This is yet another teary installation in the growing collection of books about and by the Indian diaspora, each of which competes with the others in the portrayal of the romantic nostalgia the main characters (Indians settled in the West) invariably feel towards their forsaken homeland, the clash of cultures they experience as they try to build a life in the West, and the inevitable dreariness of this life spent seemingly by necessity, not choice, in a land and culture that remain permanently foreign as the heart and mind continue to live in the abandoned homeland.

It seems every book adds a new twist to the above general theme, the twist in this book being the additional perspective of children born to such immigrant parents. The son who is born and raised in the USA, and is arguably the main character of the book, feels himself more a part of his immediate surroundings, and revolts against the values his immigrant Indian parents follow.

This slight addition however fails to redeem the book of its lack of originality in dishing out yet another take on the apparently tried and tested theme of loss and longing. Had this been the first book of its kind that I had read, I would probably have commented on its finer points, but since it is not, I simply could not bring myself to look past the routine dullness of its plot.