning. It brings out the darkness in the book very well and keeps the viewer hooked. Hopefully, the climax in the series will be much better than the one in the book. In fact, the series is far, far better than the book or atleast whatever I can remember of it. I am seeing this happen more and more where a series plugs all the holes in the book and the casting makes it far superior to the book. Do catch this one. I discovered this series on Amazon Prime and am surprised nobody is talking about it. This is from the 70s when many newsrooms only employed women as researchers and they weren't allowed to write. They could never be reporters. Researchers were paid less than half of what reporters got pa...

Bulz gone bonkers.... Again

Search This Blog