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Hostel Room 131
In the winter of 1978, Siddharth, twenty-three, meets Sudhir, twenty, in a friend's friend's room in Pune's Engineering College Hostel. He falls instantly in love.
A man of unconventional views - he believes, for instance, that the two heroes in Sholay have the hots for each other rather than for the heroines - Siddharth becomes a full-time lover over the next seven years and stubbornly pursues the object of his lust and affection, despite his job as a college lecturer in Bombay.
There are many obstacles along the way, including Sudhir's family, against whom Siddharth files a police complaint, and Sudhir's classmates from Belgaum, led by the homophobic Ravi Humbe, who start an anti-Siddharth association. But Siddharth gets support from Gaurav and Vivek, a militant gay pair keen to ambush the enemy. Deadpan humour and farce come together in this entertaining love story.
A man of unconventional views - he believes, for instance, that the two heroes in Sholay have the hots for each other rather than for the heroines - Siddharth becomes a full-time lover over the next seven years and stubbornly pursues the object of his lust and affection, despite his job as a college lecturer in Bombay.
There are many obstacles along the way, including Sudhir's family, against whom Siddharth files a police complaint, and Sudhir's classmates from Belgaum, led by the homophobic Ravi Humbe, who start an anti-Siddharth association. But Siddharth gets support from Gaurav and Vivek, a militant gay pair keen to ambush the enemy. Deadpan humour and farce come together in this entertaining love story.
240 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2010
2 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
R. Raj Rao
21 books33 followersR. Raj Rao (born 1955) is a writer and teacher of literature and one of India’s leading gay-rights activists. His 2003 novel The Boyfriend is one of the first gay novels to come from India.
He received his PhD in English iterature from the University of Bombay, and did post-doctoral studies from the University of Warwick. He is the author of Slide Show (poems), One Day I Locked My Flat in Soul City (short stories) and Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography. Poems from his ‘BomGay’ collection also served as the basis for Riyad Wadia's 1996 film Bomgay, said to be India's first gay film.
Rao is a professor in the department of English, University of Pune, founder of Queer Studies Circle, a gay-lesbian student group, and in his own words, a radical utopian.
He received his PhD in English iterature from the University of Bombay, and did post-doctoral studies from the University of Warwick. He is the author of Slide Show (poems), One Day I Locked My Flat in Soul City (short stories) and Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography. Poems from his ‘BomGay’ collection also served as the basis for Riyad Wadia's 1996 film Bomgay, said to be India's first gay film.
Rao is a professor in the department of English, University of Pune, founder of Queer Studies Circle, a gay-lesbian student group, and in his own words, a radical utopian.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 2, 2013
What could have been an epic tale of gay romance ends up as a botched-up, pathetic, hastily-ended and badly-conceived novel. After the exceptionally well narrated initial chapters, the writer, it seems, lost focus and made the proverbial cow climb the tree. The hasty ending (why do all love stories have to end at the airport?) and one of the lead characters going for sex-change give out signs that the only way same-sex couples can live in India is either by quitting the country, or altering their gender for social acceptance? Sorry, i refuse to buy that!
July 10, 2012
Briefly interesting when it explores sexual identities and experiences of gays, kotis and hijras in India. But then there were a couple of unnecessary, underdeveloped, and unbelievable plot twists that left me dumbfounded and questioning the purpose –– these included the spy with chemical weapons(!), and the Bollywood ending.
May 24, 2021
The only thing that made me pick this up, was a short, written by Raj Rao in Hoshang Merchant's book of shorts. That impressed me and wanted to pick up this 'love story' of a queer couple.
Started last year, I abandoned and started again this year, it made no difference however. The writing is wannabe sarcastic and funny at all the times, does fall flat. And chemistry is bland. The storyline towards conclusion totally goes out of hands and unbelievable. Oof. What waste.
Started last year, I abandoned and started again this year, it made no difference however. The writing is wannabe sarcastic and funny at all the times, does fall flat. And chemistry is bland. The storyline towards conclusion totally goes out of hands and unbelievable. Oof. What waste.
