Paro : Dreams Of Passion (r/j)

First published in 1984, to both notorietyand critical acclaim, Paro remains a socialcomedy without parallel in contemporaryIndian writing.Paro, heroic temptress, glides like an exoticbird of prey through the world of privilegeand Scotch that the rich of Bombayand Delhi inhabit. She is observed closelyby the acid Priya, voyeur and obsessivediarist, who lost her heart to the sewingmachinemagnate BR, and then BRto Paro. But he is merely one amonga string of admirers. Paro has seducedmany: Lenin, the Marxist son of a cabinetminister; the fat and sinister ShambhuNath Mishra, Congress Party éminencegrise; Bucky Bhandpur, test cricketerand scion of a princely family; LoukasLeoras, a homosexual Greek film director;and, very nearly, Suresh, the lawyer onthe make whom Priya has married . . .