Chocolate, and other writings on male-male desire

This is the first ever English translation of a book that began the first major public debate on gay rights in modern India. Pandey Bechan Sharma ("Ugra"), claimed that Chocolate (1927) would help rid the nation of "vice" but his critics argued that his book was obscene. In her Introduction Ruth Vanita, who has extensively studied same-sex relationships in India, discusses the book's unique position on the subject and the direction it gave to the portrayal of homosexuality.