August 16, 2023
im.... a little mixed? not mixed in a "i like some parts of this and dislike others" way but in a "i don't know if i dislike this entire book or am weirdly impressed by it"
we only really get siddarth's pov for 2 parts, and a lot of the book is in this weird over-the-shoulder 3rd person that slips into smth more omniscient when it's funny, but i have Truly Had Enough Of That Man. but also in sort of a toxic-unredeemable-queer-nightmare-carcrash way, where i never felt uncomfortable or annoyed enough to STOP reading (or want the book to end, even). it took me some time to really settle into whatever fantasy/70s corniness this was (intentionally?? im pretty sure, the narrator seems to be on Su's side more often than siddarth's, but also sometimes the narrator's like. shrug. and then there was a nonconsensual orgy i guess), but even when i was surprised it was in this way that made me stop for a second, draw a bunch of question marks next to the sentence, and continue without really thinking much.
i think what made this Work for me was how nonchalant and snobby and Bombay Elite(tm) and perfectly historically situated it was (i remember finding the writing a bit jarring here and there but then it did still take me back to the indian english books i read as a kid -- some of the jokes here were Suppandi-tier if that makes sense. not good but. nostalgic?)
also every time i got frustrated the book would pat me on the shoulder like. yeah. you could always stop reading you know. and i'd be like "no how dare you even suggest such a thing" oh no im adopting the language of the book please im an NRI i have my own stupid pretensions those are enough
WEIRDLY the most... delicately handled part of this was gender/transness. there were some parts that felt like "im upper class and cis and whatnot but I Get It" but in a very chill not-preachy KINDA COMEDIC? way. also the hijra/koti characters getting their own pov chapters before siddharth swings in with his incredibly stupid takes is very cool. i still do wanna bash his head in but its ok i guess. truly Cannot describe the experience of reading this (Farouq's letter... the cockpit phone call... that's how i know it's intentional ig) it is not. a nice wholesome/angsty tragic gay romance at All. none of those words describe it (ig gay does? maybe not)
we only really get siddarth's pov for 2 parts, and a lot of the book is in this weird over-the-shoulder 3rd person that slips into smth more omniscient when it's funny, but i have Truly Had Enough Of That Man. but also in sort of a toxic-unredeemable-queer-nightmare-carcrash way, where i never felt uncomfortable or annoyed enough to STOP reading (or want the book to end, even). it took me some time to really settle into whatever fantasy/70s corniness this was (intentionally?? im pretty sure, the narrator seems to be on Su's side more often than siddarth's, but also sometimes the narrator's like. shrug. and then there was a nonconsensual orgy i guess), but even when i was surprised it was in this way that made me stop for a second, draw a bunch of question marks next to the sentence, and continue without really thinking much.
i think what made this Work for me was how nonchalant and snobby and Bombay Elite(tm) and perfectly historically situated it was (i remember finding the writing a bit jarring here and there but then it did still take me back to the indian english books i read as a kid -- some of the jokes here were Suppandi-tier if that makes sense. not good but. nostalgic?)
also every time i got frustrated the book would pat me on the shoulder like. yeah. you could always stop reading you know. and i'd be like "no how dare you even suggest such a thing" oh no im adopting the language of the book please im an NRI i have my own stupid pretensions those are enough
WEIRDLY the most... delicately handled part of this was gender/transness. there were some parts that felt like "im upper class and cis and whatnot but I Get It" but in a very chill not-preachy KINDA COMEDIC? way. also the hijra/koti characters getting their own pov chapters before siddharth swings in with his incredibly stupid takes is very cool. i still do wanna bash his head in but its ok i guess. truly Cannot describe the experience of reading this (Farouq's letter... the cockpit phone call... that's how i know it's intentional ig) it is not. a nice wholesome/angsty tragic gay romance at All. none of those words describe it (ig gay does? maybe not)
August 27, 2014
In parts this was ok, but overall not a great book. Appalling rape scene and dubious use of idioms. Not much to recommend it, unless I have missed something.
