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Yaraana: Gay Writing from India
From Ashok Row Kavi s autobiographical piece on growing up gay in Bombay to Vikram Seth s brilliantly etched account of a homosexual relationship in The Golden Gate, the stories, poems, plays and prose extracts in this collection cover a range of literary styles, themes and sensibilities. Mahesh Dattani s play Night Queen is significant as one of the first serious attempts at dramatizing homosexuality on the Indian stage; the poems by R. Raj Rao included here are part of a series that formed the basis for the Bollywood film Bombay; and the poetry of Dinyar Godrej, Adil Jussawalla and Sultan Padamsee is searing in its intensity.
Apart from the pieces written originally in English, there are works translated from Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and other Indian languages, also speaking of the agony and the joy of being a man in love with other men. Extracts from the work of well-known writers like Bhupen Khakkar, Kamleshwar and Vishnu Khandekar provide a rare insight into the lives of homosexual men in India s small towns and villages. With wit, passion and courage, these writings bring to the fore the true meaning of yaraana or male friendship and bonding, an oft neglected facet of Indian life and sexuality.
Apart from the pieces written originally in English, there are works translated from Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and other Indian languages, also speaking of the agony and the joy of being a man in love with other men. Extracts from the work of well-known writers like Bhupen Khakkar, Kamleshwar and Vishnu Khandekar provide a rare insight into the lives of homosexual men in India s small towns and villages. With wit, passion and courage, these writings bring to the fore the true meaning of yaraana or male friendship and bonding, an oft neglected facet of Indian life and sexuality.
211 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 11, 2020
First of its kind. An anthology of gay writings is something I have never rad before. And this being of Indian subcontinent origin, this is more immersive experience with actual scenarios of the times we are living in. His autobiography didn't work much for me but Hoshang Merchant does write impressive here. Introduction or poem or shorts. His are prolific works. So are others liek R.Raj Rao, Bhupen Khakhar or Owais Khan. Most fun was Ashok Row Kavi's self-experiences. However there are dull moments as well where self indulging poems or random paragraphs make you lose to attention. But still, this is an interesting ride overall.
May 25, 2023
three stars, because this is a collection of short stories,
i really enjoyed some and didn’t enjoy others, so i’m just gonna say 3☆
i really enjoyed some and didn’t enjoy others, so i’m just gonna say 3☆
March 26, 2017
An anthology with diverse range of stories from every walk of life.
Most of the writers are from the Indian subcontinent, as are the settings of the stories. I wouldn't say I liked all the pieces in this anthology, but some of the stories and poems are deep, and evocative. Some are merely rambling, discursive, and some others incoherent. My interest in this book stemmed from the fact that this is a collection of gay writing, and this alone caused me to enjoy each of the pieces in this book.
Most of the writers are from the Indian subcontinent, as are the settings of the stories. I wouldn't say I liked all the pieces in this anthology, but some of the stories and poems are deep, and evocative. Some are merely rambling, discursive, and some others incoherent. My interest in this book stemmed from the fact that this is a collection of gay writing, and this alone caused me to enjoy each of the pieces in this book.
May 7, 2019
Contemporary stories about homosexual relationships it felt good reading it after Chocolate: And Other Writings on Male-male Desire was refreshing.
September 20, 2024
Update August 2, 2023:
Since my original review (which follows this update) I have seen the original edition published in 1999 which was entitled 'Yaraana: Gay writing from India' and except for an excerpt from Shyam Selvadurai's 'Funny Boy' and a short autobiographical piece by a poor rickshaw driver from Nepal (there were others, but these are the ones I can remember (I have not been able to compare the two editions) including a poem which I discuss in my original review below) they are identical except for the change in subtitle to 'Gay Writing From South Asia' and an afterwards where Hoshang Merchant comments on the recent legalisation of gay marriage in India. At no point is it made clear that this is an update of an earlier edition and nowhere is any explanation given as to what the editor means by 'South Asia' but the contributors he has added are all easily accommodated withing an 'Indian' identity. I can't help feeling that it is no coincidence that there are no Sinhalese authors, or from the enormous Chinese diaspora, or Burma, Tibet, Andaman Islands or any other nation/national group or culture that is not be assimilated within a 'Indian' umbrella and, despite his inclusion of Muslim writers, his perspective on what it means to be 'gay' in India is always from within his Hindu religion.
