The Milkman S Cow

Children's stories.

Children's stories.

A delicious tale served up by Vikas Khanna When the children of the village refuse to drink milk one day, it makes Kali the cow very sad indeed. And it is up to Jassi, the local milkman's daughter and Kali's best friend, to find a way to end the milk strike and lift Kali's spirits again. Sumptuously illustrated and simply told, this heart-warming tale of goodwill and friendship is chock-full of Vikas Khanna's trademark charm.

Children always like to share their experience with others. 'Going to Buy a Book' shows how enjoyable these experiences can be. Tag along with these siblings as they pick books in a bookstore.

Mannu Bhandari's genius lies not in elevating women to heroines or superior beings; rather, she forces us to acknowledge that flawed, confused, and self-centered women are as worthy of agency and respect. She wrote among literary giants who were mostly men, but carved a singular space for herself with her unflinching gaze at the hypocrisy of a society that claims to venerate women yet balks at giving them the keys to their shackles. These 18 stories are representative of her wonderful insights into the inner life of women – her characters span the spectrum from rural to urban, illiterate to educated, homemakers to career professionals. Through all the stories runs a vein of gentle mockery – the inimitable Mannu Bhandari style.

Sringeri Srinivas was tearing his hair in anger in Annual Haircut Day. He came up with a great idea in Too Many Bananas. In Too Much Noise, he found peace. In this book, the crazy but lovable, long-haired farmer becomes very, very angry again.

The elevator door opens. A cow stands inside, angled diagonally to fit. It doesn’t look uncomfortable, merely impatient. “It is for the housewarming ceremony on the third floor,” explains the woman who stands behind the cow, holding it loosely with a rope. She has the sheepish look of a person caught in a strange situation who is trying to act as normal as possible. She introduces herself as Sarala and smiles reassuringly. The door closes. I shake my head and suppress a grin. It is good to be back. When Shoba Narayan—who has just returned to India with her husband and two daughters after years in the United States—asks whether said cow might bless her apartment next, it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between our author and Sarala, who also sells fresh milk right across the street from that thoroughly modern apartment building. The two women connect over not only cows but also family, food, and life. When Shoba agrees to buy Sarala a new cow, they set off looking for just the right heifer, and what was at first a simple economic transaction becomes something much deeper, though never without a hint of slapstick. The Milk Lady of Bangalore immerses us in the culture, customs, myths, religion, sights, and sounds of a city in which the twenty-first century and the ancient past coexist like nowhere else in the world. It’s a true story of bridging divides, of understanding other ways of looking at the world, and of human connections and animal connections, and it’s an irresistible adventure of two strong women and the animals they love.