Upamanyu Chatterjee es un autor indio conocido por sus obras ambientadas en el servicio administrativo indio. Su escritura a menudo profundiza en los aspectos irónicos y satíricos de la burocracia y la vida cotidiana en la India. El estilo de Chatterjee se caracteriza por su aguda perspicacia en la psicología humana y su habilidad para capturar los matices de las interacciones sociales.
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.