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A review by soniek
Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay's Dance Bars by Sonia Faleiro
5.0
Written in 1st person narrative as Faleiro follows bar dancer Leela, giving us a closer view to her work at a dance bar, her personal life, her friends & acquaintances, her family & all the circumstances which shaped her life. Leela's story is the typical story of any woman with an abusive childhood, a toxic family & poverty which force her into prostitution, where the young girl escapes to the city where dreams come true, and where she picks up a dangerous profession & leads a life fraught with risks & dangers but which also provides her a perceived sense of freedom.
Through Leela's story, Faleiro brings to us the lesser known business of dance bars & the lives of bar dancers. I didn't know there's a hierarchy of such bars, descending from the filmy style dance bars to cheaper, yuckier bars where the line between dancing & prostitution for money becomes fuzzier.
The bottomline is both professions are looked down upon by society & law, leaving the workers vulnerable to abuse, health risks & poverty. Faleiro shows how these women fall through the cracks in our system, as they earn good sums of money but are yet unable to open bank accounts to save their earnings for their future. They are forced to live in the moment.
Which explains why the ban on dance bars hit them harder, forcing them to fall deeper into prostitution, something many of them wanted to avoid & found respite from in dance bars.
This is the first book I've ever read on dance bars, and it was quite insightful. Written in 1st person narrative, while Leela & her friend tell their story; Faleiro in her voice talks about the history & evolution of dance bars till their ban. She also brings in the perspectives of the bar owners, customers, NGO workers, brothel madams, pimps & prostitutes.
Faleiro has ensured the readers don't get insulated from the world of dance bars by the book. The language is unusually crass, she has included all the slangs & abuses in Hinglish. Leela & her friend casually narrate the darkest abuses they & other workers have ever experienced. While this is shocking to read, it also underlines how these abuses have become an integral part of their lives & hence how they talk about it so matter - of - factly. Faleiro herself has tried her best to not influence a world she's observing. The only time she tries to get involved is when Leela goes missing suddenly after being jobless due to the ban, when she tries to lend money to Leela as she inches towards prostitution due to penury (Leela refuses to take her money), and when she tries to stop Leela & her friend from taking up an obviously dangerous job in UAE.
The book ends with Leela & her friend taking up this UAE job. The reader will be definitely left with some degree of concern & curiosity about their safety & well - being. This is deliberate on Faleiro's part, to make the reader realize there isn't just one Leela, there are many like her struggling through life in Bombay & elsewhere. The book definitely leaves the reader more informed than before, and more sensitized towards how our current socioeconomic systems have failed so many women, despite policies being made on paper; on how laws passed for "the greater good" are passed without consideration on its effect on a minority.
Overall, this is yet another highly recommended book by Faleiro.
Through Leela's story, Faleiro brings to us the lesser known business of dance bars & the lives of bar dancers. I didn't know there's a hierarchy of such bars, descending from the filmy style dance bars to cheaper, yuckier bars where the line between dancing & prostitution for money becomes fuzzier.
The bottomline is both professions are looked down upon by society & law, leaving the workers vulnerable to abuse, health risks & poverty. Faleiro shows how these women fall through the cracks in our system, as they earn good sums of money but are yet unable to open bank accounts to save their earnings for their future. They are forced to live in the moment.
Which explains why the ban on dance bars hit them harder, forcing them to fall deeper into prostitution, something many of them wanted to avoid & found respite from in dance bars.
This is the first book I've ever read on dance bars, and it was quite insightful. Written in 1st person narrative, while Leela & her friend tell their story; Faleiro in her voice talks about the history & evolution of dance bars till their ban. She also brings in the perspectives of the bar owners, customers, NGO workers, brothel madams, pimps & prostitutes.
Faleiro has ensured the readers don't get insulated from the world of dance bars by the book. The language is unusually crass, she has included all the slangs & abuses in Hinglish. Leela & her friend casually narrate the darkest abuses they & other workers have ever experienced. While this is shocking to read, it also underlines how these abuses have become an integral part of their lives & hence how they talk about it so matter - of - factly. Faleiro herself has tried her best to not influence a world she's observing. The only time she tries to get involved is when Leela goes missing suddenly after being jobless due to the ban, when she tries to lend money to Leela as she inches towards prostitution due to penury (Leela refuses to take her money), and when she tries to stop Leela & her friend from taking up an obviously dangerous job in UAE.
The book ends with Leela & her friend taking up this UAE job. The reader will be definitely left with some degree of concern & curiosity about their safety & well - being. This is deliberate on Faleiro's part, to make the reader realize there isn't just one Leela, there are many like her struggling through life in Bombay & elsewhere. The book definitely leaves the reader more informed than before, and more sensitized towards how our current socioeconomic systems have failed so many women, despite policies being made on paper; on how laws passed for "the greater good" are passed without consideration on its effect on a minority.
Overall, this is yet another highly recommended book by Faleiro.