Mehbub Gulley - Short Stories from India is an anthology of stories about the lives of ordinary men and women in India, their existential dilemmas and their angst. Some of the stories are about life in the civil service. What happens when poor and studious Samuel from Alleppey gets selected to the Indian Administrative Service and marries into a wealthy landowning family? Nilufer longs to live with Pirosh in a house of her own in Darius Baug colony but as she pursues her dream, it takes the quality of a nightmare. Stefan, a young Austrian tourist finds himself succumbing to the enticements of Hyderabadi Biryani and a dimpled brown nymph, under the shadows of the Charminar in Hyderabad. The PM's plan to floor the foe across the border in Humptidumptistan with a powerful Stink Bum is stymied by the rivalry between Pisspot, the autocratic head of administration and the Old Codger, the irascible Chairman of the Sindustan Science Commission. Shiva Shambo, the Deputy Secretary is caught in the middle of the muddle. Narrated with sympathy, often with humour, the stories are sharply etched cameos of life in India, drawn by Elizabeth Kottarem's firm brush strokes.