As the turquoise, jasper, sapphire and amethyst contrive with light to reflect ecletic patterns in a kaleidoscope, so does Kadhambini's family and society. She chronicles three disrupted, yet connected, series of events, occuring at discrete instants of time - all bound by the inner contradictions involved in the experiences of the world by its characters. This is a tale of a Tamil family, spanning five generations, and how their destiny is inextricably linked to the fate of the land of contradictions: India