Love, stars and all that

by Kirin Narayan

From the lively crossroads where two continents and several cultures meet comes this quixotic and charming romantic comedy. In her whimsical portrait of a young Indian woman, Kirin Narayan affectionately skewers the all-too-common quest for the perfect hero. Elinor Lipman renders high praise: "Gita in Berkeley has to be the most appealing cultural exchange since Dorothy returned from Oz.". Gita, of late an overworked graduate student, finds the notion of dating as alien as the black-leather-with-metal-spikes daywear she sees out on Telegraph Avenue. The very word connotes the romances Gita's classmates used to read under the desks at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour back in Ooty. Besides, Gita's beloved Saroj Aunty's astro-numerologist has predicted that in Chaitra 2040 - otherwise known as March 1984 - Gita will meet her jori. Or, as they say in America, Mr. Right. Never mind that Westernized Gita can't even name the months after Chaitra; when her month of destiny arrives, intriguing mal