Kismetwali and Other Stories

This octet of novellas is set against an Indian backdrop amid circumstances that transcend place, purse and prestige, Kismetwali and Other Stories speaks to all. It offers a glimpse into the parallel lives of the privileged and penniless, closing in on the moments when free-will collides against fate, and the gap between the parallels vanishes, along with the distinctions inherent in their preordained paths. A humble barber becomes an intimate collaborator in a love story; a light-fingered maid servant helps a young flight attendant clean up the emotional debris of a messy romance; a long-serving masseuse conceals her mistress s secret while offering a gift of revelation to her troubled daughter, and a clairvoyant petitions the fountainhead of fate on behalf of her affluent clients. Kismet positions these characters along the totem pole, but the choices they make are theirs alone.