“Why do we live so far away from everyone in the village, thatha? Walk faster, I don’t want to be late for school.”
The conversation unfolds between a grandfather, who is a basket-weaver, and his grandson when the former walks him to school. This is the opening scene in Tamil film Seththumaan, and shows the two walking alone in the sun in an arid landscape.
“Let this end with me, this state in which we have to live separately from the village,” the grandfather says. “Study well; when you grow up, become an officer. You will be given a car, a bungalow, an army of helpers. Even if a pin falls from your desk, a helper would come running to pick it up for you.”
