India, July 19 -- In the history of southern India, the Sangam period (300 BCE to 300 CE) is known for its glorious ecological poetics that portrayed nature and humanity's connection to it and love and war through heroic and romantic poetry. The period saw the rise and fall of three major dynasties, the Cheras, the Cholas and the Pandyas. Manoj Kuroor sets his story, The Day The Earth Bloomed, translated from the Malayalam by J Devika, in this classical period. Divided into three parts narrated by Kolumban, Chithira and Mayilan respectively, the novel is remarkable for its gripping prose and characters whose thoughts come across as strikingly modern.

In Part 1, Kolumban introduces his tribe as "paanar who sing and koothar who dance." Ext...