It is the late sixties in Kadam Kuan, Patna, when a young Ritwik is in love with Ila. Ila, five years older, with green eyes and chiselled features, is his neighbour and tutor in the treats of life. She leads him, her Sancho Panza, through the rites of passage, into a world of books and theatre, love and longing. This is the Ritwik and Ila story; it is also the story of Ila's grandfather, the Thakur, the social renegade, Harryda, the vibrant Mira, who Ritwik gets but can never have, and an assortment of characters, growing up or growing old through the second half of the last century, that we all remember from the street we grew up in. With the easy dexterity of a seasoned storyteller, Siddharth Chowdhury peels off the layers, gently, to arrive at the heart of an aching, throbbing youth, capturing in magical detail the small and big triumphs of individuals in a society that is quietly going to seed.