Delhi native Basu’s astute and comic take on upward mobility in 21st Century India begins when Mr Jha sells his website and moves his family from an apartment in East Delhi where they’ve lived for 25 years to a mansion in Gurgaon. But first, the couple gives a party for their closest friends, knowing they will be the subjects of envious gossip. Already Mr Jha has heard one of them call his hard-earned money “a lucky windfall”. The new wealth makes Mrs Jha nervous. Even their son Rupak, who is in business school in the US, is rattled. Basu’s tale of one family’s adjustment to social life among their often pretentious new neighbours (they have no guard, and only one car, one notes) is filled with sharp insights and humour. (Credit: Crown)