ABSTRACT
The chapter will discuss how the novel problematizes the subsummation of the homoerotic within urban social and cultural institutions and posits this uneasy sexual politics as the root of the crime in this novel. It will also delineate how the novel examines the underbelly of the city via the insidious connections between the city’s law enforcement and the gay subculture of Mumbai. While Inspector Jende stands for his desire to solve the mystery of the murders and is rarely judgemental, the conservative, homophobic values of the police and the larger city are made obvious by the persecution of homosexuals at the hands of such police officers as Pagmat and Durra. Through the representation of gay characters that range from the elite Leslie to the hustlers Proxy/Unit and the middle-class Himal and his brother-in-law, Pinto emphasizes the centrality of gay characters and gay settings in his literary universe. The chapter thus engages with the social anxieties at the root of the crimes in the cultural context of contemporary Mumbai.
