Ghobi gays and lassi lesbians – the DSC South Asian Literature Festival discusses queer writing

The question of whether homosexuality is adequately represented in South Asian literature is clearly a contentious issue, not least in terms of its being a taboo subject in a culture in which sexuality of any kind is already unmentionable.

Curiously enough, a large number of the audience members at the DSC South Asian Literature Festival’s panel discussion, with journalist/editor Paul Burston, publisher/writer Bobby Nayyar and writer/critic/broadcaster Bidisha, chaired by organiser and festival’s web editor Iman Qureshi, seemed to disagree with the panel’s premise of there being a dearth of representation in the first place.

But with 150,000 books published a year in the UK, the proportion of queer South Asian stories still leaves a lot to be desired. This may seem strange for a culture which gave us the Kama Sutra, but, in the UK at least, it’s ultimately a question of where you are going to sit on the shelf if you’re a minority (queer) within a minority (Asian). As Bidisha explained: “The mainstream is all of those things that we think it is: sexist, racist, ageist, homophobic… Publishers suffer from a political literary laziness.”

Nevertheless, there is talent out there, as demonstrated by the lively readings from four contemporary queer South Asian writers which followed the discussion. NSR Khan, an up-and-coming author recently published in the anthology Too Asian, Not Asian Enough (Tindal Street Press) told a heartbreaking short story of a father coming to terms with his daughter’s lesbian relationship, albeit a little too late; Rohit K. Dasgupta shared some soulful poetry confronting the reality of being gay in India; Ankur Bahl beautifully performed a seductive monologue by playwright Akkas Al-Ali; and journalist Faarea Masud delivered a side-splitting excerpt from her forthcoming novel, The Lassi Lesbians, which left the audience reassured that being ‘Gaysian’ was not necessarily such a bad thing after all.

Desi dykes, lassi lesbians, masala minge muncher, balti butches, ghobi gays, jalewere bi jugs: in a culture where literary representation lacks, linguistic verbosity certainly doesn’t! The audience was screaming for more, but happily placated with a post-performance night of Bollywood and Bhangra music, with Club Kali’s DJ Ritu.

Here was a near-equal mix of men and women (and a few in between), and a full spectrum of skin colours, all drinking and dancing and chatting together. Amongst them at least 10 self-labelling queer South Asian writers, none of whom have yet been published by mainstream publishers. So, enough of this “gay ventriloquism” (straight authors writing about gay experiences) – to all those South Asian queer writers reluctant to reveal themselves, or lacking the confidence to submit their work, the panel’s call was clear: “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

(This blog is cross-posted from We Love This Book)