Downloading Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and Longing in Contemporary India

Using a combination of multi-sited ethnography, textual analysis, historical documentation analysis, and memoir writing, the author provides macro and micro perspectives on what it means to be a gay man located in Gay Bombay at a particular point in time. Specifically, he explores what being gay means to members of Gay Bombay and how they negotiate locality and globalization, their sense of identity as well as a feeling of community within its online/offline world. On a broader level, he critically examines the formulation and reconfiguration of contemporary Indian gayness in the light of its emergent cultural, media, and political alliances.

"Shahani′s Gay Bombay traces the modern and the old with charming first person. This book takes you to the television studios, the editing rooms, the dance floors, the chat rooms and the private parlours to discover gay Bombay in all its subtle victories, intimate vibrancy and surprising diversity."

-- Wendell Rodricks

"Parmesh Shahani is an original. …This book will inspire and provoke many interested in understanding the intersections between sexuality, globalization, and new media."

-- Henry Jenkins

" Gay Bombay is a must-read! Shifting seamlessly through the personal, the Gay Bombay community, the national and the transnational, the book gives the reader unique understanding into what is means to be gay and Indian."

-- Jyoti Puri

"Gay Bombay is a path-breaking study of homosexuality in modern Bombay/Mumbai that will be essential reading for students of gender and sexuality."

-- Rachel Dwyer

Gay Bombay is an academic work…. Still, this is an unconventional formal study with some engaging and revealing sections. Not only does Shahani tackle three contemporary topics (gay studies, the internet and globalisation), he weaves personal snapshots into the exploration. They are vivid and emotional. The text becomes part-memoir. His own sexual discoveries and close relationships are laid bare, bringing to life an evolving reality that would otherwise remain mostly in the realm of theory.

-- Newsline

In his book, Gay Bombay , Parmesh Shahni explores the life and struggle of homosexuals in a country like India. The book is a compilation of a set of debates and essays on ethnography, and also has stories and excerpts from his life.

-- Chennai Chronicle

The book contains first-person narratives from the author, who is also gay. He realises that the identity of a gay man in the community is negotiated on the stability of the idea of Indianness.

-- The Times of India

Within the book, the author attempts to provide various macro and micro perspectives on what it means to be a gay man located in Gay Bombay.

-- Yuva (Mumbai)

Books like Gay Bombay challenge the homophobe to come out of the closet and deal with denial. It is certainly a welcome and weighty addition to the rational voices within the Indian gender discourse.

-- The New Indian Express

The book is dedicated to whom it means the world, liberalisation and much more.

-- City Express (NIE)

The book is a timely study of a historical phenomenon.

-- The Man

Books like Gay Bombay Challenge the homophobe to come out of the closet and deal with denial. It is certainly a welcome and weighty addition to the rational voices within the Indian gender discourse.

-- www.newindpress.com

Gay Bombay comes highly recommended for anyone who is interested in how globalisation works, in India today, and Shahani’s pioneering study provides a multi faceted and illuminating introduction to brand new scene.

-- Businessworld

Well researched and written in a frank and conversational style, the book manages to bridge the gap between being heavily academic and serious and being frivolous and mushy. The book also represents a coming-to-terms with the self, for its author who is a gay.

-- Livemint.com

Parmesh Shahani is Vice President at Godrej Industries Ltd and the founder of the award-winning Godrej India Culture Lab which sparks conversations and collaborations about the changing face of contemporary India. Parmesh is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India and has guided many of the country’s leading companies on their inclusion journeys. He is a member of the FICCI taskforce on diversity and inclusion, and a board member of Khoj International Artists’ Association.

Parmesh holds an MS in Comparative Media Studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has been a TED Senior Fellow, a Yale World Fellow and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. This is an updated edition of his first book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India , which was originally published by SAGE Publications in 2008. His second book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion at the Indian Workplace is slated for publication in 2020.