Description

Before smartphones, before seatbelts, and long before “gentle parenting,” there was Sindri, a sleepy township of scientists, secrets, and mango trees where childhood was chaotic, hilarious, and a little bit magical. Meet the youngest of three siblings growing up in Sindri, in the 1980s: wild-haired, question-filled, and always up to something. Whether battling dacoits with a bamboo stick, launching rats from a pumpkin-shaped car, or boiling stolen potatoes in an Amul milk tin, these stories turn everyday life into epic adventure. In this laugh-out-loud, lump-in-the-throat memoir, Ankana Chakraborty captures a vanished world where the dogs had names, the milk came with buffaloes, and every child learned to swim by dry-paddling across a pile of quilts. Welcome to F52. Close the gate behind you. And please mind the dogs.