Author: Hoshang Merchant
Translator(s)/ Editors(s): Hoshang Merchant
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 1999-03-01
Language: English
Pages: 211
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0140278397
Description
A unique exploration of contemporary gay identity. With wit, passion and courage, these writings bring to the fore the true meaning of Yaraana or male friendship and bonding, an oft-neglected facet of Indian life and sexuality.
From Ashok Row Kavi's autobiographical piece on growing up gay in Bombay to Vikram Seth's brilliantly etched account of a homosexual relationship in The Golden Gate, the stories, poems, plays and prose extracts in this collection cover a range of literary styles, themes and sensibilities.
Mehesh Dattani's play Night Queen is significant as one of the first serious attempts at dramatizing homosexuality on the Indian stage; the poems of R Raj Rao included here are part of a series that formed the basis for the Bollywood film Bombay; and poetry of Dinyar Godrej, Adil Jussawalla and Sultan Padamsee is searing in its intensity.
Apart from the pieces written originally in English, there are works translated from Hindi, Marathi, Gujrati and other Indian languages, also speaking of the agony and the joy of being a man in love with other men. Extracts from the work of well-known writers like Bhupen Khakkar, Kamleshwar and Vishnu Khandekar provide rare insight into the lives of homosexual men in India's small towns and villages.
EDITOR:
Born in 1947 to a Zoroastrian business family in Bombay, Hoshang holds a Master's from Occidental College, Los Angeles. At Purdue University he specialized in the Renaissance and Modernism. He has lived and taught in Heidelberg, Iran and Jerusalem where he was exposed to various radical student movements of the left. Books of his poetry have been published by Writers Workshop and Rupa.
Contents
2353