The Last Courtesan: Writing My Mother’s Memoir

• The book follows Rekhabai from her childhood training as a tawaif to her career as a singing and dancing performer in Calcutta and Bombay. Against the decline of the kothas and the rise of dance bars, she struggles to support her family and raise her son.

• Manish Gaekwad is a Mumbai-based journalist and writer who has worked with publications including Scroll.in and Mid-Day and has freelanced for The Hindu. He is also the author of the novel Lean Days.

The Last Courtesan presents the life of Rekhabai through the voice and perspective of her son, Manish Gaekwad. It explores her difficult childhood, career as a tawaif, family responsibilities and the social changes that gradually transformed the traditional kotha culture. The memoir combines personal history with a portrait of a disappearing cultural world.