It is a sparsely furnished bed-sitter. She sits on her bed; I on the sofa. I take a sip of the sweet, smelly rum. It is raw, rough and heady. I cannot think of what to say. I break the silence with the first thing that comes to mind. ‘The other day you said something about Aurangzeb being a bigot. That’s not how Muslim historians see him. Even the ordinary Muslims of today think he has been unfairly maligned.’

She laughs. ‘Can’t you think of anything more interesting to talk about with a woman than a dead emperor?’

‘I could say how lucky I am being in the company of an attractive woman. But where will that get me?’

‘You know very little about me. Not even how attractive I can be. You’ve not even tried to find out.’ she says. She removes her sari pallu, undoes the clasp of her blouse and exposes her breasts. ‘Have you seen anything like these before? And on a woman who has suckled three children?’

I certainly had not. Ebony black, perfectly shaped and taut as that of a virgin of sixteen. Blacker nipples pointing directly at me. ‘You have the most perfectly shaped bosom I’ve ever seen, the pictures of nudes included,’ I say. I have a strong urge to get up and sit beside her. She notices my hesitation. ‘Feel them. Nothing flabby about me.’

I go and sit beside her. I run my palms over her bosom; they are firmer than any I have ever encountered. I lay her head on her pillow and run my tongue round her nipples. ‘This is coming in your way,’ she says removing my turban from my head. My long hair spreads over her face. She pulls me down by it and presses my head closer to her bosom . . . . I stop for a breather and take a look at her face. She has closed her eyes and is breathing heavily. As I press my lips on hers she opens her mouth to entangle her tongue in mine. My hand goes reconnoitring over her buttocks and then between her thighs. ‘Come inside and give me the baby you promised,’ she murmurs.

I do her bidding. She is a quick comer. It is all over in a matter of seconds. I go back to my rum on the rocks. She gets up, plucks a cigarette from her bedside table and lights it. ‘Now that we’ve got this off our minds, you can tell me about Aurangzeb,’ she says.

Aurangzeb Alamgir: Emperor of Hindustan