For children: Young detectives suspect something sinister when a woman is pronounced a ‘witch’

“What do you call a bumblebee that can’t play football?” asked Malhar, trundling up a gravel path overlooking a dense thicket.

“Kya?” chuckled Mirchi, tightening his grip around Munna’s leash. The black and white dog, unaccustomed to having a lead of leather tied around him, was trying his best to break free and inch closer to the herd of goats grazing upon a patch of thorny acacia.

“A fumble-bee!” Malhar clapped his hands together.

Throwing his head back, Mirchi roared with laughter. “Okay…my turn,” he said, as they followed Meera and her nature-photography group on their weekend trail.

This morning, their instructor Isaac had invited an insect expert named Sudha Venkat to help them learn about the six-legged wonders. Her bug-talk had prompted the boys into a competition of silly bug jokes. “What you calling a bee that is not sure?”

“What?”

“Maybee!” Mirchi shrugged, as the two collapsed once again in peals of uproarious laughter.

“Will you two stop braying like donkeys?” Meera marched up to them, binoculars dangling around her neck, camera bag strapped across her shoulder. “This is a nature walk, not a picnic!”

“You told me there’s no birding! And Isaac Sir said we don’t need to be quiet!” protested Malhar.

Maruti Tekdi was a thickly wooded...

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