Fiction: Young Ved’s father is gay at a time when Section 377 labels homosexuality a crime in India

I come back from school (another boring day, no girls at the bus-stop, only a blue file which sat next to me). I dump my school bag on the table and go running around the house, yelling, “Free, free at last,” when I suddenly skid to a halt. Vamsi’s bespectacled face peers out of Da’s bedroom and smiles shyly. I immediately stop, say hi back and walk to my room. I stay there till I am called for dinner.

I eat quietly, ignoring Da’s questions. It’s annoying. Nobody has stayed two days in a row before. Doesn’t he have his own home? Is Da going to adopt him, too? We don’t have space; this is a two-bedroom house. I know I am being badly behaved in company and childish, but I feel like being difficult. I can hear Da’s voice in my head and I want to yell at that voice, I want to scream that I won’t be reasonable.

After dinner, I don’t wash up, though it’s my job. Vamsi can do it, since he seemed so good at it yesterday. I can feel Da’s anger when I go to my room. It follows me, urging my back to turn, to...

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