Analysis Of 'Homosexuality: Struggle Of The Queer Nation'

“Homosexuality: Struggle of the Queer Nation”

The term “homosexuality” is a taboo for many while it does not exist for others. Impending wars, terror attacks, natural calamities, the world is under a great threat and so is humanity. People tend to forget or rather neglect the plea of the so called ‘minority’ community. Around the globe we can see the increasing awareness among the people but it is also a fact that gender based hate-attacks are also on the rise. To understand homosexuality is also to understand the workings of nature and its historical evidence. Aristophanes in Plato’s The Banquet, gave an extraordinary account of sexuality. According to him, in the legend of the ancient world there were three types of people. “In ancient times

R. Raj Rao’s The Boyfriend depict such anxieties not only related to homosexuality but also with its implications on the nature of the caste and religious relations among the communities. The novel revolves around one Brahmin bachelor Yudi who is gay and strolls around public toilets in search for boys who would want to have casual sex with him for money. As he normally goes out in search for his apparent mates he finds a Dalit boy named Milind, whom he drives out of his flat after a short fantasy ride fearing his identity. However, his encounters with Milind make Yudi fall for the teenage boy. As fate disintegrates Milind goes missing from Yudi’s life into the corrupt world of Bollywood call boys. At last Yudi finds him again, only to witness that he has married a woman. The novel ends with a seemingly heart wrenching episode for Yudi as Milind visits him often for his own financial interests and Yudi just can’t let him go for his love for

However dramatic it may sound but the characters have their own flaws and loopholes inherent in them molded socially as a part of their conscience. For instance, as an elitist population English is often used by Yudi so as to intimidate his sexual encounters. His mannerism contradicts with his assertion and certainty of homosexuality. He considers himself as an untouchable like all those others of the lower minority caste and that he is gay by caste and religion, however he detests the mannerisms of the people of the lower caste. It can be rightly assumed that the class and caste difference persists even in the homosexual “territory”. The novel also depicts the “pederastic couple” (a boy and a man) thus, relating to the functioning of the ancient civilizations but also implicitly persisting to the psychological damage to the adolescent population who are dragged into this dangerous business due to economic problems, unemployment and forced human trafficking. Thus, the post-colonial “modern” India is still bound by the base and superficial terms of class and caste and the novel The Boyfriend very openly depicts this demographics of India and also the supposed condition of the rest of the