One of the finest writers of his generation' Financial Times Jungle-nama is a wonderful
illustrated verse adaptation of a fable from the Sundarbans the legend of Bon Bibi which lies
at the heart of his novel Gun Island The Ganga in her descent or so the legends go would've
broken the Earth with the force of her flow It was Lord Shiva who safeguarded the world by
catching the cascade even as it unfurled With his ashen dreadlocks he restrained the current
braiding its strands into a life-giving torrent Smooth flows the stream till it meets the
Brahmaputra another braided child of the Himalaya This collision of waters sets the tresses
free they become a liquid net joining shore and sea Thousands of islands rise from the
rivers' rich silts crowned with forests of mangrove rising on stilts This is the Sundarban
where great rivers give birth to a vast jungle that joins Ocean and Earth
