Children’s fiction: A group of friends and their pet elephant meet King Chandragupta Vikramaditya

Once the world was still, they opened their eyes. Elfu reluctantly detached his trunk from Rohan’s waist, which he had clutched a little too tightly. Rohan took a deep breath in relief. An overwhelming smell of floral and sandalwood perfumes, and a cacophony of sounds assailed him simultaneously. He looked around. They seemed to be in some sort of busy marketplace with shops lining the square on all sides. Crowds of shoppers strolled past stalls of all sorts – piled with fruits and vegetables.

To one side, goldsmiths were sitting and fashioning gold and precious stones into elaborate jewellery, while nearby, metalworkers hammered out copper vessels with loud thwangs. Other stalls had blossoms and buds piled up, with garlands and flower jewellery in intricate designs. Vendors were crying out, hawking their wares, while shoppers were engaged in friendly bargaining here and there. Rich ladies were being carried around at a leisurely pace in palanquins held by eight to ten bearers each. Both men and women were mostly dressed in cotton clothes – dhotis of some sort – wrapped tight or loose, long or short – wait, some were even in sarongs?! Everyone had long, flowing scarves…some had them hanging from their...

Read more