‘Da’: A novel about a child’s observation of queer lives has its heart in the right place

I held on tightly to the page when 13-year-old Ved is asked, “Do you think gay people should go to jail?” As though a child’s answer could change lives. In Arathi Menon’s novel Da, this question follows the reader with a sense of urgency. In 2013, as the courts debated the rights of queer Indians, the reader turns to the child in hope. Menon writes of those turbulent times, from the eyes of a young boy, with great vulnerability and hope.

At the outset, the novel is described as a politically charged story on laws around homosexuality in India and its resultant stigma. I went into it expecting great tragedy and suffering. However, two chapters in and I was surprised by the notoriously inquisitive voice of an adolescent boy being brought up by his dead mother’s brother.

Ved is bright and thinks a lot and thereby talks a lot. I was reminded of nine-year-old Mira from Bhavika Govil’s 2025 novel Hot Water; a stunningly written voice of a young girl watching her dysfunctional family. Mira would make good friends with Ved. Both of them observe male members around them desire other men. They have a ton of thoughts about parenting and would not mind taking on the role...

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