By Rahul Mehta
Udayan
Given the current state of gay Indian fiction, or Indian-American fiction for that matter (barring a few exceptions like Jhumpa Lahiri) one couldn’t really blame me for my initial inhibitions about this book. But read this book without prejudices and you’ll discover a new sun rising on the horizon of gay fiction. Rahul Mehta may not have broken clichés or stereotypes with his collection of short stories, mostly about Indian American gay men getting lost in the labyrinth of sexuality, race and immigrant dreams; however the fresh rush of literary adrenal that the stories inspire is worth the warm welcome.
Quarantine By Rahul Mehta
The central figure is always the Indian American gay man with the stereotypical rags to riches story of their immigrant families, but the questions of fidelity and relationships differ with stories and their varying geographies and circumstances. ‘Quarantine’ describes the lifelong difficulty of the narrator to match a cord with his grandfather which culminates in a coming out that no one could have imagined. ‘Floating’ is an interesting case study of a gay man in small town India- often brushed aside by the city-bred gay folks, and living a life of uncertain anonymity in his own niche. ‘Ten thousand years’ delves into the questions of fidelity, and how physical or emotional proximity is relative when it comes to individual perceptions of commitment. ‘Yours’ is a non-judgmental narrative about a couple and a third person who casts a perpetual specter on the relationship.
I especially liked ‘The Better Person’ that beautifully traces the complexity of relationships, and ideas of fidelity. A conversation that the narrator has with his mother discusses interesting aspects of gender roles in same-sex relationships. Another gem of a story is ‘A Better Life’ where the gay son of a rich Indian family tries hard to hide his sexuality and his failure in realms beyond the sexual. But as he cruises strip clubs in uptown New York, are his family and friends really insulated from the truth?
The stories are endearing because of the routineness associated with being gay, even in cases of Indian households. However, it may often seem that Mehta might have desisted himself from moving beyond the comfort zone of the second generation Indian-American twentyish gay man with a white boyfriend. Perhaps a coming of age story of a teenager, or a growing old story of a forty-something guy would have done away with such speculations. But inspite of that, for what it’s worth, Quarantine is most definitely a literary arrival that just can’t be ignored.
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