Of water and mystic powers

The Water Catchers 
by Bhairavi Parekh. 
Hachette India. 
Pages 160. Rs 299 

water is valuable for humanity. This message is given and propagated in a number of ways by many and the book in hand seems to be one such attempt. The story begins in an overcrowded water-deprived locality of Mumbai, where an 11-year-old Chintan leads an ordinary life.

At school, he has a run-in with a dreaded gang of bullies and suddenly he finds himself in a major environment-conservation competition. A major turn comes in his life when his grandfather recounts a strange prophecy which takes him on a quest to his ancestral village. Here he meets Maahi, a little girl with mysterious powers.

Who is this girl? What does she do? Does the prophecy get fulfilled? Does Chintan win the contest? One gets all the answers while reading the story. Written in a lucid style, the story makes for an easy reading and grips the reader till he turns the last page. Dealing with a simple theme of water, the story combines both natural and supernatural elements and connects both rural and urban settings. Spread over 22 chapters, with catchy titles, the whole story is woven so well that not even a single chapter seems out of place.

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