Yaraana: A bittersweet symphony

It is indeed orchestrated that I succeeded my first brush (R. Raj Rao’s Hostel Room 131 with queer literature, with another: Yaraana, Gay Writing from South Asia, edited by Hoshang Merchant.

A novel exploration of gay sexual identity and men lovestruck by men, Yaraana makes for interesting reading. Only after I put this anthology down, do I discover that Yaraana was first published in 1999. In this extended version, the novel emphasises the timelessness of its collection. Queer themed (and often, not necessarily) pieces in English and translated from Gujarati, and Urdu and Marathi.

Yaraana begins on a comprehensive note, in an introduction by editor Hoshang Merchant. Merchant traces contemporary and past societal notions of everything queer, leaving you to marvel at the expanse of the genre's literature.

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