Hi Hobbes !

MEET Abhay Kumar. Fortyish and henpecked, this Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer has a dark secret to conceal-he wants to make a contribution to the world at large. His career's been spent tracking Pakistan, so it's only natural that as the familiar sound of rattling sabres sweeps through the subcontinent, the IFS decides to post him to Washington without delay. This, clearly, is the result of Machiavellian politics in the innermost sanctums of power. Not the PMO but something far more deadly: a case of service wife versus service wife as Mrs AS (Admin) schemes to remove Mrs Kumar from Delhi so that the former can move ahead in the ngo chairperson sweepstakes.

The US presents Kumar with serious matters that require his urgent attention: Potty Sharma, an agent provocateur whose closest literary parallel is Wodehouse's Psmith; a dethroned UP chief minister turned ambassador whose impending death can only be staved off by a return to power; and a lieutenant whose ability to snivel is only matched by his sneakiness. Oh yes, and there's also the small matter of the US's positive reaction to a military coup in Pakistan.

Doshi, an old foreign service hand, has written a first novel that's guaranteed to have bureaucrats falling off their chairs with laughter. His observations are sharp, insightful and subversively witty. But for those not 'heaven-born', Birds of Passage lacks the kind of humour that would give it a more universal appeal. The sudden switch at the end from low farce to high tragedy is also more than slightly disconcerting. It's like sitting through four acts of an Oscar Wilde play only to find that the director's switched to Hamlet for the grand finale.

On the whole, this is a book well worth picking up-though if you find yourself putting it down in a hurry, don't be too harsh on yourself. Mere mortals are guaranteed diplomatic immunity against a failure to respond to inside jokes.