India, Sept. 19 -- Towards the end of Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal: The Life and Times of a Female Impersonator, in an interlude titled The Drag Queen, the narrator reflects: "If he said that to Moira's gender studies class, I think they would all spontaneously implode. I mean, where do you fit Chapal Rani in queer theory where we are always talking about the intersection of identity, gender and sexuality?"

Here, the narrator is referencing a hypothetical conversation about Chapal Rani's relationship with a married man:

Narrator: "Don't you get jealous about his wife?"

Chapal Rani: "Why should I? She could give him children. I couldn't. I could satisfy him in every way except that."

This is a pivotal interlude in this book ab...