<P> Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard is a novel by Kiran Desai published in 1998 . It is her first book and won the top prize for the Betty Trask Awards in 1998 . It is set in the Indian village of Shahkot (state of Punjab) and follows the exploits of a young man, Sampath Chawla, trying to avoid the responsibilities of adult life . Fed up with his life in Shahkot, Sampath goes to a guava orchard and settles himself in a guava tree, where he uses the gossip he learned while working at the post office to convince people he is clairvoyant and soon becomes a popular "holy man". </P> <P> Kiran Desai based this book on a real - life story in which a man, Kapila Pradhan, lived up a tree for 15 years . This was the author's inspiration for the book and there are similarities between the novel and Pradhan's life in his tree . </P>

Kiran desai hullabaloo in the guava orchard summary