It did feel strange to see her lying cold and silent and then being carried away . . . But at the back of my mind was this growing anticipation-Sanjiv Maama was taking me to Mumbai!
When Gopal’s mother dies, his uncle brings him to Mumbai to get a job because he has few prospects as a Dalit boy in a UP village.
Gopal is cast into the unfamiliar world of Squatters Colony, where he has no family or friends. He gets his first job at the bicycle shop owned by the sage Chacha and rapidly makes friends with the strange and diverse people who live in the community-Chacha’s friendly daughter-in-law, the neighbourhood thug Raja, the three-legged Tiger and beautiful Ayesha.
And he learns that when disaster strikes and lives fall apart, he too has a family in the gully.
Zarin Virji’s gripping debut describes the raw rollicking life of Mumbai’s small neighbourhoods with vigour and zest.
Get all 25 books in the first ever library of hOles.
Recognizable by the hOle at the top corner of each book, these chapter books are aimed at kids learning to read independently. They are full of fun stories, gorgeous illustrations and hOles!
Buy 24 and get 1 hOle free!
The hOle books are early chapter books for children transitioning from picture books to longer books. The stories are contemporary, Indian and with protagonists who are the age of the potential readers, facing dilemmas and challenges which the readers would be familiar with.
Over the years, the hOle books have been shortlisted for or won every major book award in India and a couple internationally.
Offering a unique expression of thought reflecting feeling more than meaning, Grains of Stardust is a synesthetic stream of consciousness that does not distinguish between journey and destination, but meanders unchecked upon the river of human emotion.
‘Read my poetry out loud
Breathe it in
and taste the letters pour out.
A delicious sound.
Do you hear the colours take form?
Feel the pages move you
as you float in space
make some space
Open your mind
and get inside
and see all that
shimmering
marmalade liquid.
Grains of stardust‘
Artist, musician, man of science, Upendrakishore Roychoudhury was a man of many parts. But it is for his writing for children that he is best remembered.
This book is a selection of the best of his stories and the most fascinating of his characters: Goopy and Bagha, dedicated but unsuccessful musicians who are cast out of their homes because their music drives their families and neighbours crazy; Tuntuni, the little bird; the clever fox; Majantali Sarkar, the cat; the intrepid Granny Hunchback; and many others.
Swagata Deb’s vibrant translation brings Upendrakishore’s unique magic to a wider audience.
A spectacular selection of the best of stories by Upendrakishore Roychoudhuri, and the most fascinating of his characters. Meet Goopy and Bagha, dedicated but unsuccessful musicians who are cast out of their homes because their music drives their families and neighbours crazy; Tuntuni, the little bird; the clever fox; Majantali Sarkar, the cat; the intrepid Granny Hunchback; and many others. Swagata Deb’s vibrant translation brings Upendrakishore’s unique magic to a wider audience, giving a new lease of life to these evergreen tales.
Dadi forgets everything, including Chumki’s name. When elephants escape from a nearby reserve, can it be a blessing in disguise and help Dadi remember?
Jasmine and Sheba want to spend the holidays finding homes for stray puppies. But to do so, they have to first solve a series of puzzles set by Sheba’s father, Clockwala Uncle. Can they do this in time?
As their train puffs away into the distance, three runaway children, Lily, Vicky and Aman, are led by Makhmal Khan the monkey into the shimmering world of the forest. . . Deep within its shadows, beyond the last cloud on the horizon, stands Nyagrodha, the ancient banyan. Within its magical labyrinth the children encounter monarchs and mice, dreamers and scholars, paupers and fortune-seekers, braggarts and burglars, foppish fish and bloodsucking bugs, gory battles and incredible flying machines. But none of these can distract them from the dangers that threaten Simha, the fierce young king and his friend Jeev, the musical bull. For the story of their tangled lives is very like the childrens’ own. Will Aman, Vicky and Lily find their way back home through the maze of stories? Or will treachery destroy the friendship between Simha and Jeev, and leave the forest wounded and bleeding forever. ‘This is an upside-down story,’ Hanumanta the Langoor warns the children. ‘A story that will turn you inside out. Will you hear it unafraid?’
Six unforgettable stories of love and bravery, treachery and injustice, from ancient Indian literature. Classical Sanskrit and Tamil writing teem with myriad characters, and here we meet some truly memorable ones.
This collection of six plays, poems and epics retold for children includes ‘Shakuntala’, a heartrending story of the love between the beautiful Shakuntala and King Dushyanta; ‘The Little Clay Cart’, where the evil designs of the king and his family are foiled by the righteous Charudatta and Vasantasena; ‘The Story of an Anklet’, about Kannagi, who wreaks a terrible revenge for the wrong done to her; ‘Manimekalai’, the extraordinary account of a woman’s search for her true calling; ‘The Last Trial of Sita’, in which the playwright gives a whole new ending to the Ramayana, and ‘The Broken Thigh’, about the final, desperate combat between Duryodhana and Bheema on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Accompanied by descriptions of the authors’ lives and the time when the stories were written, these lively retellings are an ideal introduction to some of the best-known stories from the Indian classics.
A classic coming-of-age story which has held generations of readers spellbound!
Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted … and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.
Written when the author was himself seventeen, this moving story of love and friendship, with a new introduction and illustrations will be enjoyed by a whole new generation of readers.
