In her poised and elegant debut novel 'The Cambridge Curry Club', Saumya Balsari weaves a hilarious tale of "sewa" in an archetypal English town. Richly veined in dark humour, she brings together wholesome and rounded characters all fulfilling the age-old role of charity in the 'India Need' shop located in the heart of the historic town of Cambridge. Founded by Mrs Wellington Smythe, who rarely feels the need to visit, or remember the names of her volunteers, the shop stocks bric-a-brac for its aged and eccentric visitors.

Hyderbadi Heera Malkani Moore, a middle-aged matron who finds herself, somewhat surprisingly, married to an Englishman, manages the shop. Heera yearns for her teenage sweetheart Javed while secretly fearing that her husband is having an affair. Her worries are not lessened by accusations of theft from her boss (Wellington Smythe) and the appearance of black bin bags stuffed fill of S&M gear.

The task of sorting through donated goods falls on prudish Swarnakumari, a Bengali housewife who insists on repeatedly washing her hands to purify her palms and utterances of prayers to purify her soul. Although Swarnakumari's husband approves of her charity work, little does he suspect that it involves sorting through lacy knickers and adult videos of Snow White and the seven dwarfs! Nor does he realise that Swarnakumari's co-volunteers comprise an irreverent, waspish Durga; a non-communicative Irish woman called Eileen and the 'ferengi'-married Heera, until the day he decides to pay his wife a visit at the shop.

Durga's quick-witted one-liners hide an unhappy arranged marriage to desi doctor Atul Patekar. The appearance of American academic 'Roman', on the same fateful day of Swarnakumari's husband's visit, opens a new door for Durga. Should she stick it out in a loveless marriage or follow her heart? As Durga grapples with this dilemma, the ceiling comes crashing down (quite literally) on the volunteers in the shop and these wisps of faded dreams, budding hopes and fragmented desires are brought together to give the book a mellow-hued finale.

Balsari veers away from the stereotypical characters one encounters so often in Indian Diasporic writing, and her sharp observations give her characters much-needed credibility. The pace of this book seems relentless when you consider that it is effectively set over a single day, but Balsari shows a remarkable breadth and depth in her treasure trove of storylines to leave the reader totally satiated. A cracking debut novel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saumya Balsari grew up in India, taught in Denmark and lived in four continents before moving to Cambridge. A sparky, eloquent and witty humour columnist and freelance journalist for The Hindustan Times, she is based in London and is currently writing her second novel.

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