For children: Moyna’s happy world in the Sunderbans begins to shift after her father disappears

The classroom was hot and noisy. Ajit was sitting behind Amjad, as always, thinking up pranks. Biswas Sir, their maths teacher, was writing sums on the board. Moyna and Sumi sat together, chatting.

“Gita Miss is giving us so much work,” complained Sumi.

“Yeah, all because of that awful cyclone,” said Moyna. “We missed so many school days. Now we have to catch up fast.”

“Enough talking, you two!” Biswas Sir said, shaking his head. “Always stuck together like glue, chattering about something or the other.”

He started reviewing tenths and hundredths. The kids groaned in unison when Biswas Sir said, “A frog is 30.5 centimetres long – now who can tell me what that is in centimetres and millimetres?”

Moyna raised her hand and answered correctly.

“Good, Moyna,” said Biswas Sir, giving a few more challenging problems to solve before the class ended.

After maths, it was Gita Miss finishing up the science revision.

“All right, who can tell me what makes our place special?” she asked, tapping her chalk against the worn-out blackboard.

Amjad raised his hand. “The tigers!”

A few students looked around nervously and nodded. Gita Miss smiled. “Yes, but let’s think about the land itself. What makes our Sundarbans different from other places?”

Moyna stopped doodling in her notebook and looked up. “The rivers?”

“Good! But which rivers?” Gita...

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