The Night Train at Deoli is a sensitively told tale about adolescent infatuation. It reflects the narrator’s affection for a poor basket-seller whom he meets on his way to Dehra Dun at a little station. He only meets the girl twice and never sees her again, but she stays in his mind for the rest of his life.

The central theme of all the stories in Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories is ‘Love’ in some shape, size or form. To name a few, he touches upon love for one’s hometown & the yearning for childhood in ‘When You Can’t Climb The Tree Anymore’, ‘My Father’s Trees In Dehra’, and ‘The Coral Tree.