Deepak Dalal - Indian Tales for Indian Children

Achemical engineer by profession, Deepak Dalal set out to write "Indian tales for Indian children" in 1998. And thus was born the VikramAditya series of adventures, set in some of the most picturesque places on the map.

I read the book Sahyadri adventures:Anirudh's dream. Though set in gritty Mumbai, the book tells the story of the city before it became a metropolis, when Fort was not just an address and Churchgate meant more than a railway station. The Sahyadri Adventures are about a forgotten city with a hidden fort. This vanished bastion had three gates, one of them beside a church, hence the name Church Gate. Fronting this Fort was a massive open ground known as the Esplanade. The open spaces of the Esplanade still exist, only now they are known as maidans (grounds). Vikram and Aditya, the key protagonists along with Chitra, are joined by Anirudh on this adventure in the Sahiyadris. Anirudh is a reserved and sensitive boy and is the son of Commander Vikas Dongre. He lives on the sprawling National Defence Academy in Pune. He has a love for horses and is afraid of the water. Vikram is a meticulous and intelligent schoolboy. His friend Aditya is the opposite--strong, impulsive and not averse to bending a few rules. All of them love the great outdoors, as they fight to save wildlife from poachers and evil traders.

Deepak Dalal is a fictional adventure writer. His books are well written and he has a knack for keeping you on the edge of your seat. Just when you think the trouble has subsided - all of a sudden something happens again. It's like a sine curve of excitement - irresistible to a young reader. These books are also set in interesting and remote parts of India and the author himself being a trekker and wildlife enthusiast works the rugged environment and ecology factor in very well.

The novel starts at a slow pace where we get introduced to the characters. The young protagonists go sailing in the rapids and begin a trek to the Sahyadris which dominates the initial few chapters. Then the book goes into overdrive when an armed gang of thugs want to get even with the group of friends in the chase sequences, proceeds on the path of mystery solving with generous doses of historical facts and stories woven around those facts. Anirudh who suffers an accident while trekking, goes into coma. The reader slips with him into a dream sequence where he is Irfan, a good natured lad, in early 19th Century in Bombay, a boy who lives in an Englishman's house with his father, Aziz, the coachman. Like Anirudh, Irfan loves horses and is afraid of the water. Another adventure begins in the dream sequence where Irfan along with his friends Rustom, Ajit and Mario take on a thieving Englishman, a crook who has burgaled India of her many riches, and is about to leave the country. There is also a connection to a deep secret from the past which makes Irfan and Aziz the Englishman's enemies.