The Good Indian Child’s Guide: To Playing Cricket

One moonlit night, when Shikar, the squirrel, asks his favourite doves, Lovey and Dovey, to tell him a story, they recount their time at Stork-pur, a mysterious bird commune. A place no bird would ever want to visit. On a secret mission, the doves are taken hostage by a villainous stork whose dark plan is to rule the bird-world. Danger lurks in every corner of the caves the doves are imprisoned in, and they wonder whom they can trust? The talkative green pigeon, the mesmerizing whistling thrush or the magnificent golden eagle?

The feather-raising adventure ends finally in a story the doves dub as ‘the story of all stories’–one that deeply affects Shikar and alters his notions of himself, his past and his origins.

Return to the Rose Garden to read about the enthralling capers of your favourite feathered friends and bird-squirrel, as they swap stories of daring and wonder.

Shifa and her brother, Themba, live in Kairos City with their father, Nabil. The few live in luxury, whilst the millions like them crowd together in compounds, surviving on meager rations and governed by Freedom Fields – the organisation that looks after you, as long as you opt-in.

The bees have long disappeared; instead, children must labour on farms, pollinating crops so that the nation can eat. But Nabil remembers Before and he knows that the soul needs to be nourished as much as the body so, despite the risk, he teaches his children how to grow flowers on a secret piece of land hidden beneath the train tracks.

The farm Shifa and Themba are sent to are hard and cruel. Themba won’t survive there and Shifa comes up with a plan to break them out. But they have no idea where they are – their only guide is a map drawn from the ramblings of a stranger.

The journey ahead is fraught with danger, but Shifa is strong and knows to listen to her instincts – to let hope guide them home. The freedom of a nation depends on it