In the winter of 1978, Siddharth, twenty-three, meets Sudhir, twenty, in a friend's friend's room in Pune s Engineering College Hostel. He falls instantly in love. A man of unconventional views he believes, for instance, that the two heroes in Sholay have the hots for each other rather than for the heroines' Siddharth becomes a full-time lover over the next seven years and stubbornly pursues the object of his lust and affection, despite his job as a college lecturer in Bombay. There are many obstacles along the way, including Sudhir's family, against whom Siddharth files a police complaint, and Sudhir's classmates from Belgaum, led by the homophobic Ravi Humbe, who start an anti-Siddharth association. But Siddharth gets support from Gaurav and Vivek, a militant gay pair keen to ambush the enemy. The author of Boyfriend returns with another irreverent look at India's gay subculture. Deadpan humour and farce come together in this entertaining love story, giving us a glimpse of what really goes on in a boys hostel.
About the Author
R. Raj Rao was born in Bombay. He studied in India and UK, and in 1996 attended the International Writing Program, Iowa. He is the author of Slide Show (poems), One Day I Locked My Flat in Soul City (short stories), The Wisest Fool on Earth and Other Plays and Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography. He has also edited Ten Indian Writers in Interview and co-edited Image of India in the Indian Novel in English (1960 1980). This is his first novel. A professor of English at the University of Pune, Rao is also one of India s leading gay-rights activists.
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