Reminiscences of an Unknown Draughtsman of the Calcutta Botanical Garden

The tale the squirrel told

The golden morning was greeted with a harsh ‘chacka chacka chak’ followed by musical metallic tones, ‘clunk-clink clunk-clink’ . The sound came from a rufous tree pie. It was perched on a guava tree near the flimsy bamboo gate, dangling its long tail.

A young mother looked out, holding her little baby in her arms. A small toddler stood beside her, sucki…