India, April 25 -- Much like Malgudi - to which the author alludes - which captured the quintessential, pastoral Indian childhood, Navsari Tales, a collection of short stories set in the eponymous town, captures the quintessential Parsi idyll. Except that Navsari is a real place and the stories in this volume aren't pure fiction though Desai's characters run the full spectrum of human oddities.

In typical Bawaji fashion, there is the usual vegetarian-and-teetotaler bashing with a special mention being made of Morarji Desai. There is writing about heavy lunches, followed by siestas and ungodly large amounts of chai. There are extremely creative limericks and much bawdy wordplay in Gujarati that no translation can do justice to. And there ...