Abha Dawesar’s Babyji presents a nuanced exploration of lesbian desire within an urban Indian setting where social modernity coexists with entrenched cultural discomfort toward female sexuality. This paper examines how lesbian desire in the novel is shaped by silence, concealment, and unspoken social pressures rather than overt prohibition. Through close textual analysis, the study investigates the ways in which urban space offers limited freedom while simultaneously reinforcing heteronormative expectations that compel same-sex desire to remain private. The narrative reveals how social anxiety surrounding lesbian relationships manifests through moral surveillance, secrecy, and the regulation of female bodies and choices. The protagonist’s negotiation of desire highlights the conflict between personal agency and the need for social acceptance, underscoring the emotional and psychological cost of living outside normative sexual frameworks. Drawing on feminist and queer critical perspectives, this paper argues that Babyji exposes the contradictions within urban Indian culture, where progressiveness is often superficial and conditional. By foregrounding marginalized lesbian experiences, the novel challenges dominant constructions of sexuality and contributes significantly to contemporary discussions on queer representation in Indian English fiction.