Babyji, Abha Dawesar. Touted on the cover as the "Indian Lolita," this is a slightly more self-aware lesbian coming-of-age tale. Anamika, the title character, is more Humbert than Lola (she even reads Nabokov at one point, lecherously imagining the "nymphets"). Babyji decides that chaos theory should apply to sexuality as well as physics, and during the summer before her college entrance exams, she begins three same-sex 'affairs' with women of varying caste and age.


Her attempts at clinical dissections of her relationships always stop a few steps short of a proof, stumbling amongst Dawesar's kaleidoscopic presentation of Indian culture and mores. More an experience than a novel, and ultimately less than conclusive, it still comes recommended for those with an interest in Southeast Asian culture.

Read June 2006