Year 2, Kali yuga 61 years before present day “Quiet that infernal noise!” Kannanār snapped. Āndāḷ looked up, startled. She dropped her wooden rattle, and tears slowly began to well in her eyes. She got up, and ran to Meenakshi, and wrapped herself around her mother’s leg, crying loudly. Meenakshi lifted her up, held her tight, and tried to pacify her. She shot a poisonous look at her husband. “It has been a year. A year since Mukhilan’s death—and here you sit, wallowing in your grief and pity! Āndāḷ too is your child!”