Reading through the pages of London-based mythologist and narrative practitioner Seema Anand's new book The Arts of Seduction (Aleph Book Company), one gets a sense of loss. While it's hard to put a finger on it, Anand in her introduction, puts it succinctly — seduction has been forgotten. Said to be a handy guide to having great sex in the 21st century, Anand says she was compelled to pen this work, because she realised how banal the act is today.

"A culture that produced the ultimate book [Kama Sutra] on the techniques of arousal and pleasure — the 64 skills of love and lovers and lovemaking — now largely practices mundane, unimaginative sex where a drunken panting grope is our idea of seduction. Pleasure is a slow process, it takes time and thought. It is about bringing every nerve ending tingling to life, about experiencing the tiniest sensations," she says in an email interview. She goes on to explain: "Have you ever sat next to someone, close enough to touch, but not touching — just talking and smiling — till your breath becomes short and every single pore on your skin starts to buzz in anticipation, where even the most feather light touch will make your brain explode? It is mind blowing. And you know what, when you get to this point, instead of jumping into sex, you will find yourself prolonging that 'not touching', because that feeling is so addictive, that feeling of everything being permanently imminent."