September 14, 2018
I read R Raj Rao's first book, 'The Boyfriend' a few years ago and thought it was excellent. I put his later book 'Hostel Room 131' on my Amazon wishlist and did nothing about it for a long time before buying a second hand ex-library copy a few weeks ago. I wonder how many unsuspecting readers got a bit of a shock when they picked up this one.
'Hostel Room 131' is a love story about Siddharth, a young Mumbai-based teacher, and Sudhir, a student who rooms with Siddharth's friend at an engineering college in Pune. The two meet by chance and fall in love, breaking lots of the rules of the college and the hostel where Sudhir lives. The book opens not at the beginning nor the end of their story together, but somewhere in the middle. Siddharth has just reported Sudhir's parents to the police for 'kidnapping' or locking up his boyfriend. And then we head back to start from the beginning.
'The Boyfriend' was an eye-opener. Shocking but moving in equal measures. By contrast, I found 'HR131' a bit TOO 'icky' and explicit in ways that are hard to shake off afterwards. When a good looking stranger on a train throws up on Siddharth, he seems to take it almost as a compliment. I had a hard copy so I couldn't highlight the quote but it was something like 'He was my type, so I took his vomit as my fetish'. Sorry but......gross! There are just too many bodily functions - sexual and often more disturbingly non-sexual - and it was just a bit too disturbing for me.
As a white, middle-aged married woman, I'm not RRR's target audience but that didn't stop me loving the earlier book. This one brought little in the way of character development, not much about family relationships and gave me two characters, neither of whom I found I could like or empathise with in the slightest.
And the ending? Well other reviewers have probably revealed more than appropriate, but it was ludicrous. The ending was the kind of thing I could imagine being thrown together by somebody who knew nothing about homosexuality and needed a convenient ending. It certainly didn't ring true as the work of one of India's foremost gay rights activists and campaigners and was too silly for words. I could only imagine that the couple's future together was going to be very brief and very frustrating.
I'm really sad. I looked forward to reading this for a long time and it just left me feeling deeply uncomfortable and a bit nauseated.
'Hostel Room 131' is a love story about Siddharth, a young Mumbai-based teacher, and Sudhir, a student who rooms with Siddharth's friend at an engineering college in Pune. The two meet by chance and fall in love, breaking lots of the rules of the college and the hostel where Sudhir lives. The book opens not at the beginning nor the end of their story together, but somewhere in the middle. Siddharth has just reported Sudhir's parents to the police for 'kidnapping' or locking up his boyfriend. And then we head back to start from the beginning.
'The Boyfriend' was an eye-opener. Shocking but moving in equal measures. By contrast, I found 'HR131' a bit TOO 'icky' and explicit in ways that are hard to shake off afterwards. When a good looking stranger on a train throws up on Siddharth, he seems to take it almost as a compliment. I had a hard copy so I couldn't highlight the quote but it was something like 'He was my type, so I took his vomit as my fetish'. Sorry but......gross! There are just too many bodily functions - sexual and often more disturbingly non-sexual - and it was just a bit too disturbing for me.
As a white, middle-aged married woman, I'm not RRR's target audience but that didn't stop me loving the earlier book. This one brought little in the way of character development, not much about family relationships and gave me two characters, neither of whom I found I could like or empathise with in the slightest.
And the ending? Well other reviewers have probably revealed more than appropriate, but it was ludicrous. The ending was the kind of thing I could imagine being thrown together by somebody who knew nothing about homosexuality and needed a convenient ending. It certainly didn't ring true as the work of one of India's foremost gay rights activists and campaigners and was too silly for words. I could only imagine that the couple's future together was going to be very brief and very frustrating.
I'm really sad. I looked forward to reading this for a long time and it just left me feeling deeply uncomfortable and a bit nauseated.
September 1, 2019
And this book took my heart away!
The author has beautifully encapsulated the Indian gay sub-culture in the bygone era. It has a tinge of Bollywood script to it. If it materializes into a movie, it would be a hit for sure.
I loved this book so much that I finished it within 4 days.
