Iwould like firstly, to thank my mother, Dr Nanditha Krishna for inspiring the idea for this story with the story of my own ancestor, upon whom this book is based. I would like to thank Ravi Singh, publisher and editor-in-chief at Penguin India, for liking my story enough to sign me on, and Anurag Basnet for his incredible job on the edit. Lastly, but most vitally, I thank Tharuppukal Ramaswami Aiyar for being the renegade that he was and inspiring me to use him as my hero.