I am happy, and would encourage everyone to read, the contents of the anthology, many of which are otherwise unavailable in English. But I find the basis on which this anthology was assembled at the best unintentionally exclusionary, racist and deceptive in its presentation and 'labelling' and however you define 'South Asia' this is not a representative anthology. For that reason I have stripped of all but one star and have shelved it now as disappointing though I would liked to use a more abusive term.
My original review is below:
I want to make clear that my three stars (see above for my reduction stars awarded) reflects my problems with this book as an anthology - but not with its contents. There are some wonderful things here and it is marvellous that at last there is an English translation of a part of Iqbal Mateen's 'Sheltered Flame' as well as excerpts from stories and poems by other previously untranslated authors. If it was simply a question of rating its content I would happily give it five stars but I do have significant reservations about the anthology and its editor.
This is the first anthology of 'gay' writing from India* and it has to be welcomed for that reason alone but if you have no idea of the variety and complexity of India's make up not simply in terms of religions, but languages and separate literary, historical and other divisions it is hard to really appreciate how incredibly diverse an area is being considered. Also, and here I make my first criticism of the editor Hoshang Merchant, there should have been a great deal more information about both the works chosen and their authors. We are given no indication of when some of them were first published, there are not even DOB in the author profiles. From the very little information provided it is clear that some of the writings are ancient legends/stories, some works were published when India was part of the British empire and a considerable amount later. But without specifics a context is lost even when an attempt is made to provide any - and most of the time none is provided.
When dealing with the topic of same-sex love/attraction within India's long historical and literary history and traditions not enough information is given on the question of how Indian attitudes today have been formed by the legacy of its time as a British colony. The fact is Britain's influence throughout its empire was doleful, Christian missionaries imposed western morality and, even if they didn't make converts, their influence was enormous because they represented a 'superior' civilisation (if only from their ability to conquer and rule so many other peoples and countries) so many colonial peoples absorbed the western outlooks, prejudices and hangups about sex current while they were under European domination. Of course it wasn't only the colonial powers who foisted their views on Indians (and others) you had 'missionaries' from the Soviet Union and elsewhere preaching a similar doctrine of sexual repression but from a different starting point. Indian society's views about sex have been completely subsumed within these western influences.
In the same way the Indian 'caste' system as it exists and functions today bears very little resemblance to what existed prior to the British formalising the system into the hierarchical, regimented and unyielding system we know today. Without recognising the enormous influence that western ideas and prejudices have had it is misleading to talk about 'Indian' traditions. As anyone who has read Eric Hobsbawm's 'The Invention of Tradition' knows all those aspects of society that are announced as and appear eternal and unchanging often have a very recent DOB.
Mr. Merchant doesn't really look at any of this - he takes the view that religion is very much the defining core of Indian culture and society whether Hindi or Muslim - yet he doesn't even recognise that the Muslim faith as it is now practised in India, and elsewhere, has much more to do with the impact of Saudi money enforcing their own sect, Wahhabism, which has very little to do with the way Muslims practised their religion one hundred years ago let alone five hundred.
Also the centrality of religion is something I question - I don't deny its importance - I just reject that it is actually deeply rooted - it is rooted in people's poverty which deprives them of education of economic choice and keeps them in places were they are most useful to a small minority but it is amazing how once education and opportunities spread how quickly religion dies out or looses its grip. I do not want to make exact comparisons but knowing how inextricable linked Catholicism and national, family and societal identities were in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy for so long but how completely it has vanished in those societies I remain sceptical of any approach that sees the customs of a particular faith as essential, or inextricably bound up in any nations identity. Religion is a force that can now be seen as neither deep rooted nor essential in those European countries I mentioned and in many ways the 25 years since this anthology was first published show that India is unlikely to be any different.
Personally I find many aspects of Mr. Merchants views and editorial policy deeply questionably if not offensive. In the Afterword he writes (remember this was 1999):
'It is fashionable to blame mothers for homosexuality in sons. The fact is weak husbands make for strong wives who breed weak sons who in turn become weak husbands...'
That statement is wrong in so many ways and it was wrong in 1999. Holding such views should have disqualified Merchant as editor but knowing he held such views it is not surprising that his choices of 'gay' material for inclusion is questionable were it is not offensive. In particular I would mention 'Gyansingh Shatir's 'Never Take Candy From a Stranger' which is about the sexual assault of a child by a man. This is not the only selection that seems questionably 'gay' (except within Mr. Merchant's very dubious sense of what is a gay story) another is Bhupen Kakhar's 'Story' (that is the title) which is about a man and woman meeting at college, falling in love, getting married, going to live with the husband's widowed father and then the girl leaving the son and and marrying his father.
