कुमारासुर, त्याची पत्नी मंगासुरी आणि त्यांचा मुलगा मेघास, असं एक त्रिकोणी कुटुंब. कुमारासुर सरकारी नोकरीत आहे. एकूणच, तंत्रज्ञानाविषयी कुमारासुर उदासीन आणि नकारात्मक आहे. अभियांत्रिकी महाविद्यालयातील वसतिगृहात राहणारा मेघास कुमारासुराकडे नवीन महागड्या मोबाइलची मागणी करतो. मेघासला मोबाइल गेम खेळण्यासाठी हवा असेल किंवा ब्ल्यू फिल्म पाहण्यासाठी हवा असेल किंवा सेल्फी काढण्यासाठी पाहिजे असेल, असा समज कुमारासुर करून घेतो. टेक्नॉलॉजीमुळे आणि आजूबाजूच्या वातावरणामुळे मेघास बिघडणारच अशी ठाम समजूत करून घेतल्यामुळे कुमारासुर विचित्र मनोव्यापारांमध्ये भोवंडत असतो. मंगासुरीला त्याच्या अशा विचित्र वागण्यामुळे त्याची काळजी वाटायला लागते. ती कुमारासुराच्या मित्राला, अधिकासुराला त्याला यातून बाहेर काढण्याची विनंती करते. अधिकासुराच्या सहवासात कुमारासुराच्या मनावरचं मळभ नाहीसं होतं. आजूबाजूच्या वास्तवाचं रुपकात्मक चित्रण करणारी कादंबरी.
PERUMAL MURUGAN IS THE STAR OF CONTEMPORARY TAMIL LITERATURE. AN AWARD-WINNING WRITER, POET AND SCHOLAR, HE HAS GARNERED BOTH CRITICAL ACCLAIM AND COMMERCIAL SUCCESS FOR HIS VAST ARRAY OF WORK. HIS NOVELS HAVE BEEN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH TO IMMENSE ACCLAIM, INCLUDING CURRENT SHOW, PYRE, SEASONS OF THE PALM, WHICH WAS SHORTLISTED FOR THE KIRIYAMA PRIZE IN 2005, AND ONE PART WOMAN, HIS BEST-KNOWN WORK, WHICH WAS SHORTLISTED FOR THE CROSSWORD AWARD, LONGLISTED FOR THE INAUGURAL NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATION AND WON THE PRESTIGIOUS ILF SAMANVAY BHASHA SAMMAN. A LONELY HARVEST AND TRIAL BY SILENCE-HIS TWO INGENIOUS PARALLEL SEQUELS TO ONE PART WOMAN-WERE SHORTLISTED FOR THE JCB PRIZE FOR FICTION 2019. A LONELY HARVEST WAS ALSO LONGLISTED FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE 2019.
Dr. Manasi Kelkar worked as the Senior Project Coordinator from January 2018 to 2024 on the project Survey of Dialects of Marathi in collaboration with Rajya Marathi vikas sanstha, Mumbai and Deccan College, Pune. She holds a doctorate in linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University thesis was on the sociolinguistic study of transplanted languages: Thanjavur Marathi. While pursuing her graduation in Sanskrit from Ruia College, Mumbai (University Gold Medalist) and post-graduation in Linguistics from Deccan College, Pune (First rank), she passed six examinations in German language from Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai. At the same time, she has a good knowledge of the Tamil language and has been working on translations from English and Tamil to Marathi for the past few years. Her areas of interest include the study of contact languages, the fieldwork collection and analysis of linguistic material, and the comparative study of languages. She has been continuously delivering lectures for the last two years as an expert guide on the topics of dialect survey method and selection of research method for Maharashtra State Faculty Development Agency (MSFDA).