Hostel Room 131 (paperback)

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.