A paying guest seems like a win-win proposition to the Joshi family. He's ready with the rent, he's willing to lend a hand when he can and he's happy to listen to Mrs Joshi on the imminent collapse of our culture.

But he's also a man of mystery. He has no last name. He has no family, no friends, no history and no plans for the future.

The siblings Tanay and Anuja are smitten by him. He overturns their lives. And when he vanishes, he breaks their hearts.

Elegantly wrought and exquisitely spare, Colbalt Blue is a tale of rapturous love and fierce heartbreak told with tenderness and unsparing clarity.

'Weaving two relationships together, one homosexual, the other heterosexual, Kundalker creates a work that is replete with ellipses and silences. And} Jerry pinto's translation is fluid and immensely readable.' Shanta Gokhale