It is always easier to preach than practise

The phrase "It is always easier to preach than practise" is one of the most memorable utterances attributed to Gangubai Kathiawadi, the legendary brothel madam of Kamathipura. It was spoken during a private meeting with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960, when she had secured an unprecedented appointment at his residence in New Delhi. The line is a rhetorical masterstroke that turns a moment of personal vulnerability into a philosophical challenge, and it has become a defining emblem of the book's treatment of women who operate outside conventional morality.

The Meeting with Nehru

The encounter with Nehru came at a critical juncture. In early 1960, authorities of St Anthony's Girls' High School and local residents had demanded the evacuation of part of the red-light belt, arguing that prostitution could not be carried out within two hundred yards of an educational institution. A strong movement had picked up against the presence of the red-light zone, with constant agitations and meetings with civic authorities, but neither side would budge. When the anti-prostitution sentiment swelled, the sex workers of Kamathipura sought Gangubai's help, and she successfully spearheaded the movement against their evacuation. Her political connections apparently won her the appointment with the prime minister, making her the only local brothel madam to secure a meeting with the head of the country.

During the meeting, Gangubai explained the importance of the red-light area in Mumbai and the need to protect it. Nehru asked her why she had gotten into the business when she could have easily landed herself a good job or a husband. An intrepid Gangubai is said to have thrown a proposal at him: she told him that if he was ready to make her Mrs Nehru, she would be willing to abandon her business for good. Nehru was taken aback and reprimanded her for daring to talk to him like that. But a calm Gangubai smiled and said, "Don't get angry Pradhan Mantriji. I just wanted to prove a point; it is always easier to preach than practise." Nehru remained silent.

The Rhetorical Strategy

The power of the line lies in its inversion of the moral hierarchy. Nehru, as the embodiment of the state and its moral authority, had presumed to judge Gangubai's life choices. By offering to marry him, she exposed the absurdity of his position: if he could not practise what he preached by marrying her, then his moral condemnation was hollow. The phrase is a performative act that transforms the prime minister from a judge into a fellow human being who is equally unable to live up to his own ideals. It is a classic example of using wit to disarm power, and it is consistent with the book's broader argument that these women were not blank slates written upon by dangerous male mafia members, but active agents who pushed the boundaries of dominant moral codes.

The Outcome and Legacy

At the end of the meeting, Nehru, who had bluntly rejected her second proposal, conceded to Gangubai's first demand and promised to look into the matter. Following the intervention of the government, the movement to displace the sex workers died a quick death. Gangubai's argument that the school had been built a century after the prostitution belt had come up made her a clear winner in the battle. "Were the concerned authorities blind when they built the school?" she queried. Gangubai had won the day, thus saving thousands of sex workers from financial desperation, not for the first time in her life.

The phrase itself has taken on a life beyond the meeting. It encapsulates the book's refusal to sit in judgment, a principle the authors state explicitly: "As journalists the first lesson we learnt was not to sit on judgment but raise questions." The line resonates with the stories of other women in the book, such as Tarannum Khan, the pin-up girl of Deepa Bar and Restaurant, who performed for admirers who showered her with 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, and Monica Bedi, who broke down on national television saying she needed prize money to buy a home because "nobody gives me a house on rent because people are scared of me." Each of these women, in her own way, confronts a society that preaches one thing and practises another. Gangubai's retort to Nehru is the book's clearest articulation of this theme: the gap between moral preaching and lived reality, and the courage it takes for those on the margins to point it out.