Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Methodology: the law of the threshold. 3. An Indocentric approach. 4. Toru Dutt's lost novel: Bicana or The young Spanish maiden. 5. The golden threshold of Sarojini Naidu. 6. Rama Mehta's Inside the Haveli: a discourse on gender and class. 7. Ruth Jhabvala: anxiety of authorship about India. 8. Anita Desai's Baumgartner's Bombay: the feminization of a hero. 9. Bharati Mukerjee: the marximalist credo. 10. An open ending.