Finally there is Mr. Merchant's translation of a poem by Zib-al-Abd, about whom no information is given, neither do we know when the original poem was written, or the context or how he may have adapted or played with its themes. The poem's first verse in Mr. Merchant's translation goes:
"...
N. dick
N. dick
Flower of hell
With a sick-sweet smell like sex
I brought it home in armfuls
to my dinner table
(The Arabs laughed)
By midnight I had to open the door to
Let out the smell..."
The poem goes on for another three verses and the N. word is what you think it is and I am sure that using that word in 1999 in this context would have been highly inflammatory. The lack of any context to understand why this word was chosen makes the poem even more alarming.
(Update August 2, 2023 continued: This poem was not in the 1999 edition, so Hoshang Merchant chose in 2010 to use that word in a translation (I know nothing of the original poem) which can only be described as offensively racist and I don't accept that he was unaware of how offensive this poem is. If not a deliberate racist act it is a deliberately avoiding knowing/understanding/accepting or acknowledging that black people are the same as himself - it is deeply problematic and I am amazed that no one at his publishers chose to question it.)
If it hadn't been for the high quality and interest of some of the work in the anthology I would have rated this with one star - as it is I can only say that they are islands of excellence in a sea of very problematic tosh.
Since my original review (which follows this update) I have seen the original edition published in 1999 which was entitled 'Yaraana: Gay writing from India' and except for an excerpt from Shyam Selvadurai's 'Funny Boy' and a short autobiographical piece by a poor rickshaw driver from Nepal (there were others, but these are the ones I can remember (I have not been able to compare the two editions) including a poem which I discuss in my original review below) they are identical except for the change in subtitle to 'Gay Writing From South Asia' and an afterwards where Hoshang Merchant comments on the recent legalisation of gay marriage in India. At no point is it made clear that this is an update of an earlier edition and nowhere is any explanation given as to what the editor means by 'South Asia' but the contributors he has added are all easily accommodated withing an 'Indian' identity. I can't help feeling that it is no coincidence that there are no Sinhalese authors, or from the enormous Chinese diaspora, or Burma, Tibet, Andaman Islands or any other nation/national group or culture that is not be assimilated within a 'Indian' umbrella and, despite his inclusion of Muslim writers, his perspective on what it means to be 'gay' in India is always from within his Hindu religion.
I am happy, and would encourage everyone to read, the contents of the anthology, many of which are otherwise unavailable in English. But I find the basis on which this anthology was assembled at the best unintentionally exclusionary, racist and deceptive in its presentation and 'labelling' and however you define 'South Asia' this is not a representative anthology. For that reason I have stripped of all but one star and have shelved it now as disappointing though I would liked to use a more abusive term.
My original review is below:
I want to make clear that my three stars (see above for my reduction stars awarded) reflects my problems with this book as an anthology - but not with its contents. There are some wonderful things here and it is marvellous that at last there is an English translation of a part of Iqbal Mateen's 'Sheltered Flame' as well as excerpts from stories and poems by other previously untranslated authors. If it was simply a question of rating its content I would happily give it five stars but I do have significant reservations about the anthology and its editor.
This is the first anthology of 'gay' writing from India* and it has to be welcomed for that reason alone but if you have no idea of the variety and complexity of India's make up not simply in terms of religions, but languages and separate literary, historical and other divisions it is hard to really appreciate how incredibly diverse an area is being considered. Also, and here I make my first criticism of the editor Hoshang Merchant, there should have been a great deal more information about both the works chosen and their authors. We are given no indication of when some of them were first published, there are not even DOB in the author profiles. From the very little information provided it is clear that some of the writings are ancient legends/stories, some works were published when India was part of the British empire and a considerable amount later. But without specifics a context is lost even when an attempt is made to provide any - and most of the time none is provided.
