Five sharp short stories of India

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By

YOGA HOTEL

By Maura Moynihan

ReganBooks, tk, 282 pages.

REVIEWED BY CYNTHIA GRENIER

We owe a real debt of gratitude to Richard Nixon for at least one act in his presidential career. He appointed Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Ambassador to India. The Right Honorable D.P. Moynihan brought his family with him to the subcontinent including his teenage daughter Maura. For her, the experience was truly love, deep passionate love at very first contact. Indeed she has dedicated her first book -- "Yoga Hotel" -- to her parents "who gave me India."

Ms. Moynihan has inherited both her late father's wit and his way with words as this collection of dazzling, delicious short stories effortlessly proves. She shows an India vividly not just through American eyes but Indian eyes as well. Witness the first story in the book, "A Good Job in Delhi," in which Hari, a young Indian, finds employment working for westerners "through his father's cousin whose son-in-law was the driver." As houseboy to a swinging young American bachelor, he is convinced he must have the best post in the entire city -- until his mother turns up to announce, proudly, that she has arranged a marriage for him.