Twelve-year-old Hari tries to make sense of his tumultuous and complex world in 1980s India. His experiment at eating fish leads to the accidental death of his grandmother; his preference for Hindi over his mother tongue Tamil leads to slanderous graffiti against his family in Madras; and his friendship with the household help lands him in trouble with Vishu, a militant Tamil film fan and political functionary.

Matters come to a head when MGR, the film star turned politician, dies and his supporters led by Vishu declare a strike, trapping Hari and his mother in a train bound for Madras. Oblivious to the crosscurrents of tension pulsating outside the train, Hari experiences the first stirrings of his adolescent sexuality in the company of an aspiring actor and a loquacious transsexual. When protestors try to take over the engine of the train and the driver fights to keep them out, Hari’s attempt to help has devastatingly tragic results.

Vivid, often erotic, and laced with humour, Anand Mahadevan’s remarkable first novel is a coming-of-age tale replete with family ambitions, adolescent curiosity, sensuality, shame, guilt and danger.