All of Kali and Ponna's efforts to conceive a child - from prayers to penance, potions to pilgrimages - have been in vain. Despite being in a loving and sexually satisfying relationship, they are relentlessly hounded by the taunts and insinuations of the people around them. Ultimately, all their hopes and apprehensions come to converge on the chariot festival in the temple of the half-female god Ardhanareeswara and the revelry surrounding it. Everything...

A collection of novellas includes the title story, in which an aging writer struggles with his ex and a litter of piglets; "Eggs," in which a woman tries to have a baby after reflecting on her London youth; and a story featuring Detective Sunderson.