Delinquent Chacha

Ved Mehta, who has been known chiefly for his reports on the ideas and personalities of contemporary philosophers, historians, and theologians, has, in Delinquent Chacha, written his first novel. It is the story of a rascally, improvident, unquenchable, and ultimately enchanting middle-aged Indian—Anglophile, card-player, dreamer—who spent his early years under the British raj and, finding himself deep in nostalgia now that India is independent, wants nothing so much as to turn himself into an English gentleman. To accomplish his purpose, he sets out for England with a view to becoming an undergraduate at Oxford and a club-man, finds what he assumes to be a temporary job as a porter at the All India Taj Mahal Curry, Chutney, and Soup Restaurant in London, allows himself to be persuaded that he has been honored with the title Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, has himself opulently outfitted in Regent Street, gets into trouble with the law for befuddling his tailors, and defends himself in the courtroom with an eloquent mixture of Indian and British logic. Mr. Mehta has done something that has rarely been done in fiction in recent years: he has invented a large-scale comic character. On the surface, the novel is farce—first-rate farce—but there is more than surface. Beneath all the antic incident, there is a rustle of fresh, witty comment on East and West.