How to Date a Fanatic

Description

Rohit, a young professor teaching in Delhi, is in love with his friend Dhruv – a tall, fierce activist who insists they’re better off as “soulmates” than as lovers. Nursing a broken heart, Rohit pursues other men in the city until he chances upon the handsome Sayan, whom he likes but can’t commit to since he still desires Dhruv. They enter into a relationship to see where that takes them.

Rohit’s attempts at exploring the possibilities of this fledgling romance get derailed as political tensions sweep across campus. Sayan, Dhruv, and the group of queer friends he leans on find themselves caught in the vortex-the late-night parties and banter they once knew giving way to a desperate, terrifying fight for survival.

Propulsive, tense, yet charged with humor and tenderness, How to Date a Fanatic reminds us that the politics of self and of our times are entwined. What we look for in love, Aruni Kashyap suggests, may not be very far from what we seek in a democracy: Can we be safeguarded without giving up our freedom? More pertinently: Can love save us, everyone else, and a nation?