She is an acknowledged authority on the Kama Sutra, and her recent book, "The Arts of Seduction", is billed as a guide to having great sex in the 21st century. London-based mythologist and narrative practitioner Kamadevika Seema Anand laments that people are not having "great sex" these days, and that it has been reduced to an "act of instant gratification".
"For the most part, sex is now a brief, tiresome, unfulfilling encounter, something that ‘needs to be done'. For the ancient Indians sex was a poetic experience centred on the nuances of seduction and the subtlety of exploration whereas our idea of ‘great sex' focuses on the tiniest (and possibly the most irrelevant) part of it -- the act of penetration. The ‘Kama Sutra' holds that there is only so much one can do with the genitals. The real excitement comes from what happens before and after, from what the mind can conjure up," Anand told IANS in an email interview.
To explain better, she asks her readers to imagine a feast of their favourite foods laid out in front of them.
"You pick up each thing separately, you savour it, you roll it around your mouth till its flavour fills your brain. Then, and only then do you move on to the next thing so that at the end of it even the memory of each taste will have the capacity to bring a smile to your face.
"Similarly, we are like a banquet of erogenous zones with an incredible capacity for pleasure, where each spot has its own sensations and its own manner of arousal -- imagine the potential," she said.
Pleasure, she said, is the bringing of each little nerve ending tingling to life -- one tiny nerve at a time.
"It needs the indulgence of time and fantasy -- you need to be physically, mentally and emotionally present with your lover. When was the last time you can say you did that," she asked.
Anand reminded that "Kama Sutra" author Vatsyayan's solution for exploring pleasure was to create variety -- variety in everything.
"The only way to keep it fresh is to constantly change what we do. However, that is a challenge in itself -- in our heads we can fantasise to the end of the universe and back but in terms of ‘doing' we never vary things. So if it is the kiss then let there be 500 different types kisses to choose from, depending on the occasion -- kisses that only use the lips, those that use the lips and the tongue, yet others that use the lips, the tongue and the teeth…" she quipped.
Anand said that if there was ever a time to bring back the "Kama Sutra" and its ideas, it was now.
The book, she said, began with an exploration of the incredible literary and cultural heritage which is all but lost to us. "I wanted to unravel those metaphors, to dig up the ancient myths and stories, to unsilence the narratives that made sex such a poetic experience for Ancient India. I wanted to put the seduction back into sex and reclaim the refinement and joyousness of sexual pleasure for the human race," she said on what propelled her to write the offering.
"The Arts of Seduction" (Aleph/188 pages/ Rs 499), the publisher says, will forever change the way one thinks about love and lovemaking.
The book charts several techniques and refinements that can elevate sex to "an altogether different level" -- featuring innovative codes for loves messages, the effects of applying perfume to different parts of body, the many different types of kissing, and, among others, where and how to massage your lover's feet.
PM Modi has 50-year vision for India’s growth: Ashwini Vaishnaw
The Union Minister answered IANS questions very candidly and also gave a message to the people of the country that in the next five years, the government plans to ensure that every person travelling by train can get a confirmed ticket.
India's 1st bullet train set to run in 2026: Railways Minister
The Bullet Train is a very complex project. The work on it started in 2017 and it took almost two-and-a-half years to complete the design.
Australia in shock as another stabbing incident reported from Sydney
In yet another shocking incident, a bishop and a few other worshippers were stabbed by a man during a church service that was being broadcast online in Sydney on Monday evening (local time).
IANS Interview: Confident of third term for PM Modi, Tripura CM not taking INDIA bloc lightly
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said that it is more than 100 per cent confirmed that Narendra Modi would become Prime Minister for a third term. Also, the BJP would easily win the two Lok Sabha seats in the state but we are not taking the INDIA bloc lightly, he added.
Congress in Tripura blocks rail stations to protest police fired-killing of 5 farmers in MP
The firing on Tuesday came during raucous protests to demand better crop prices in the drought-ravaged region that saw one farmer suicide every five hours in the past two years.
DMs, SPs of violence-hit MP districts transferred
The farmers agitation entered its eighth day on Thursday. The peasants have been on strike since June 1, demanding loan waiver and fair price for their produce.
Indian American selected among 12 NASA astronaut candidates
He continued on to earn a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School.
World's oldest human species' fossils found in Morocco
The institute said the remains of the Homo sapiens, which were found in a remote village called Jbel Irhoud, date back to over 300,000 years ago, Xinhua reported.