ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sujatha (1935?2008) was one of the most popular authors in Tamil literature and his literary career spanned more than four decades. Widely read and knowledgeable, his versatility and exhaustive range were his unique selling points. Writing in simple and lucid Tamil, Sujatha made a tremendous impact with his contemporary and racy writing, and his radical the dramatic narration of ordinary, everyday events won him his audience and many accolades. His works stood out at a time when Tamil writing was dominated by social and family dramas depiction of their way of talking, behaviour, mindset, dialect and slang, helped make him popular across multiple demographic segments. ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR Suganthy Krishnamachari is a Chennai-based journalist, and has written articles on history, temple architecture, Sanskrit, mathematics, literature and music. She has written a series of books for schoolchildren on mathematics and English grammar. One of her short stories, published in a leading newspaper, is being used by an educational publishing company that is bringing out two English Language Teaching (ELT) series for school students. Another story was translated into Tamil some years ago, and published by an educationist in a magazine she edits.