In these short stories, J.P. Das is the quintessential raconteur with an instinctive mastery of the form that this genre imposes. The stories hold the reader in thrall from the opening sentence leading him through convoluted corridors, and depositing him on the threshold of some unforeseen mystery. The slow, deliberate accretion of detail leaves the reader impatient for the inevitable climax. The Pukka Sahib from which the collection gets its title represents the essential human condition.