Sandeep Hattangady for the enthusiastic inputs. K.M. Chaitanya, R. Mohan, B.R. Srikanth, A.M. Suresh, B.S. Sathish Kumar, L. Prakash, Rakesh Prakash, Arvind Gowda, Pratul Sharma, Jigeesh A.M., D.P. Bhattacharya, Krishna Kumar, Bharath Joshi, Qismat Bukhari.

My NINASAM classmates S.S. Siddaraju, Shashidhar B. Arashinagodi, Sushuma G.S., S. Subramanya, K. Nagaraj, K. Madhusudhan Shetty, H.B. Nadaf, K.P.M. Ganeshaiah, S.D. Bhavani, Ravindra Belawadi, Padmavathi K.R., S.N. Renuka, P.S. Sundeep, who gave me a rounded view of life.

My mates from Nataranga/Drishti – Sharath Lohithaswa, Hemanth Hegde, Rajesh Nataranga, S. Mohan, Nanditha S.R., Mukund T., K. Suchendra Prasad, and from Nataranga/Vedike, Ritwik Simha.

Drs K.N. Krishna, Ajay Herur, Girish Joshi, Karuna Kabadi, Suresh Kodapala, Sudhir Kumar, nurse Jesse, technician Rajesh Panakool and all the staff at Apollo, Jayanagar, for giving me my brain back.

My editor Ajitha G.S. for whom any words of praise will fall short; among other things, she gave fluidity and grace to the entire work, believed in it, pushed me to find structure and the right epilogue. Amrita Mukerji for making extensive proofreading a matter of commitment and fun. Chandan Gowda for the eagle-eyed corrections in language, content and style.

Geetanjali Kapoor for the fabulous cover design and the chapter openers that bring the book alive and Bonita Shimray and Divya Saxena for ideating and overseeing.

Sudha Pillai for my photograph and abiding support.

Udayan Mitra; all the team at HarperCollins; Jojy Phillips for the patient typesetting.

About the Book

About the Book

THE SEARCH FOR KAMA…

A stone wall at the periphery of a village somewhere in Karnataka guards a dangerous mystery. Yet, four generations of women from the headman’s family – helpless and spirited, headstrong and weak with desire – have a wayward fascination with it. And with Annaiah who comes, some say, from across the wall. Tradition and subversion coexist with superstitions and the slow advent of modernity in this powerful novel, where time is a wilful beast and the gods walk among us.

‘Oceans of stories pour over this “wall” – the waters gush out, break through barriers like the conventions of story-telling and language, fantasy and real life.’ — SHASHI DESHPANDE

‘Drawing its narrative strength from several folk forms, the reader is transported to another world, one both like and unlike ours, where the titular wall is as real as metaphorical.’ — VIVEK SHANBHAG

‘Myth and running history … interface and interchange. A must read for all who love grandmother’s tales that walk through walls of many divides.’ — PRATHIBHA PRAHLAD

About the Author

About the Author

SOWMYA AJI answers to female, atheist, liberal; no other labels. She works as a journalist, and lives in Bengaluru. She is also the author of Delirium (HarperCollins, 2013).

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