"The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed Indian city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency. The days that follow bring new forms of degradation and misery to vie with resilience and stubborn hope in the daily lives of the people, four of whom are compelled by a housing shortage to share one cramped apartment." "With no common background and only the most impersonal threads of common need, these four find their lives becoming unexpectedly but inextricably entwined, their growing trust, humor, and affectionate interdependence establishing a bulwark against the hardships and torturous machinations of daily life under the Emergency, holding them together, finally, for both better and worse."--BOOK JACKET.