India unzipped

Ira Trivedi’s book (India In Love: Marriage And Sexuality In The 21st Century | Ira Trivedi | Aleph Book Company) presents an efficient—if predictable—analysis of Indian sexual behaviour 

Ira Trivedi is seated in front of a cottage-like bungalow in a VIP district in central Delhi that was built for the British by the British, in a lawn that was designed for exactly such a day as today: sunny and bursting with flowers, decorated as if Lady Spring were about to visit with Lady Privilege. One wonders if spring were made for such a garden, for this early afternoon, this perfect moment in March. I spot a gormless-looking beagle past a crop of pansies, flox and poppies, a sexist who only barks at male visitors. I am waved in from under a garden umbrella by a slender, seated silhouette that belongs to the author.