Diksha Basu

From actress Diksha Basu comes a sparkling comedy of manners about social climbing, social rivalry and social anxiety in the New India Anil Kumar Jha has worked hard and is ready to live well. After thirty years in a modest flat, he and his family are moving to Gurgaon, one of Delhi's richest areas. But his wife, Bindu, is heartbroken about leaving their neighbours, and doesn't want to wear designer saris or understand interior decoration. Meanwhile their son, Rupak, is failing business school in the US – and secretly dating an American girl. Once installed in their mansion, the Jhas are soon drawn into a feverish game of one-upmanship with their new neighbours, the Chopras, as each couple seeks to outdo the other with increasingly lavish displays of wealth. As an imitation Sistene Chapel is pitted against a crystal-encrusted sofa, Bindu wonders where it will all end. A sharply observed tale of social aspiration and anxiety, The Windfall is a thoroughly modern comedy of manners about family, friendship and what it means to belong in a rapidly changing India.

The Windfall

"For the past thirty years, Mr. and Mrs. Jha's lives have been defined by cramped spaces, cut corners, gossipy neighbors, and the small dramas of stolen yoga pants and stale marriages. They thought they'd settled comfortably into their golden years, pleased with their son's acceptance into an American business school. But then Mr. Jha comes into an enormous and unexpected sum of money, and moves his wife from their housing complex in East Delhi to the super-rich side of town, where he becomes eager to fit in as a man of status: skinny ties, hired guards, shoe-polishing machines, and all. The move sets off a chain of events that rock their neighbors, their marriage, and their son, who is struggling to keep a lid on his romantic dilemmas and slipping grades, and brings unintended consequences, ultimately forcing the Jha family to reckon with what really matters"--Provided by publisher.

Katherine Yang

I spent much of the book alternating between finding Mr. Jha, the Chopras, and Rupak amusingly annoying and feeling heartened by the endearing goodness of Reema, Mrs. Jha, and Upen. A tiny bit difficult to get into, but the story progresses wonderfully and the characters/relationships are very well-crafted. Now if I could get around to actually finishing Crazy Rich Asians…

Liz Carpenter

A quietly amusing book with heart; filled with characters who inhabit a culture very different from my own, but who felt so relatable that I just adored them all.

Sahi K

It’s always fun to read books written by Indian authors especially when they are so rarely available in libraries here. I was intrigued by this one because it seemed to be getting some great reviews from western readers.

The plot revolves around the Jha family who get an unexpected windfall and decide to move to a rich neighborhood in Gurgaon from their housing complex in East Delhi where everybody knows everyone’s business. What follows is Mr.Jha’s persistent attempts to match up to his new neighbor Mr. Chopra – always comparing each other’s cars, wondering if not hiring a guard would make him seem not rich enough, even talking bad about his son to Mr. Chopra to prove that he has enough money to take care of his so-called good for nothing progeny. Amidst all this, Mrs. Jha is trying to adjust to the drastic change in her lifestyle, is even skeptical of some of her husband’s antics but not enough to confront him. On the other hand, their son who is studying MBA in the US can’t admit that he is in love with an American or that he is failing in class. There is also a little subplot about Mrs. Ray who is a young widowed neighbor and friend of Mrs. Jha from East Delhi.

The book is well written, the situations that Mr. Jha gets himself into are quite hysterical and I really wanted to read till the end. But I didn’t find anyone in the Jha family very likable and sometimes, quite pathetic. The only saving grace was Mrs. Ray, whose loneliness is well captured and her finding love again puts a smile on the reader’s face. Thankfully, the ending was a little hopeful and it seemed that the Jhas would be okay after all.

"For the past thirty years, Mr. and Mrs. Jha's lives have been defined by cramped spaces, cut corners, gossipy neighbors, and the small dramas of stolen yoga pants and stale marriages. They thought they'd settled comfortably into their golden years, pleased with their son's acceptance into an American business school. But then Mr. Jha comes into an enormous and unexpected sum of money, and moves his wife from their housing complex in East Delhi to the super-rich side of town, where he becomes eager to fit in as a man of status"--]cProvided by publisher.

The Windfall

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