The sex life of Mohan Kumar. Review on Company of Women, The - Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh loves to shock. Oh boy! That’ll be an understatement of sorts. I remember reading a statement by Pritish Nandy – something to the effect – if he (KS) hadn’t spent more than half his time in partying and drinking scotch, then Khushwant would have been the most powerful voices in India, capable of transforming our society.

I’ve just finished reading his The Company of Women. Whew! Those who have read this book (KS’ latest, if his autobiography is not taken into account) would understand why I am gasping for breath. And for those who are still to take a peep into Mohan Kumar’s extremely libidinous life, here’s a piece of advice – go for it only if you are not a prude.

The novel deals with the sex life of a certain Mohan Kumar, a high profile businessman living in Delhi. Mohan moves from one relationship to another without as much even blinking an eyelid. His liaisons with various women are detailed accounts and the bedroom scenes are graphically portrayed. Mohan Kumar sleeps with anyone who’s remotely a woman. His libido says caste, creed, and race no bar, sex wanted baar baar. So, our protagonist sleeps with his washerwoman, his child’s nurse, a Goan masseur, a Pakistani politician … the list is endless.

Yet, despite all its explicitness the novel, on hindsight, does not sizzle. It is cold, certainly not erotic. And that is the reason why The Company of Women leaves a bitter after taste. Eroticism is certainly not dependent on the graphic portrayal of sexuality. It is more in the mind. If one wants to read something that actually titillates you, then go for Madame Bovary. The Company of Women is soft porn. Nothing wrong with that except that it’s advertised as erotica which it is not.

Khushwant Singh, to me, is the sultan of tom-tomming. He was a great journalist, a good enough author (I Shall No Longer Hear the Nightingale Sing, and Train to Pakistan), but I think he’s lost it. The Company of Women is nothing but the sexual fantasies of an octogenarian.

Read it to get a kick and then discard immediately.