Born near Ettayapuram in the erstwhile Madras Presidency into a caste of former tree-climbers and toddy-tappers, Ayya lost his mother as a child and came of age in a small town in lowland Burma. Forced to flee at the outbreak of World War II, he made a treacherous 1,700-mile journey by foot, boat, bullock cart and rail back to Madurai. Becoming a successful fruit merchant, Ayya educated and eventually settled many of his descendants in the United States. Luck, nerve, subterfuge and sorrow all have their place along the precarious route of his advancement. Ayya’s Accounts documents his dreams, his fears, his navigation of business and household matters even as he struggles to make a decent life for himself and his family. Emerging out of tales told to his American grandson, Ayya’s Accounts embodies a simple faith — that the story of a place as large and complex as modern India can be told through the life of a single individual. The book explores the life of an ordinary man — orphan, refugee, shopkeeper and grandfather — during a century of tremendous hope and upheaval.