My good opinion once lost is lost forever

My good opinion once lost is lost forever. This is true of busy-mouthed Khushwant Singh. He takes upon himself the task of becoming an Indian raconteur by commercialising washing dirty linens of his closest friends in public. Women & Men of my Life is one book he is well-known for because it has nothing to offer but stories of nubile, self-acclaimed doyens, nymphomanias, debauches, gargantuan eaters, adulterers and adulteresses, the go getters, party goers (where they screen blue movies, including himself) and of men at 40s who never knew about women’s PMS and periods. Pay heed readers he shields his wife, daughters and grand-daughters but generously pays the other beloveds by exposing their private indulgences, which are but taboos in Indian culture.

Altogether 12 women and 8 men, seen through the eyes of a man who only sees what a man wants to see and hears only what a man wants to hear from both sexes. Women are enormously described in terms of quantity and not quality. He knows exactly the sizes of their teats, hips, curves, complexion, and hair colour and is very conscious of their smell. He must have a PhD in male gaze. He has done well by exposing women as scattered brains, as sex vessels, receptacles with holes. Of one woman in particular he says, “She was said to have given appointments to her lovers with two-hour intervals – at times six to seven a day – before she retired for the night.” One need not just knock sense into his numbskull but bang it hard and tell him that he just cannot exhibit people’s privacy who haven’t given up the ghost. 

One is not amused but only enraged by reading the book. In the introduction he mentions, “Some were offended by what I wrote about them and are no longer on talking terms with me … Now it is up to you to decide whether or not the exercise has been worthwhile.” One wouldn’t mind giving him a woody slap but one cannot be sure if the message will reach him because he seems the walking missing link. Definitely one would be extremely bowled over if one sells another’s embarrassment, faux pas and fiascos. And not many would dare but Khushwant Singh does it in style. Here’s a recount of one of his male friends; “One afternoon when overcame by passion he tried to bed her, she pleaded illness and begged him to be patient for a few days. But (his) passions had been aroused to a feverish pitch and he saw with his own eyes … It was the first time he had heard of women menstruating. ‘Please don’t tell anybody I don’t know about this,’ he begged of me. Of course, I told everyone.” This book first published in 1995 had undergone ten impressions. Wow! One might say but the filthy tales he tells leave one disgusted and churned up. Modus Vivendi cannot exist when it comes to Women & Men of my Life. It is settled. My good opinion once lost is lost forever.