How to Date a Fanatic: A Novel

In this compassionate, poignant novel set in contemporary India, a young professor searches for connection and love during a time of political and cultural upheaval.

As political tensions rise precipitously across India, Rohit returns to Delhi University to teach and gets caught in a web of unrequited love with his friend Dhruv. To alleviate his inevitable heartbreak, Rohit seeks relationships with other men on campus, until he meets and embarks on a delicate new romance with the effervescent Sayan, a literature student he hopes will be the answer to getting over Dhruv.

Rohit’s life soon becomes more complicated as the country's political tensions erupt on campus, sparking a turbulent student-led movement that entangles Rohit when Dhruv joins the fray, a tipping point that changes Rohit’s life forever. Set against the vibrant, volatile tapestry of modern India, Rohit and his friends must learn to navigate the challenges and triumphs of queer life to survive in an unpredictable political landscape.

Propulsive, tense, and charged with humor and tenderness, How to Date a Fanatic is an exploration of identity, connection, and the enduring hope for a better future in a rapidly changing world.

"A multitude of events jostle for the prize for the most dishonorable in India's headlong plunge into darkness this century, but the causes for the riots that swept through university campuses in Delhi in 2016 must count among the top ten. Here is a novel that is a sharp, truthful snapshot of the time, seen through the surprising lens of queerness. Vivid, humane, wise, and very funny, Kashyap's book brings together the political novel and the romcom in a felicitous union. Read it, laugh, and feel very scared." - Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Lives of Others and Choice