The tamarind tree stood at the crossroads, a blind observer of everything going on in its shade, indifferent provider of shelter, the mute witness of a generation's rise and fall. It is a benevolent presence that sustained itself till it fell victim to man's greed and was wantonly reduced to a bare stump…This novel, one of the finest to come out of contemporary India, tells the memorable tale of the tamarind tree, of the lives of men and women who sought its shelter and of their greed, goodness, selfishness, sacrifice, love and hatred.