Beautiful Thing...

I don't remember the last time I stayed up all night, all day in bed to read. After what must have been ages, Sonia Faliero's "Beautiful Thing" managed to do that. Unputdownable.

Beautiful Thing gives you a glimpse of Bombay's Dance Bar world. I had ordered the book like a month back but somehow the online bookstore kept on delaying. And when a friend told me he had actually visited one of the "Orchestra bars", I knew I wanted to read Beautiful Thing. I remember asking one of my close guy friend to take me to the "red light" area of the city to see what happens there. I just was so curious. I wanted to know what happened. You'll think me naive, and stupid. But I read Beautiful Thing and I knew my curiosity wasn't unwarranted. And no, he did not take me and no, I don't want to go there anymore. I am terrified and I am heartbroken.


And though my life is so removed from the reality that is their life, their existence so alien, there is something that managed to still connect our lives. Dreams, aspirations, emotions, an unfulfilled wish perhaps, that managed to bridge the two sides of the same city. And while I still have hope that someday my those dreams will come true, I wonder what will happen to theirs.


Reading Beautiful Thing was like touching the hot coals everyone told you to stay away from.


Enlightening, shocking, heartbreaking. Highly recommend it.