The Pleasure Principle - The Amaryllis Book of Erotic Stories Edited by G. Sampath

I am wary of erotica (especially written by Indian writers). But friend KSD has written a piece called 'The Middle East Position' which is a new position to take politically, sexually and other ally in this book titled 'The Pleasure Principle - The Amaryllis Book of Erotic Stories'. Amaryllis is the publisher, in case you are wondering, and not some distant relative of Vatsyayana who contracted syphilis. It is edited by G. Sampath and writers include names like Taslima Nasrin, Jaishree Mishra, Tabish Khair (who inspired me to write), Amitava Kumar, the inimitable Krishna Shastri Devulapalli, Mitali Saran, Shinie Antony, Rupa Bajwa, Kankana Basu, Vikram Kapur, Aditya Sharma and Amrita Chatterjee.

Amaryllis, 230 p, Rs. 350

It starts with 'Sex Boy' by Taslima Nasrin - a story of two online friends who have great phone sex but are very respectful and distant when they actually meet. Jaishree Misra's 'Naked Cleaning Lady' is about an impotent man who hires a cleaning lady who should clean the house naked (reminds him of his dead wife he says) and finds that it was his wife who died and nothing else. Cyrus Mistry writes about a paedophile school teacher who runs out naked in the last line in his 'The Degradation of Erasmo S'. Krishna Shastri's 'Middle East Position' is about his friend Paddy Padmanabhan, who reminds me more and more of Ukridge, and his escapades in a hotel in the Middle East - while escaping some women in the lobby (locked out of his room) in only a teeny underwear, he opens a new door to his life and finds himself in the warm embrace of an Arab sheikh who has other ideas for him. Hilarious as always! I loved the title. 'Insomnia' by Mitali Saran is about a lady who finds out her husband is in an affair with a common friend and ends up ravishing her herself. Is that a way of getting back?

Rupa Bajwa writes about a writer who has an affair with his maid and leaves after he finishes his manuscript in her 'The Last House'. Shinie Antony's 'Thy will be done' is about a young religious guru type girl who has sexual awakenings. 'The Holy Sex Tape Project' by Meena Kandaswamy starts a holy sex tape project to preserve our culture. 'Graveyard Shift' by Kankana Basu has a nice twist in the end - of a murderer who picks and finishes off sex starved victims in a hurry. 'First Kiss' by Vikram Kapur is exactly that - about his first kiss with Maya and how she disappeared after that kiss when she finds this guy was younger to her, only to return after 25 years. 'The House Help' by Tabish Khair is about Lokesh and his love for his house help Padma and her smells and cannot get over her. Adtya Sharma's 'Chunni Lal' is a guy who wants to experience sex and finds great difficulty in the process - among things that could have been useful are educational books, helpful lovers and a GPS. 'The Real Sex' by Amrita Chatterjee is about a person wondering what real sex is.

All in all, little pleasure was had in reading The Pleasure Principle, save the odd story. but we grew up on a healthy diet of Harold Robbins, Irwing Wallace and the lot and i am not sure what that is categorised under.  But then erotica and sex mean different things to different people so let it lie at that.