This novel is about the English-speaking upper middle class where characters drink Bellinis, watch Naseeruddin Shah films, buy Billie Holiday records from Rhythm House and watch Urdu plays. Their cars’ backseats are strewn with copies of ArtIndia and Tehelka. Lovers talk in a mix of Americanese and Hinglish: "You’re a real trooper, you know." "I’ve got the skin of a rhino, jaan." This is Shobha De for the thinking man.
Rhea and Adiare are a corporate couple desperate for a child. Adi attends business meetings in foreign cities, listens to the saxophone, drinks bourbon. Rhea dabbles in pottery, bakes cakes for him. Samar is a pianist who spurned the limelight at...
