Misplaced Heads

‘Misplaced Heads’ is a blend of Historical and contemporary worlds. The detailed descriptions and adjectives of the dance rituals from early eras to the 20th century that keep peeking at the reader transports us to a timeline of Tamil dance culture and aesthetic temples. The contemporary plot is very engaging, moving mostly through the virtual world between the main characters. Though the contrast is stark between the ancient and dancer and the WhatsApp conversations, the reader would never be required to accustom his mind to a new chapter as the flow is natural and engaging. This fiction is a standing testament – though times have changed immensely, the bare human emotion towards art and feelings towards fellow human beings remain the same and are truly eternal. A devadasi of the yesteryear would not fret towards a polygamous institution as much as a socially conditioned woman of today’s would. The ironies are brought out gracefully while normalizing many human emotions, those even probably considered taboos by the general public. A book club or a family of readers would definitely have healthy and deep conversations on various topics ranging from the plot to the values of human emotions and the necessity to hold an objective view!
– Prathik Sudha Murali, Historian, Teacher, Public speaker, Chennai, India

Weaving a tale of misery and misfortune in this fiction of heavy content, the author dwells on some of the harshest conditions of mental states of human beings. In that abyss, the woman dances to the rhythms of sorrow and heartaches. It is a good historical fiction with feministic metaphors. The protagonist Poorna’s perspective of her man is the modern representation of the temple woman married to Lord Siva.

Raaghav Sankar, Consultant-Technology, Singapore
Time has memories, it’s said. But even time wouldn’t be able to depict events spanning across eEras so beautifully, given a chance. The author has brought out the true forward essence of the Indian culture which is today chastised to be one of the most orthodox and backward by some parts of the world. A reader becomes a student as history unveils itself in front of our eyes, yet astonishingly aware of the present as we read about the parallel line of thought that comes out through the protagonist’s experiences. A film scope of South India through medieval, Islamic, colonial, and the present day – ‘Misplaced Heads’ does exactly that, making us delve deeper into the musings of the human heart and its madness by misplacing our heads.

- Sredhanea Ramkrishnan, an Entrepreneur, Theni, India

With a simple, yet beautiful and fluent language that any reader of any level can engage in, the author has done a commendable, innovative storytelling. With an ease, she takes the reader to the ancient eras and the contemporary modern world that I could literally visualize the events scene by scene. The reading experience was strikingly memorable in that sense.

— Bina Amul Subnis, Singapore