Desilicious: Sexy. Subversive. South Asian

by Masala Trois Collective (Editor)

“Desi” is a Punjabi term referring to “of one’s own people.” Desilicious is a wide-ranging compilation of literature about sex and sexuality by writers of South Asian descent—a medley of arousing and thematically innovative fiction, poetry, and essays, spiced for mature appetites only. The flavors of these works, by both men and women, run deep, and vary from suggestive to salacious, risque to ribald. The collection explores the relationship between sensuality and culture, and how they can both complement and conflict with each other. They challenge colonial stereotypes of South Asian sexuality, represented by sexually repressed victims of arranged marriages or hypersexed inheritors of the Kama Sutra ; they also explode existing notions of cultural “norms.” Subversive, seductive and alluring, Desilicious will take you on a carnal journey of limitless possibilities. Contributors Tanuja Desai Hidier, Sandip Roy, Rajinderpal S. Pal, Roohi Choudhry, Neelanjana Banerjee, and many more. Deborah Barretto, Gurbir Singh Jolly, and Zenia B. Wadhwani are the founders of The Masala Trois Collective, a group that aims to confront stereotypes about South Asian sexuality, challenge taboos and test boundaries, and turn on readers. They live in Toronto.

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Robert Hudder · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, the issue with reading across cultures means that sometimes you don't get it. I assumed that this was going to be some type of erotica. I was curious on what that would mean to South Asian writers. Most of these writers are in North America and in Toronto or southern Ontario in particular.

I guess in some ways these are once removed from their culture. I don't say that as a derogatory or to dismiss. I myself consider myself to be Polish as my dad's first language was Polish and I lived in a largely Polish/Kazuby culture, even though my dad's forebears were here since the 1890s. What I mean by that is that the source culture sometimes moves on and we are left with echoes of an older underpinning that has already changed.

In terms of erotica, most of this is more suggestive than explicit. That is in terms of a North American reader. There are some great moments and the writing is more uniform and better than I expected in an anthology.

I picked it from the library on Gerrard Street in Toronto. You can almost hear the collective gathering around the corner or maybe in some further suburb in these words. It feels like a very Toronto book.

I didn't come expecting Kama Sutra. I did expect more in the exploration of interplay between culture and sexuality. Most of what I encountered mirrored standard conservative culture tropes from North America. Maybe that was its point. Maybe I brought too many biases but I guess I expected that a conservative Muslim culture would have some other entry points rather than the same ones as Catholicism. I mean, they both come from the same root so maybe I shouldn't be surprised when the fruit is largely the same.

Now, Muslim isn't the only culture highlighted here but many of the same echoes happen. This could just be how parents worry about their kids growing up too quickly and the ways they seek to protect them from the troubles they went through. Early pregnancy, shunning and familial reputation were something that I grew up with and understand from my background. Some of these themes are here as well.

Anyways, I like reading about other cultures and while I normally stick to novels and cookbooks, this is a more personal look at something else that concerns us all -- sexuality. It is worth a read.

[Raywat Deonandan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah, one of my stories is in this. But it's a really good collection!

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need a skimmed category for this book. I think that this book would have been really interesting if I had had ore patience with it. I personally love most things South Asian, so the idea of a desi erotica anthology got me hot just thinking about it. But there was one story that really moved me. This woman was the mother of a grown son who wanted his mother to go to the doctor to have a pap smear. And the experience that the mother describes is so sensual that you can't help but appreciat it. so eventually I will have to return to this anthology to read the other stories.

[Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

The collection promises to be sexy and subversive, but what it delivered is guilt and transgression. The emotional landscape of most of the pieces is one of longing, the “what if” of love and lust, the “achy breaky heart” that wants, ultimately, a “fabulous indo wedding,”. This is not to deny that the material presented is difficult but even though some of the writings were polished, they do not allow for much raunch or romp. They are too full of the angst of identity.

[Zenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a bit biased about this one ... I'm one of the editors.