The story revolves around a gigolo and his quest to become legitimate
Author Kunal Basu. (Picture Courtesy: Facebook)
New Delhi: For author Kunal Basu, marginalised members of Indian society rarely find literary depiction in today's fiction and so he decided to depict the essential humanity of the dispossessed in his new novel, which is a story of a gigolo and his quest to become legitimate. "Kalkatta", published by Pan Macmillan India imprint Picador India, is about Jamshed Alam or Jami, considered the gigolo king of contemporary Kolkata.
"Wandering the streets of Kolkata at night, I've come across various characters that are hard to spot during daytime. Young men, fashionably dressed, waiting in front of hotels and bars have drawn my mind into their worlds, the mysteries of their lives. The story of 'Kalkatta' was born out of such a curiosity, says Basu, author of acclaimed novels like "The Yellow Emperor's Cure", "The Japanese Wife", "The Opium Clerk", "The Miniaturist" and "Racists". According to him, "Kalkatta" is a fictional memoir of a gigolo in contemporary Kolkata.
"It's the story of a marginalised person, and his quest to become legitimate a proper Kalkatta-wallah," Basu told PTI. He says today's fiction is mostly about the affluent or middle-class mainstream. "It is not fashionable to write about poor people struggling to find their place in society. When they are depicted, they are shown to be crude, corrupt and as criminals. I wanted to depict the essential humanity of the dispossessed," says Basu, who has been teaching at the Said Business School, University of Oxford since 1999.
Smuggled into India from Bangladesh and given refuge by his uncle, a leader of the ruling party, Jami grows up in Zakaria Street - a Little Baghdad of the old - dreaming of becoming a pukka Kalkatta-wallah. When friendship with a local gang disqualifies him from school, he ends up as assistant to a passport forger, and then a masseur. Soon enough, innocent massage leads to 'plus plus treatments', and Kalkatta opens its doors, drawing Jami into the world of the rich and famous, housewives, tourists and travelling executives, and occasionally to high-paying and dangerous 'parties'.
( Source : PTI )
Next Story
