Kanav Puri is Gay ?

Kanav Puri is Gay ?

"I'm gay".
He fixes his gaze on the marble floor. Flawless. Polished. Straight. So like his parents.
A minute passes and the silence begins to gnaw at Kanav's senses. He wishes they would react. He's prepared for it all – the shock, the screaming, the angry, helpless tears. Everything.



No, he thinks, that's not how tycoons behave. They would never stray from that role, not even for him– the heir to their steel empire.
He can't remember a time when he had felt like their son instead of their business successor. Everything had been planned - they build the empire and he rules it. Growing up, he hated his parents' work - the only cause of their perpetual absence. His life suffocated him, cluttered with lavish parties, college, business degrees, and the company. No one even considered the possibility that he might not want the chair. Save Kanav. He knew that since forever. He had taken up art at school once and it wasn't long before he developed an insatiable craving for the canvas. But his parents had outrightly rejected his only passion. "Our son will spend his life playing with colours…? When he has an established business all to himself?! What will people say?" It was always that – what will people say? He had lived his entire life trying to stay on the right side of that question.
Meeting Rhishabh had changed everything. Their Indian skin in a class full of whites at Wharton got them together but it was their understanding of each other that made them inseparable. Often talking late into the night, Rhishabh compelled Kanav to take charge of his life. It wasn't too late before Kanav, who had never had time for women earlier, realized that he probably never would. Rhishabh had been in two other relationships and with the wisdom of one experienced, treated Kanav with great care and sensitivity.

Their time is up now. Returning to India is like a snap back into reality. They decide to wait before telling their families. But the increasing number of marriage proposals for Kanav Puri, Delhi's richest and most eligible bachelor cuts into their plans. After a while, there's no use telling his parents he isn't ready. He is, after all, 27 and their persistent efforts at persuading him and all the lying cash in on his last shreds of patience. So he drops the bomb.
"I'm gay", he repeats.
He has had enough of the floor by now.
Slowly, he lifts his gaze to their ashen faces.
"Since when?" His father.
"Two years now." Kanav.
"Is there..someone…?" His mother. Hesitant. Nervous. This was not something she could set right with a signature or a meeting.
"Yes." This is it. Somehow, this feels bigger than the confession of his homosexuality. "Rhishabh Sharma. I met him at Wharton. I can ask him to visit if you want." His father's eyes widen with surprise. Shit. Kanav himself can't believe what he just said. This isn't him. After a life spent in bondage, his mind is breaking free from the shackles of propriety.
His mother whimpers. Tears fall. Her entire frame suddenly shakes and crumbles into his father's arms. Kanav realizes that he has never seen them like that before.
"I'm sorry. I didn't plan it this way".
His father simply stares. The hurt and pain in his eyes reveal the anguish within.
Kanav turns and walks out the door, feeling strange. Bittersweet. Ashamed. Free. He is almost out the gate when he hears his crying mother rush after him.
He stops and holds the most powerful woman in the country.
"Hush, Ma. Don't. Everyone can see. What will people say?"

Bittersweet by Puneet Sandhu, 2004
Published 7 July 2004 :: Fiction
Read more by Puneet Sandhu