Authors: Dr. Swati Rahul Gade
Abstract: One can never skip R.Raj Rao’s ‘The Boyfriend’, published in 2003 whenever one talks about Indian Queer Writing. His unusual, bold masterpiece comes from carefully showing the real city locations of Bombay and tracing the hidden sexual spaces initializing the 21st century. The study shows that the novel weaves around the real location of the city where one can encounter queer struggle; a perfect spot of relationship based on an exchange of money and sex. The use of dark humour in an unpolished writing style by Rao and ideas from other thinkers like Henri Lefebvre – “right to the city”, Michel de Certeau – “tactics” and Gayle Rubin – “traffic in women” makes the study more firm. The strong depiction of the contrasting characters Yudi, a literate upper class fellow and Milind, his young lower caste partner seek opportunities to express themselves in the city of straight people. The study highlights the use of local public places like train, toilet and Marine Drive as the undercover queer community spaces build to find or form connections. The paper also reads the use of raw, unpolished and unashamed language which is a form of political protest. Rao rejects the clean presentation of queer life to be more acceptable to society and present it in its messy form amidst the modern Indian city.
