Book excerpt: Rural Odisha is where it all begins. Pre-independence Odisha. The Bengal famine of 1943 has wiped out millions from the Bengal-Odisha-Bihar belt. The common man is writhing under abject poverty. The nation is sandwiched between the ambitions of a Nationalist movement and the British retaliation. Existential survival is the only aspiration. Born to large extended agrarian families in the scenic countryside of Odisha coast, two simple souls struggle to find their identity. The strong orthodoxy of Odia society, deplorable state of a girl child, severe constraints of economy and cultural pressures stare them in their faces. Can they overcome these challenges to define and discover happiness?