Book excerpt: The Stories In This Collection Are Set In The Early Eighties, And Anjana Appachana Wonderfully Captures The Raw, Vibrant Energy And Optimism Of A Time When We Drank Chai For Thirty Paise, And Twenty Thousand Rupees Spent On &Lsquo;Gifts&Rsquo; For The Boy&Rsquo;S Side Was An Enormous Amount Of Money For Middle-Class Indians. Her Characters Strain For A Place Beyond The Boundaries Of A Prescribed Way Of Life In Urban Middle India: A Hapless College Student Gets Gated A Few Days Before Her Appointment For An Abortion; A Disgruntled Clerk Philosophises Gloomily About His Place In The Scheme Of Things; A Young Girl, Against All Odds, Decides To Keep Her Sister&Rsquo;S Deep, Dark Secret. By Turns Warm, Gullible, Arrogant And Bigoted, Appachana&Rsquo;S Characters Live Their Lives Amid Contradictions And Double Standards, Superstitions And Impossible Dreams, But Ultimately Usurp Their Familiar Landscape And Imbue It With An Idiosyncratic Vision.