Twenty stories of contemporary Indian life that demonstrate the range of Hariharan's writing, executed with a precision of style and magical imagery. Sometimes comic (yet tinged with sadness) as in the much-anthologized 'The Remains of the Feast' where an old woman near the end of her life suddenly feels the urge to sample all the food she has been forbidden; sometimes with a twist as in 'Gajar Halwa' where Chellamma, a servant girl from a small-town family, finally understands what makes a big city work; sometimes moving as in 'The Reprieve', these stories never fail to surprise and delight.