A loving couple. Kali and Ponnas have it all. Almost, have it all. Except for a child, which they want so badly. The society taunts them. Their families have been waiting in anticipation. All of their hopes are then on the one chariot festival in the temple of the half-female god Ardhanareeswara, where all rules are relaxed and consensual union between any man and woman is permitted. Will the couple want to do something like this? That remains to be seen. This is the crux of the story.
Murugan’s writing is stark and clear. His imagery of marriage, sex, companionship and the hypocrisy of the society we live in cannot get better than this work. He speaks of a world where both spectrums ironically try to survive together – the traditional and the modern and amidst all this, he makes sense of his characters and their dilemmas. Just for the uniqueness of the plot, this already is my favourite work of the year.