The climax of the book was quite dramatic and almost like a Bollywood movie. The pace of the book is fast and ensures that you travel with the characters of the book. The twist in the plot was unexpected and catches you off-guard.
Anyone who wants to read a gay love story set in 70's should definitely give it a read.
The author has beautifully encapsulated the Indian gay sub-culture in the bygone era. It has a tinge of Bollywood script to it. If it materializes into a movie, it would be a hit for sure.
I loved this book so much that I finished it within 4 days.
The climax of the book was quite dramatic and almost like a Bollywood movie. The pace of the book is fast and ensures that you travel with the characters of the book. The twist in the plot was unexpected and catches you off-guard.
Anyone who wants to read a gay love story set in 70's should definitely give it a read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2021
Much better than Rao's first novel- both in terms of plot and writing. The overdramatic ending could have been made a bit realistic.
3.5/5 stars
3.5/5 stars
September 11, 2023
It is objectively flawed. Not just casually problematic but the story itself is cliche and not entertaining
July 29, 2025
Another R. Raj Rao classic, even if it unqueers Bombay.
After 'The Boyfriend,' Rao's novels give up on realism even more, and this novel is definitely indulgent in providing a happy, well-earned ending, however strange it is. I realise that many saw this as a negative, but after reading 'Lady Lolita's Lover', whose ending literally escapes the laws of reality, I can appreciate the intentionality of this novel too, as it provides an ending akin to Shakespearean comedies.
Weirdly, for the most part, I also found the protagonists to be MORE likeable and rootable compared to those in the other novels, even if they possess the standard Rao character flaws and traits. Maybe it is because Sudhir is instantly more comfortable with seeing himself as queer (in hindsight, this might have been an intentional move to allow for the ending), or because Siddharth, though whiny and spoilt, is more tolerable and for once dating someone close to his age (ahh my clutch-the-pearls mentality). Maybe a better, if still two-dimensional, supporting cast?
It's somehow the least Raj Rao, but also the most?
Edit: Having to re-read this for my diss a year later, idk if it's just the need for close reading or it being 4:22 in the morning and the last 20 pages are killing me, but the novel truly suffers from some serious pacing issues, and could have done with a bit of editing, especially the last section. Pulled it down to 3.25 stars for this reason.
And I genuinely dislike Su, even though she embodies Rao's queer aesthetic. In practice, rightly so, it is genuinely baffling and frustrating. Siddharth is not much better.
After 'The Boyfriend,' Rao's novels give up on realism even more, and this novel is definitely indulgent in providing a happy, well-earned ending, however strange it is. I realise that many saw this as a negative, but after reading 'Lady Lolita's Lover', whose ending literally escapes the laws of reality, I can appreciate the intentionality of this novel too, as it provides an ending akin to Shakespearean comedies.
Weirdly, for the most part, I also found the protagonists to be MORE likeable and rootable compared to those in the other novels, even if they possess the standard Rao character flaws and traits. Maybe it is because Sudhir is instantly more comfortable with seeing himself as queer (in hindsight, this might have been an intentional move to allow for the ending), or because Siddharth, though whiny and spoilt, is more tolerable and for once dating someone close to his age (ahh my clutch-the-pearls mentality). Maybe a better, if still two-dimensional, supporting cast?
It's somehow the least Raj Rao, but also the most?
Edit: Having to re-read this for my diss a year later, idk if it's just the need for close reading or it being 4:22 in the morning and the last 20 pages are killing me, but the novel truly suffers from some serious pacing issues, and could have done with a bit of editing, especially the last section. Pulled it down to 3.25 stars for this reason.
And I genuinely dislike Su, even though she embodies Rao's queer aesthetic. In practice, rightly so, it is genuinely baffling and frustrating. Siddharth is not much better.
November 27, 2020
it started off well but got a little boring towards the middle. But it, very cutely, shows that love can have no barrier and no sex.
October 15, 2017
An excellent far-fetched story with typical stereotype characters. I enjoyed this little book very much and would recommend as a good read
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews