Manish Gaekwad’s ‘The Last Courtesan’ offers a poignant and vivid exploration into the life of a courtesan during the twilight of a fading era. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing India, the memoir delves into themes of tradition, transformation, and survival. Gaekwad’s narrative around his mother’s experience as a nautch girl weaves a tapestry of rich historical detail and compelling character study, presenting a world where art, desire, and societal change collide.
Through the eyes of the protagonist, readers are invited into the intricacies of a life marked by both grandeur and marginalization. With delicate yet powerful prose, Gaekwad resurrects a lost world, inviting reflection on the complexities of heritage and the passage of time.
In an exclusive conversation with News18, the author spoke about their mother’s life and legacy, how the memoir came into being, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi’ and much more.
In the book, you explore your mother’s life and legacy. How did you approach the process of writing her memoir?
The process was quite simple. My mother spoke, and I recorded and transcribed it. I was just the stenographer! During the pandemic, when she was severely ill, I was looking after her in Calcutta. We used the time to bond, and especially at tea time, the twilight hour when the horizon is between night and day and one finds it abetting reflection on one’s life and purpose.
Did you always plan on writing about your mother? Could you recall incidents from your childhood that perhaps spiked an interest in you to get to know your mother a little better?
No. It just happened. In 2018, after my first novel was out, I wrote an essay about us, which went viral and led to a book deal. That’s when I went to my mother and said,’See, there’s an auction amongst publishers for your story.’ She laughed and was game for it. She had been telling me incidents from her life throughout my childhood, but the time was ripe now. As a child, I was too busy reading Archie comics, Champak, Chandamama, Target magazine, Misha, Mayapuri, etc to take an interest in my mother’s story. In fact, I’d heard her recall incidents from her life like a comic-book adventure. She didn’t dwell on it miserably. Even when I was recording her, she was enjoying narrating it like a thrill ride.
Your personal relationship with your mother has played a vital role in the creative process of this book. Would you mind elaborating on how it influenced your writing?
My mother and I lived away from each other for long stretches. She put me in boarding school when I was five. She sent me to live with her sister in a slum in Poona when I was seventeen. I then worked in several cities, meeting her once a year. So I think the detachment helped in being objective and not allowing my emotions to colour my writing about her. I think of her as a persona outside her identity as my mother. She’s so much more than that and all of it has to be expressed without whitewashing her story as her only child.
You discuss the concept of identity in the book. How do you think your mother’s experiences shaped her sense of self and how has that impacted your life and the way you grew up?
She saw too much too soon. It hardened her spine but also softened her gaze. Her instinct was strong and her actions were kind and helpful. I believe it passes from mother to child. I try to live by her values, which is to survive the odds with a tear in one eye and a smile in the other.
In what ways do you think writing “The Last Courtesan” has changed your perception of your mother and her life?
How can one not love a woman like that? She endears herself in death which she perhaps found sentimental in life. In writing TLC, I realised how she moved heaven and earth to provide me with the life that was denied to her. When she passed on, a friend wrote to me: ‘All moms are great but yours was greater than most.’ It floods my heart.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi has sparked a renewed interest in the lives of courtesans. What are your thoughts on his approach and depiction?
It’s all fantasy. Reality doesn’t always promise entertainment. I quite enjoy a spectacle.
Coming back to your book, would you like to see ‘The Last Courtesan’ being turned into a film? If yes, how would you want it to be made and who would you prefer to see as the lead?
Sure, why not? If the biopic isn’t only about heroics but a more rounded personality. It’s entirely up to the filmmaker’s vision how they make it. I haven’t thought of the lead, maybe it merits a debutant or someone I can’t think of other than the obvious big-ticket names, who should get a chance.
Lastly, if you could please tell us what is next for you in line?
I am writing the follow-up to TLC, about my own growing up years as a child in the kothas of Calcutta and Bombay.
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