Four protagonists of On in Four conduct themselves in a manner remotely resemblant of gentlemanly behaviour In between putts, drives and mis-hits, 18 different short stories are narrated by each player of the pack of four in turn

I F w S F ANYTHING can be said with certainty of P Surendra Prasad's debut book On in four: One Day of Magic and Mayhem on the Golf Course is that familiarity with the Delhi Golf Course is guaranteed.

If you already haven't had the privilege of walking around the Delhi Golf Course, Prasad's precise memory of every bump, bunker, sight and smell is striking and well knitted in this story of a quartet of old, seemingly anglicised fellas going about their business on the course in a single day.

Prasad's anecdote on each of the holes -- which is the way he starts each of the 18 chapters plus the one on the watering hole -- is probably the high point of the read for someone familiar with the vast expanse of the Delhi Golf Club. Golf may be called the gentlemen's game for good reason -- and let's give Tiger Woods his space here -- but the four protagonists of On in Four conduct themselves in a manner remotely resemblant of gentlemanly behaviour.

Prasad's characters are quirky, if not a bit too lively for their septuagenarian status, and are always referred to by their surnames, a club culture that seems to seep into Prasad's own style.

So there's Kapoor, Sharma, Ahmed and Mathur who exchange animatedly 18 different stories while they complete the 18-hole circuit of the picturesque Delhi Golf Club.

Silence, please? Not the four of them, they couldn't, for they each take turns at shredding each other's comments to bits.

One gathers that the bunch is loud, vain and had it been any younger, obnoxious. If lyrical Ahmed compared himself with Tiger Woods (yes, there's mention of him precisely three times.

The work, however, was complete before Tiger's escapades came into full public knowledge), Kapoor, far from being a frump, was content only in the misery of others. In between putts, drives and mis-hits, 18 different short stories are narrated by each player of the pack of four in turn.

They are lively, but not outrageously funny, but one gets the drift of why menfolk would rather spend time at the golf course.

There's rumour to be discussed and dissected, spite to be dispensed with, ego to be massaged and a whole lot of food and drink to be consumed on somebody else's tab. Although Prasad's passion for golf is well laid out in this piece of fiction, with impressive details on the course and the game itself and with the right cadence throughout the book, there's a feeling that an avid player of the game would much rather spend more time on the course than thumb a fresh attempt at a sport that is catching on like wildfire.