<p>The radically westernised ‘whiskey-sambar’ Tamil brahmins of twentieth century India were a law unto themselves and broke every last taboo of five millennia of orthodoxy, while unable to wholly tear out their brahminical roots.</p> <p>This unsparing personal glimpse of their mysterious, contradictory world chronicles the lives and loves of ordinary people through those extraordinary times.</p>

<p><strong>Renuka Narayanan </strong>is a commentator and columnist on religion and culture. She was Arts Editor, <em>The Indian Express</em> with a column on religion; Editor, Religion &amp; Culture, <em>Hindustan Times</em>; and the start-up Director of the Indian Cultural Centre, Embassy of India, Bangkok.</p> <p>Her published&nbsp;books include <em>The Book of Prayer, Faith: Filling the God-sized Hole</em> and&nbsp;<em>The Little Book of Indian Wisdom</em>.</p>