The Road To The Bazaar (P)

On a visit to Delhi with his parents, Mukesh spent two crowded hours at the zoo. He was dazzled by the many colourful birds, fascinated by the reptiles, charmed by the gibbons and chimps and awestruck by the big cats. There was no zoo in the small town of Dehra where he lived. And the jungle was some way across the river bed. So as soon as he got home, he decided that he would have a zoo of his own. Mukesh did not realize the chaos and the fun that his plans would bring to the Indian town where he lived with his friends Suraj and Ranji, Koki and Amir. These characters and others come in and out of the stories in this book. There is the day of The Big Race when we see a closely fought contest between three beetles. Koki's Song describes the almost unspoken friendship between Koki and the boy by the stream, whose plaintive flute playing so enthrals her. And The King and the Tree Goddess is told as a legend warning of man's threat to nature. These are just some of the stories which make up the rich and varied collection in The Road to the Bazaar. Ruskin Bond not only brings to life a town in northern India capturing the scenery, the people, the atmosphere but also shows that children are the same the world over.