Upamanyu Chatterjee is een Indiase auteur, bekend om zijn werken die zich afspelen binnen de Indian Administrative Service. Zijn schrijfstijl duikt vaak in de ironische en satirische aspecten van bureaucratie en het dagelijks leven in India. Chatterjee's stijl kenmerkt zich door zijn scherpe inzicht in de menselijke psychologie en zijn vermogen om de nuances van sociale interacties vast te leggen.
Agastya Sen, known to friends by the English name August, is a child of the Indian elite. August himself has just landed a prize government job, which takes him to Madna - a town with the highest temperatures in India - deep in the sticks. There he finds himself surrounded by incompetents and cranks, time wasters, bureaucrats, and crazies.
Jamun is a young man, adrift. His father, Shymanand, is old and his mother, Ursula, on her deathbed. As the novel opens, the family are gathering together for the inevitable parting. Tracking backwards and forwards in time and space, the book unfolds a picture of Jamun and his family.