PICTURE THAT: An illustration from The Origins of Sex

Shocking sex waves on Night Waves

The Parsi-origin historian, Faramerz Dabhoiwala — “Fara” to friends — caused a stir by using a four-letter word when he went on BBC Radio last week to talk about his book, The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution.

“Talking about sex can be complicated, even late at night,” confides a rueful Fara, 42, a senior fellow at Exeter College, Oxford.

“I was speaking about my book on Radio 3’s arts programme, Night Waves,” he tells me. “We were live on air, it was after 10pm, and I was asked to give an example of the new attitudes to sexual freedom that were born in the West in the 18th century.”

The presenter Rana Mitter, distinguished Bengali academic son of distinguished Bengali academic father Partha Mitter, did urge Fara to “give us an example”.

Fara responded: “The contrast that I would draw — that is most stark — is between 1654 and 1754.”

He explained: “In 1654 — the date on which possibly the last person is executed for adultery in England — a woman called Susan Bounty is found guilty of adultery. The judges humanely wait for her to give birth to her child, then they take the child from her and they hang her until she is dead. And that is for having sex outside marriage. That is the government enforcing an extreme version of what everyone in pre-modern society thinks as appropriate sexual discipline.”

Fara then explained: “If you look a 100 years later there is the pithiest statement that I know of the new attitudes which is John Wilkes’s great line from the Essay on Women in 1754 about the meaning of life and the purpose of it and sex in that and that is, Life can little more supply / Than just a few good F***s, and then we die.”

As the other guests tittered, Mitter cut in: “Well, I have to apologise to anyone listening who was offended by that. I think perhaps we will keep the linguistic level register (on) a little bit more of an elevated plane.”

Fara tells me that that politician and journalist John Wilkes was “the great stalwart of political and sexual liberty. To my bemusement my genial host, Rana Mitter, immediately felt compelled to apologise to listeners who might have been offended by a rude word in the quote. And I’m tickled to see that the episode now has a warning on it on the online BBC iPlayer.”

It reads: “Contains language which may offend.”

 

Peanut prick

Pranab Mukherjee gets very little coverage in the British media and, judging by the comments he has attracted recently, he would, no doubt, have liked to have kept it that way.

Aid sting: Pranab Mukherjee (left) with George Osborne

Instead, India’s finance minister has almost been elevated to the status of Public Enemy No. 1.

But did Pranab babu really dismiss UK aid to India, worth £1 billion over four years, with these words in the Rajya Sabha: “We do not require the aid. It is a peanut in our total development expenditure.”

From Britain’s point of view, it’s bad enough that India has apparently chosen a French fighter aircraft over the British-backed Eurofighter Typhoon.

Stung, the Daily Mail commented: “To Mr Mukherjee, the £1 billion we’ve given to India over the past five years, with hundreds of millions more promised by 2015, may be ‘a peanut’. But to hard-pressed British families in a Britain crippled by debt, our ring-fenced aid budget is a massive and growing affront.”

At the very least, a conciliatory word from India’s external affairs minister — do we have one? — would not be out of place.

Incidentally, the expression denoting a small amount is “peanuts”. That Pranab babu reduced British aid to “a peanut” must hurt even more.

 

Andy’s eaterie

After years in England, master chef Udit Sarkhel, who once ran the Calcutta Kitchen in south London, has returned permanently to India. Udit would like to teach and keep an eye on his elderly folk in Calcutta.

Royal recipe: Andy Varma (centre) and his team

The recession has taken its toll on Indian restaurants. But ex-Calcutta boys Andy and Arjun Varma — who once ran Vama on the King’s Road, Chelsea — are now back with a new restaurant, Chakra in Notting Hill Gate.

Andy reveals his menu is based on various Indian schools of cooking, “prominent being Punjab and Lucknow. My famous dish from the Punjab school is the Patiala Chaap and from Lucknow the Venison Kakori.”

The Varma brothers also offer sweet dessert wines.

If my Calcutta friends in high places can fix it for Air India to operate direct flights from London, I will bring home such sweet wines as Muscat Ottonel 2010 and NV Pedro Ximenez Solera 1927 to be road tested with sondesh and rosogolla.

 

Husain in India

Next stop M.F. Husain, I hope.Tanya Baxter, who owns a gallery in London’s King’s Road, organised a successful exhibition of works by S.H. Raza at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi.

A previously unseen 1998 painting from a private collection fetched £1,70,000. Raza was present as was the well-known British artist Pip Todd Warmoth whose London scene sold for £18,000.

An exhibition of Husain paintings in India would be the logical next step — something that Tanya does want to do.

 

Tena’s time

British photographers were fascinated by Tena Desae’s choli when the model-turned-actress, who plays a character called Sunaina in The Great Exotic Marigold Hotel, turned up at the film’s premiere in London last week.

Choli charm: Tena Desae at the London premiere

She told a colleague of mine that she was against skin lightening creams (“People need to know you can be dusky and beautiful”), that “I am single at the moment” and “I’m very ambitious”.

For Indian actresses, the first rule of PR is, “Walk the red carpet — and dress to attract attention.”

For Anil Kapoor, the trick is to appear at every high profile event. He will be co-presenting one of the awards at Bafta this evening at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Host for the evening is Stephen Fry. Martin Scorsese is to receive a Bafta Fellowship. Among other confirmed presenters and guests are Colin Firth, Cuba Gooding Jr, Daniel Radcliffe, Gillian Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter, Russell Crowe and Penélope Cruz.

It is good for Anil Kapoor to see and be seen, even though he may have to introduce himself: “Hi, I am the biggest star in Bollywood.”

 

Tittle tattle

Jonathan Agnew on the BBC’s Test Match Special from Dubai on “DRS” (decision review system): “Several of the England batsman were out to (lbw) decisions which umpires in the past would not have given out because they would give the batsmen the benefit of the doubt… Before DRS you would have played (Saeed) Ajmal as a bit of a leg-spinner, with your pad covering his off-spinner… But with the DRS, you are always vulnerable... Indeed, when India watch this... I wouldn’t mind betting that they eat some humble pie and agree to have DRS.”

Moan, moan, whinge, whinge...

India were slammed last summer for not agreeing to DRS. But after Pakistan’s 3-0 win, England think DRS is terrible because umpires no longer give England batsmen the benefit of the doubt.