Morning Glory in East-of-Kailash

(Penguin Petit)

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In 1981, Manjula Padmanabhan spent a month in Delhi, living in a barsati in East-of-Kailash in what can only be described as surreal circumstances. As Padmanabhan was about to learn, living with two gay men (one of them, a fellow artist and alcoholic), their (unofficially) adopted Nepali son, a transvestite (bordering on perverse) cook, two spaniels and a Chihuahua (in heat) is far from standard.

The house that had so far been an all-male ménage soon shifts in varying degrees in the presence of an unambiguous, ‘normal’ female. But there is and always has been a deep undercurrent of pathos constantly fed by the recurring characters making an appearance upon the barsati’s peculiar stage. It is a month that doesn’t go by as quickly as a month normally does but it is one full of revelations—for Padmanabhan and her housemates.

Morning Glory in East-of-Kailash is Manjula Padmanabhan’s most non-fictional fiction piece. Almost a semi-fictional essay, this short but poignant read is as rewarding as it is beautifully written.