On the banks of the Mayyazhi

Mayyazhi (Mahe) in the forties: a melange of native myth and legend and shimmering French

elegance. Wine flows through streets where horse drawn carriages speed by day and night. A folklore has it that souls hover as dragonflies over the Vellian Rock in the sea. A wave of

nationalism sweeps over the town and a group of dedicated young men determined to free Mayyazhi from the French set the wheels in motion. Dasan, a promising young man, destined for a brilliant career in the French government, finds himself in the thick of the

movement. Mukundan, one of Kerala’s best known writers of fiction, captures the spirit of a period of transition with piquant cameos of a Mayyazhi now.