"History has always been about victories and winners," says Manu S Pillai, in the light of his recently published the book The Courtesan, The Mahatma and Italian Brahmin. He was addressing the audience pointing out the major manipulations and omissions that is being practised in drafting history since the past. The session encouraged a comprehensive panel discussion, moderated by Jayan Raghu, on the incoherent detailing of history. The panelists also included N Gopakumar who spoke about the negligence of including deserving candidates in the history of Kerala as well as India.
The session opened a window to the lesser known facts of history mentioned in the book giving insights on how history can be a raw material in ascertaining a definite conclusion and how it elucidates the relevance of the past. His recent book includes anecdotes of women from various walks of life and how they 'broke their cherries' to achieve their dreams.
‘This book possess a journalistic style of writing and it is quite different from his previous works,’ stated Jayan Raghu. There was an interesting discussion about the horrid faces of casteism in ancient, medieval and modern India which was followed by an interactive session with the audience.