As I was reading Kaikeyi I couldn’t shrug off the feeling that it feels very similar in tone to a book I read much earlier in life. This morning, I finally remembered it to be a book that made me fall in love with S. L. Bhyrappa’s work. Vamsha Vriksha is his seminal work (much before Parva) that told a multi-generational story about family, love and changing role of women in society. The book won the Sahitya Akademi award, the film adaptation won its fair share of awards, and its translation into other languages also won Sahitya Akademi awards. The english version of this was translated by my related grandfather who also translated Parva. And yes, highly highly recommend Vamsha Vriksha as essential reading!