When dealing with the topic of same-sex love/attraction within India's long historical and literary history and traditions not enough information is given on the question of how Indian attitudes today have been formed by the legacy of its time as a British colony. The fact is Britain's influence throughout its empire was doleful, Christian missionaries imposed western morality and, even if they didn't make converts, their influence was enormous because they represented a 'superior' civilisation (if only from their ability to conquer and rule so many other peoples and countries) so many colonial peoples absorbed the western outlooks, prejudices and hangups about sex current while they were under European domination. Of course it wasn't only the colonial powers who foisted their views on Indians (and others) you had 'missionaries' from the Soviet Union and elsewhere preaching a similar doctrine of sexual repression but from a different starting point. Indian society's views about sex have been completely subsumed within these western influences.
In the same way the Indian 'caste' system as it exists and functions today bears very little resemblance to what existed prior to the British formalising the system into the hierarchical, regimented and unyielding system we know today. Without recognising the enormous influence that western ideas and prejudices have had it is misleading to talk about 'Indian' traditions. As anyone who has read Eric Hobsbawm's 'The Invention of Tradition' knows all those aspects of society that are announced as and appear eternal and unchanging often have a very recent DOB.
Mr. Merchant doesn't really look at any of this - he takes the view that religion is very much the defining core of Indian culture and society whether Hindi or Muslim - yet he doesn't even recognise that the Muslim faith as it is now practised in India, and elsewhere, has much more to do with the impact of Saudi money enforcing their own sect, Wahhabism, which has very little to do with the way Muslims practised their religion one hundred years ago let alone five hundred.
Also the centrality of religion is something I question - I don't deny its importance - I just reject that it is actually deeply rooted - it is rooted in people's poverty which deprives them of education of economic choice and keeps them in places were they are most useful to a small minority but it is amazing how once education and opportunities spread how quickly religion dies out or looses its grip. I do not want to make exact comparisons but knowing how inextricable linked Catholicism and national, family and societal identities were in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy for so long but how completely it has vanished in those societies I remain sceptical of any approach that sees the customs of a particular faith as essential, or inextricably bound up in any nations identity. Religion is a force that can now be seen as neither deep rooted nor essential in those European countries I mentioned and in many ways the 25 years since this anthology was first published show that India is unlikely to be any different.
Personally I find many aspects of Mr. Merchants views and editorial policy deeply questionably if not offensive. In the Afterword he writes (remember this was 1999):
'It is fashionable to blame mothers for homosexuality in sons. The fact is weak husbands make for strong wives who breed weak sons who in turn become weak husbands...'
That statement is wrong in so many ways and it was wrong in 1999. Holding such views should have disqualified Merchant as editor but knowing he held such views it is not surprising that his choices of 'gay' material for inclusion is questionable were it is not offensive. In particular I would mention 'Gyansingh Shatir's 'Never Take Candy From a Stranger' which is about the sexual assault of a child by a man. This is not the only selection that seems questionably 'gay' (except within Mr. Merchant's very dubious sense of what is a gay story) another is Bhupen Kakhar's 'Story' (that is the title) which is about a man and woman meeting at college, falling in love, getting married, going to live with the husband's widowed father and then the girl leaving the son and and marrying his father.
Finally there is Mr. Merchant's translation of a poem by Zib-al-Abd, about whom no information is given, neither do we know when the original poem was written, or the context or how he may have adapted or played with its themes. The poem's first verse in Mr. Merchant's translation goes:
"...
N. dick
N. dick
Flower of hell
With a sick-sweet smell like sex
I brought it home in armfuls
to my dinner table
(The Arabs laughed)
By midnight I had to open the door to
Let out the smell..."
The poem goes on for another three verses and the N. word is what you think it is and I am sure that using that word in 1999 in this context would have been highly inflammatory. The lack of any context to understand why this word was chosen makes the poem even more alarming.
(Update August 2, 2023 continued: This poem was not in the 1999 edition, so Hoshang Merchant chose in 2010 to use that word in a translation (I know nothing of the original poem) which can only be described as offensively racist and I don't accept that he was unaware of how offensive this poem is. If not a deliberate racist act it is a deliberately avoiding knowing/understanding/accepting or acknowledging that black people are the same as himself - it is deeply problematic and I am amazed that no one at his publishers chose to question it.)
If it hadn't been for the high quality and interest of some of the work in the anthology I would have rated this with one star - as it is I can only say that they are islands of excellence in a sea of very problematic tosh.
February 7, 2024
An intriguing collection of writings, some of which were compelling, others I felt really didn't need to be included as they were far less engaging. Still, a recommended read
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews