This octet of novellas is set against an Indian backdrop amid circumstances that transcend place, purse and prestige, Kismetwali and Other Stories speaks to all. It offers a glimpse into the parallel lives of the privileged and penniless, closing in on the moments when free-will collides against fate, and the gap between the parallels vanishes, along with the distinctions inherent in their preordained paths. A humble barber becomes an intimate collaborator in a love story; a light-fingered maid servant helps a young flight attendant clean up the emotional debris of a messy romance; a long-serving masseuse conceals her mistress s secret while offering a gift of revelation to her troubled daughter, and a clairvoyant petitions the fountainhead of fate on behalf of her affluent clients. Kismet positions these characters along the totem pole, but the choices they make are theirs alone.