Shaleen Rakesh is an Indian author and poet whose work attempts to blend lyricism, philosophical inquiry, and an intimate attentiveness to the natural world. As an activist , he played a leading role in India’s sexuality movement and was the primary petitioner who filed the landmark 2001 legal challenge against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code , the colonial-era anti-sodomy law. This sparked a l egal journey that eventually led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in India. Beyond his foundational activism, he built a career in international development , working with organisations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), FHI 360 and VSO , and as a literary writer concerned with themes of ecology, intimacy, and human vulnerability. Madness , his first novel, continues this exploration through the story of an ageing photojournalist walking the banks of the Rispana River. Told in a slow, meditative voice, the book weaves ecology, memory, and...