It is not exactly a morality tale, but there is no doubt about what the writer prefers. It is an aesthetic of elegance rather than excess. SUNDAY EXPRESS.
What you are left with is an astonishing tale of magic, adventure and innocence. A charming host of well-rounded characters makes this book a gripping read. AT A GLANCE.

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Tim Murrari,

I simply loved your book! It's the best I' ve ever read! I have read books like Harry Potter, Hugo Cabret, Narnia, and Star Wars, mostly the best-selling authors. But I' ve never read a book like yours. When I am angry I instantly become calm when I read your book. It's as if your book has enchanted me, it's as if your book has become a part of my soul. I can't really explain why I like your book so much, I just like it.

I have a few questions. Where did Latrommi take the children at the end of the story? What punishment did Varang get for letting Latrommi get away? And did Varang ever go after after Latrommi again?

Please e-mail me soon.

Sincerely,
Om Vyoman Arvind
5th Grade - 10 years old

P.S. I got my dad and mom to read your book by telling them how good it was. My younger brother (age 7 - 2nd Grade) is reading the book also.
Sorry I missed your reading session at Global Adjustments, I couldn't come. I hope to meet you soon someday.

ONCE UPON A TIME

Mysterious forces, talking animals, evil witches, a river of action and a treacherous maze. Add a dose of courageous and spirited children in action and Tim Murari’s latest offering ‘Children of the Enchanted Jungle’ has all the ingredients for a perfect chronicle of adventure.
      The world of a child is often black and white where good must always triumphs over evil. ‘Children of the Enchanted Jungle’ adheres to this ideology. Here the author paints an enchanted world dripping not just with the intoxicating scents and colours of the jungle, but also thrills with a fierce battle here and there in addition to a few unexpected heroes. What you are left with is an astonishing tale of magic, adventure and innocence.
      In a dark, impenetrable forest lies a mysterious, outer-worldly power. In true Peter Pan style, a band of orphans also inhabit the magical jungle, co-existing in peace with their animal neighbors. Protected by the strange force, the children live in harmony. Like the animals of the jungle, they learn the game of survival and accept the realities of life and death with grace.
      A great evil threatens in the form of a ruthless woman who will stop at nothing to capture the mysterious power. Using flashes of magic and some very clever technology, the woman captures one of the children of the jungle. With her diabolical plans in place, the enemy gains a foothold into the enchanted forest. It is now up to the animals, birds and the band of children to unite and prepare for the fierce battle to save their jungle home.
      A charming host of well-rounded characters makes this book a gripping read. As writer Elizabeth Lawrence put it, ‘There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.’ AT A GLANCE

A sigh of regret from the deep woods.

The lost children of an enchanted forest fight unscrupulous plunderers. The End is magical but the reader is left with an undeniable sense of loss.
      Once upon a time, there was a jungle with creatures great and small. They lived in harmony if not at peace, and that’s the way things were supposed to be. There was something special about this patch of forest, though, which you could find out only if you were in it and of it, which rarely happened unless you were a human foundling, abandoned at the edge by parents who, for one reason or other, couldn’t keep the children at home. It makes for an intriguing set of initial conditions in this, Timeri Murari’s latest work of fiction.
      The scene is set and the antagonists identified right at the beginning. On one side is the forest — brooding and enigmatic — bordered by a wide river. It is an arbour for all kinds of life, including human. On the other side are Bhask, “a round, short man with a bald head”, his son Rhask, “with the face of a spoilt child’ and Varang, impatient, masterful and mysterious. They have some here for one thing alone, to cut down the forest.
      The motives are different. ForBhask it is about money to be made from the timber and real estate development, for Varang it is something entirely other under the guise of greed and gold. “In the minds of two of the three persons, the jungle was already razed and they were calculating their wealth from such destruction. They would become multi-millionaires from selling the timber and exploiting the cleared land. But for the third person, who stood slightly apart from the other two, and had no interest in the money, the jungle held a secret that she had searched for many years.”
      What Varang is seeking is a talisman of extraordinary power, a thing that makes this part of the forest unique, the enchanted jungle, in short. She also knows it has something to do with the children as well and is determined to find out.
      Pitted against her is the jungle and its creatures. The animals are troubled, apprehensive and also perhaps resigned, a fatalism that is probably part of the animal burden. When the world changes you change too or fall. That’s the best they can do. But then there are the children as well, the foundlings who have survived and thrived against all the odds. There is something different, something magical about them, though all are human and mortal. “The youngest was around one summer old. None of the children knew their exact ages because they never aged beyond fourteen and remained children always. Time and the passing seasons were meaningless in their safe jungle world.”
      They live in the Glade, “a large, almost perfect circle, surrounded by trees so close together that only a child could slip through between the massive trunks.” The Glade holds everything that one could require, but not all that one might desire. In fact, this motif seems to inform most of the book. It is not exactly a morality tale, but there is no doubt about what the writer prefers. It is an aesthetic of elegance rather than excess.
      The true secret of the Glade is Latrommi. “It was about the height and thickness of a child and was made of a cold green-gold stone that shone with an inner light. It had always been at the centre of this Glade.” Latrommi is the guardian of the children, parent, healer, teacher and dispenser of largesse in general. It is responsible for maintaining the balance between the children and the other denizens of the forest. In a way, it is the keeper of the entire ecosystem. It is this that Varang has been searching for all these years. Indeed, Latrommi has been a central obsession for many generations of her family
      This is the reason why she has got Bhask to cut down the forest so that she can find Latrommi in the resultant desert. She is also aware in general that the children hold the key to the finding, because they are the ones in most frequent contact with Latrommi. The plan then is to trap the children and force the truth out of them. As to what happens after, both Bhask and Varang are indifferent.
      This time, however, things turn out a bit different. The children succeed in rousing the entire forest to an awareness of what awaits them from the other side. The result is a stiffening of sinew and general resistance. The fact that the children, with their nimble brains, Latrommi’s instructions, and their own knowledge of the forest, are around, make a crucial difference.
      At this point, the book could have slipped into the vacuous happy ending formula that is such a staple of Hollywood (and Bollywood) tales. Fortunately, this is the work of a writer and there’s no such easy comfort for the audience. There is a price for everything, and it is exacted in full. The end is magical, but it is also surprising and one is left with a sense of regret and loss and, at heart, perhaps even a sense of appropriateness. NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS