Agastya Sen, a young civil servant is posted to Madna where he experiences kitsch in all its forms - relics of the British Empire, temples, monsoons, Gandhi, savants. In his confusion he lurches towards the Hindu belief in the virtues of renunciation and an uncertain, traumatic, self-knowledge. The author has also written "The Assassination of Indira Gandhi" which was chosen for "Best Short Stories of 1986".