Kolaboti, Apur Ma o Panchu

This is during the schooldays of Kalabati when she is growing up amid the loving ambience od his granddad, Rajsekhar Sinha, the food loving barrister uncle, Satyasekhar, the caring Apur Ma and the rest of the household of the Sinha family of Atghora amid the occassional amusing conflict with the Bakdighi family which is incidentally home to Malaya who is the teacher of the same school where Kalabati studies. It all starts with Apur Ma making up her mind to prepare bori after Kalabati praises the dishes that she tasted from her friend at school. But the preparation involved a crucial step of guarding the bori as they dried in the open sun against the attacks of crows. So Apur Ma thought of procuring a catapult for the purpose. Meanwhile there comes Panchu, a stray monkey left lonely by the demise of his master, whom Kalabati picks up from the street deciding to keep him. Thus the days go on at a gentle pace in the household. But then comes crisis in the form of three dacoits who breaks into the house while fleeing from the public. How the inhabitants deals with the situation forms the crux of the theme and the readers will suddenly find the pace accelerating. But throughout the story, the various subplots will keep the readers smiling. The signature Moti Nandi, with his crisp storytelling, seems always to excel himself while relating adventures of Kalabati and this is also another of those.