Today is Thursday, April 10, 2025. It’s getting late here owing to Elliot and I watching several things on television after my returning from Manhattan and seeing a new gayrom called A Nice Indian Boy with my newish friend “Harry” and having lunch with him at an Italian restaurant just opposite the Quad Theatre, on West 13th Street. Originally, we were going to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant on West 14th Street, but thanks to my late decision to call them before leaving to meet Harry at around 1:45 p.m. and finding out that it had closed permanently, we had to decide on anther place very quickly. As I walked to the Quad Theatre, I discovered the restaurant called Da Andrea that looked quite nice from the outside. The film was supposed to go on at 3:15, so there really was no time to meander to look for another place to have lunch. Thus we met across the street at Da Andrea and entered the restaurant and sought a table.

For lunch, Harry and I shared an appetizer, polpettine di vitello (veal meatballs, tomato basil, and ricotta), then we ordered separate entrees: I ordered gnocchetti al pomodoro, while Harry ordered some clam dish. Everything tasted quite good, even though the prices were a little steep, but this is Manhattan. For dessert, Harry ordered gelato consisting of three flavors: chocolate, cherry, and vanilla. I actually eschewed dessert this rare time. I just had coffee throughout the meal.

After paying the bill, we just darted across the street to enter the cinema. We had a few minutes before the start of the film. Now to the film: as a reviewer stated in MetroWeekly, the film “spares no layer of sentiment.” It is the love story of two nice Indian boys, one being Naveen Gavaskar (Karan Soni), a doctor, with an overbearing mother and a quiet father, and a sarcastic, moody sister, and an American, actually, Jay Kurundkar, here played by Broadway’s Jonathan Groff, who actually was an orphan adopted by an older Indian couple. The two men meet, incidentally, in a temple while praying to the deity of Ganesh. For them, it’s love practically at first sight. The pair meet again in Naveen’s hospital, where Jay is working as a photographer who is tasked with taking pictures of the staff. Here they make a more serious connection and agree to go on a first date.

All throughout the film, it’s Naveen who is guarded and a little withdrawn in front of his traditional parents, Megha (stand-up comedian Zarna Garg) and Archit (Harish Patel), and his sullen older sister, Arundhathi (Sunita Mani), who was married in a gaudy Indian wedding six years prior to the events of Naveen and Jay’s budding romance.

The only true conflict in the film revolves around Naveen’s bringing home his boyfriend to meet his parents, even though they both know that their only son is gay. The progressive couple are so tolerant of their son’s gay identity that they are seen watching OUTtv to broaden their understanding of queer life. It is Naveen’s mother who draws the most laughs as she tells him in one scene about the movie Milk that she’s watched with her husband.

It is Naveen’s father, Archit, who is a little more stolid and quiet on his gay son’s life since he’s hidden his gayness from him in a consistent manner. The Gavaskars have never seen their son be gay around a partner, as Jay is the first boyfriend he brings home to them.

Overall, I thought the film lacked more depth and texture. There is no description of Naveen’s life as a doctor; we just see him in the hospital jabbering away with his Asian doctor friend over other dates and there’s no specifics on where the film is set. At the end, after scanning the credits, we discover it was shot in Canada – where else? Also, the film lacked true chemistry between the two principals, with not one scene of bare flesh in the whole film. Not that we needed to see the two having sweaty sex, but it might have helped. The film seems to have been marketed to a straight audience who would have winced if more skin was shown at all during its very short length.

Anyway, the film is inoffensive and sweet and it does end with a wedding. It is directed by Roshan Sethi and is based on a play (which I’ve never heard of) by Madhuri Shekar and a screenplay by Shekar and Eric Randall.

Today the Supreme Court delivered a blow to the Dump administration in their ruling requiring that his administration must “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, but stopped short of requiring the government to return him to the United States.

Here the high court said that the administration must try to – not “must” – return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian national who was deported on March 15.

The administration incorrectly asserted that Abrego Garcia was a “ranking member” of the MS-13 gang, but no evidence was provided by Big Brother in this case. His lawyers have continuously stressed that heir client has no criminal background in Maryland, or anywhere else. They have also denied his involvement in MS-13.

So who knows what has happened to this poor man since he was deported. His case just illustrates how lawless the Dump administration is and how no one – I mean, no one – is safe from being whisked out of this country in the present time. Think of that one, folks!

By the way, it’s only Day 81 in the Chump administration, which seems more like way, way longer like 2 years, really.

And so it went!