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A messenger of love for a runaway boy turns out to be a wolf in sheep´s clothing. Sara, the director of an orphanage, sends a young man, her trusted lieutenant, to locate and bring back a runaway boy accused of indecent behaviour. The story, set in Sweden and in India, is narrated in the format of the fourth century work, Meghaduta(The Cloud Messenger) of the Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, and describes the landscape and the history of the places through which the messenger travels. The messenger, purportedly a saviour, turns jealous and begins to develop hostile intentions towards the run-away. But he does not realize that when he documents the history of Sara´s adopted family - with skeletons in the cupboard - during the journey, he is placing himself also in mortal danger. Shimmering now and then in the background of the tale is the effort of a language, its poetry appearing as a dancer in golden anklets, to get liberated from domination by a more powerful language.

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P. Nandakumar Warrier went to Guindy Engineering College, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Stockholm, and has lived for extended periods in the USA, New Zealand, Oman and Sweden. He has published a novel earlier, ´The Stockholm Triangle´ (JustFiction! Edition), and a book, ´The Nordic Model: a promise of prosperity for all´.

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