Book excerpt: In the winter of 1978; Siddharth; twenty-three; meets Sudhir; twenty; in a friend’s friend’s room in Pune’s Engineering College Hostel. He falls instantly in love. A man of unconventional views—he believes; for instance; that the two heroes in Sholay have the hots for each other rather than for the heroines—Siddharth becomes a full-time lover over the next seven years and stubbornly pursues the object of his lust and affection; despite his job as a college lecturer in Bombay. There are many obstacles along the way; including Sudhir’s family; against whom Siddharth files a police complaint; and Sudhir’s classmates from Belgaum; led by the homophobic Ravi Humbe; who start an anti-Siddharth association. But Siddharth gets support from Gaurav and Vivek; a militant gay pair keen to ambush the enemy. The author of Boyfriend returns with another irreverent look at India’s gay subculture.Deadpan humour and farce come together in this entertaining love story; giving us a glimpse of what really goes on in a boys’ hostel.