Exploring the Queer Inner World, Emotional Terrain, and Psychological Challenges in Sachin Kundalkar’s Cobalt Blue

Abstract: This paper analyzes the internal experiences of queer individuals depicted in the novel, highlighting the psychological, emotional, and existential dimensions of same-gender attraction and self-conception. By exploring the intertwined stories of brother and sister Tanay and Anuja,kundalkar create a reflective atmosphere in which unspoken feelings of love and sadness are conveyed beyond the limits typical heterosexual standards. The novel’s clarity and poetic nature act as a psychological compass for longing, reflecting the repressed ambitions and divided identities found in queer experiences. This study employs a queer theoretical lens in conjunction with psychoanalytic and sociocultural approaches to reveal how Kundalkar shapes the private realms of queer experience. The implementation of a fragmented storyline and the absence of audio and symbolic features, especially the Cobalt Blue, act as an artistic representation of profundity, sadness, and concealed identity. The story demonstrates the changing nature of desire and challenges the distinctions between gender and sexuality, depicting queer identity as fundamentally human and profoundly authentic in its feelings and theoretically uncovers how the characters in Kundalkar’s Cobalt Blue articulate the conflict between individual genuineness and cultural standards. It highlights how the novel serves as a platform for affirming and resisting queer identity in Indian literature. This research reveals that Kundalkar’s Cobalt Blue goes beyond the tale of taboo romance, acting as a deep investigation of the queer psyche in the spaces where identity, love, and grief converge, and a fight for personal freedom and selfhood kundalkar

Keywords: Psychological, Emotional, Socio-cultural, same gender attraction