AMRITA

An ingratiating novel of modern New Delhi swirls about the matter of marriage by love and/or arrangement. Amrita, a well-bred young lady with a B.A., meets the genial Hari at a radio station Where both work, Hari being of lower status but still respectable. Each fancies love for the other in a brave new world of mixing classes, but both families, aghast, maneuver with swiftness and determination to provide more suitable marriages. Hari is the buoyant feather of indecision or non-committment who wafts happily into an arranged marriage and out of Amrita's plans for an English elopement. Amrita in turn makes her mother's plans of arranged marriage, countered by a dignified grandfather, unnecessary when she realizes her fondness for the young Bengali lawyer who boards with the family. Family scenes give play to enjoyable characters and reveal varied customs in a soft-hearted satire.