{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks-and-authors.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fdancing-for-her-life-_ArvkKDk","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"Dancing for her life","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/ae6533df-095e-4fef-b7ef-69ea44f76a8c/e5d49a2f-1d3e-4200-a7e6-f10a5dae5f0f/the-last-cortesan-1.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/c18a101c-8cb5-4920-9d58-098fea2eada1\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"Dancing for her life\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"\"The things she'd seen of the world made her cautious of men in general. So, she never allowed herself to be dictated to by a man. Also, she understood, from the other tawaifs, that it was important to give your child an education, which she hadn't had herself. I was sent to boarding school. I never really faced any discrimination because, the minute I opened my mouth, somehow, people think I come from an affluent background. They just assume you are well off because you are fluent in English. Nobody asks you about your background.\" - Manish Gaekwad, author, The Last Courtesan, talks to Manjula Narayan about his mother, who was trafficked as a child and her subsequent life as an entertainer in Calcutta and at Foras Road in 1990s Bombay, and about writing a memoir about her life."}