Conversations Regarding the Fatalistic Outlook of the Common Man is a collection of 40 dialogues that melds the classical philosophical tradition of Plato and Socrates with the anarchic freedom of a mid-1990s chat room, and tops it all off with a dash of Senthil-Goundamani comedy. Not really, but anyway. In this book Kuzhali Manickavel interviews children on the subject of ghosts, shoe racks, and gender-neutral pronouns. She speaks to adults about Hindi imposition, hipster racism, and iskisk deospray. She chats with Niira Radia about banana cabinets. She pesters anyone who will listen about Bollywood movie tropes and babies raining from the sky. Puzzles are posed, hypocrisies exposed, awesome bargaining strategies disclosed. Come listen.