My Dusky Lady

✍ Scribed by R Sundaram

• Book ID: 112869229
• Publisher: Kindle
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 3 MB
• Edition: 1
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

From the Foreword: ‘Adman’ as we called him – the name was Harish– and I, were neighbours in the same Society, about the same age and had a number of other similarities. While he had a considerable reputation in the advertising industry, mine was in the medical field, specifically ObGyn, which in the full form is Obstetrics & Gynaecology. With the decorated war hero we called Colonel, we were the Three Musketeers of our Society. For about a decade we had our morning constitutional together, gathered for drinks over evening meals and were generally in and out of each other’s residences every day.
I was honoured to be regarded as one of Harish’s closest friends. After he passed away – and after a considerable interval - his daughter and son in law made a flying visit from the USA, cleared the home of everything valuable and requested me to give away the detritus of the house to anyone I thought deserving, and put the mansion up for sale.
While rummaging around his personal belongings I came across a diary Harish had been maintaining. In the last half decade of his life, he had commenced working on a project relating to AIDS, sexuality and reproductive health in India. The tale which follows are based on his jottings and memorabilia in the diary; much of it was information he had gathered about the sexual habits of the Indian population. After some pages the notes about the AIDS project stopped, and the diary focussed exclusively on the girl named Munni. The primary explanation could be the anticipated project on AIDS did not materialize. Another plausible reason could be that he had developed a certain affection for Munni because his own biological daughter did not reciprocate his love for her.
It is very difficult to explain his relationship with Munni. There may have been an element of creative conceit for Harish; he had taken a servant girl from a slum in Bombay and used his considerable marketing skills to position her as one of the most sought after courtesans in Bombay.
Despite being part of the Establishment, Harish cocked a snook at the traditional order – whatever it is - in disordered India. He read extensively and we ribbed him that he had missed his true calling in life – to be a philosopher. He was quite revolutionary in thought and had told us a number of times, ‘Change is the only constant.’ The ability to think differently had propelled him to be one of India’s foremost marketing gurus. While companies queued up to retain him as a marketing adviser, after the death of his beloved wife he decided to focus only on projects which challenged him.
vi
My wish – which I doubt will happen - is that these memories which have been compiled into a book, should be mandated as a text book at Indian Universities. ‘My Dusky Lady’ is the narrative of a girl disadvantaged by her caste, gender and class who overcame the considerable odds stacked against her. Harish was at a loss to understand why ‘Pygmalion’ written in Edwardian times, describing class prejudices in England was prescribed for students in India; the real reason for his abiding hatred for the book was it had been his textbook while in college! This could explain why the notebook had ‘My Dusky Lady’ scrawled on the first page; it was Harish’s riposte to the musical, ‘My Fair Lady’. Just as Professor Higgins changed a flower girl’s life, Harish’s association with Munni changed her life - dramatically.
In Indian theatre is a ‘sutradhar’ – the Narrator and also the Director of the events being enacted on stage; Harish saw himself as the Director of the happenings in Munni’s life. He was over scrupulous about not telling her what to do and when she did take decisions, which may seem ‘shocking’ to the moralistic majority who sit in judgement – Harish never criticized her. Actually, Harish was full of admiration for his protege’s fighting spirit which enabled her to overcome the harsh circumstances of her life.
The book is a critique of many things in India. While Harish’s contempt for the Government and its various arms came across strongly in various utterances of his, he was a patriot who questioned the urge of many Indians who wanted to escape to the West because of the Government’s policies. In a way, the story is about India’s middle class about whom he had scathing views. Harish said the rules of the middle class don’t apply to the rich and definitely not to the weakest sections who, have to sell even themselves to just stay alive. A recurring theme in the story is Indian male patriarchy where the man expects the woman to not only meet his sexual needs but, also provide food on the table.
At first hand I was able to see how he spotted the opportunity and launched an exceedingly successful condom brand. What is not known – which I can divulge now that he is beyond the long arm of the law - is that he was the driving force behind the first uniquely Indian adult website which was a huge success.
Normally, eulogies refer to a nicer, kinder place somewhere “up there.” Harish, the Colonel and I had many discussions about this place and finally concurred, there is no after life. I am grateful to whatever Providence brought us together and for all the good times we shared.
vii
Many thanks to the unnamed mutual Friend who converted Harish’s jottings in the diary into a readable story. The Friend has used artistic license in the selection of some of the songs mentioned in the narrative because some songs were released much after the events in the story. The reader may cavil at some of the words ascribed to Munni and ask – how could a slum girl have such a vocabulary? Put it down to the narrator’s license. In my humble opinion - those are just details which don’t detract from the story, a rollicking record of happenings as they unfolded around us, before us.
Because the book is based on a diary the narrative is presented in different voices - primarily of Harish and Munni. It would be very easy to write a sexually explicit novel but, the reader would find Harish’s jottings had penetrating insights into Indian society.
No thanks to the many publishing houses who turned down the manuscript. One returned the manuscript with the observation, "…sheer unrestrained pornography," which it isn’t. Nabokov’s classic Lolita attracted exactly these comments by reputed critics and if, I had been inclined to respond, I would have termed their comments as “sheer plagiarism.”
Dr. Luv also known as “Doc”
New Bombay