Spoilers ahead for the story.
”உங்களுக்கு ஆசை இல்லையா?” என்றாள் அவள்.
”நிறைய இருக்கு.”
”அப்ப?”
”அதனாலேதான் ஒன்னைப் பார்த்துகிட்டே இருக்கேன்.”
Devayani, the lone prostitute in a brothel, is getting ready to hang herself. We don’t quite know the circumstances that led her to this decision, but we know that she’s reached the end of her rope, so to speak, and is now coldly working her way to get it over with when she hears a knock on the door. When she opens the door, the unremarkable titular man enters.
Questions like “Is the knock real? Is Devyani schizophrenic? Is this divine intervention?” are quite irrelevant. The brief interaction between Devyani and the man is realistic and dream-like at the same time. His first remark is ”பரவாயில்லை, எல்லாம் சுத்தமாகவே வச்சிருக்கீங்க,” as if he’s a health inspector from city. What follows is sensual, not sexual. In my reading, what exactly reaffirms Devyani’s faith in humanity is that she could still be seen as a woman – a desirable woman for whom a man will bring a cup of water when she’s thirsty, a woman with a pretty face that a man is willing to spend time just looking at her. Nagarajan, who wrote about sex workers and knew of their hardships, is asking us if we have the basic decency in ourselves to look at them and treat them like human beings.
Transverse 