About a Boy

When Mehta was 21,he came out to his mother. “I was getting ready to graduate from college and move to New York City,I considered myself to be entering my adult life. It seemed like the right time. Before my mother,I had come out to my brother. That was probably only a year or so after I had come out to myself,” says Mehta. Now 37,a reader at Alfred University,Professor Mehta felt like he was coming out to his mother for a second time while she was reading his debut short story collection.

For Mehta,the collection is a result of years of writing,of patience and more importantly,the will to be a writer. “As a kid,I was telling people I was going to be a writer. It was about 10-12 years ago that I really started taking my writing seriously. I remember a day,my partner Robert and I had gone to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I told Robert I’d decided to apply to law school. He said,‘Do you want to be a lawyer?’ I said,‘No,I want to be a writer. But it’s not very practical,is it?’ Robert responded,“Be a writer,” recalls Mehta,who is currently working on a novel for many years now. Quarantine is dedicated to his family and to Robert. His mother loved the book. “My family is supportive,so for me it wasn’t very difficult. But I do think that generally it is more difficult for Indians. I think there is less openness about sexuality among Indians,” says Mehta. His family in India still doesn’t know about his sexuality but Mehta isn’t worried. “The most important thing is that the people I love also love me. Whether or not they are comfortable with the label ‘gay’ is of less importance to me,” he adds.

His students too,have only begun reading his work. “My writing self is so different than my teaching self. In the classroom,I’m fairly formal. I make my students call me “Professor Mehta.” By contrast,my writing self is much wilder and messier. Sometimes,I’m not so sure I want my students to see that side,” he says. But the day he received his first copy of Quarantine,Mehta took the book to class and spoke to his students about it. “I was holding it up and telling my students about all the years of struggle that preceded the book. I told them that there would be similar times in their lives,too,but that if they persevered,with a little bit of luck,they could do anything,” says Mehta. Robert teased him about the inspirational speech: “He asked if I cued up Whitney Houston’s I Didn’t Know My Own Strength. It’s true,at heart I’m a big cheese ball when it comes to these things,” says Mehta.