He appears out of nowhere in a sleepy little neighbourhood in suburban Kerala. He calls himself Shunya, the zero. Who is he? A lunatic? A gloomy magician? A fraud? Or an avadhuta, an enlightened soul?
Saami—as they call him—settles into a small cottage within the backyard of the local toddy shop. Here he spins parables, blesses, curses, drinks never-ending glasses of black tea and lives in total freedom. On rare occasions, he plays soul-stirring melodies on his old, bamboo-reed flute.
Then, just as mysteriously as he arrived, Shunya vanishes, setting the trail for a brand new avadhuta, a brand new era.
This first novel by Sri M is a meditation at the void which collapses the wall between reality and make-consider, the limited and the infinite. With its spare storytelling and profound knowledge, it leads us into the area of ‘shunya’, the nothingness of profound and lasting peace, the start and end of all things.